I'm sick of my Passat

A different warning light every week. Now one of the electronic handbrake motors has gone – £300+ to fix and the other side has a crack in the casing apparently …

I like the economy, the power, the comfort on long journeys, the load carrying.

I don’t like the reliability, the handling.

So I’m tempted to change. Obviously the forum’s favorite is the Octavia which I’ve discounted in the past because of the lip on the boot and the split level load bay. Do they all have the DPF these days? With the associated costs when it needs replacing. Is there a Passat equivalent without the hassle?

Thanks.

I’ve done 35,000 miles in my Mondeo so far this year and it’s been excellent. Not a single thing gone wrong with it and it’s even an auto!

Mondeo.

Don’t Ford diesels have fuel pump bother any more?

not a mondeo for the love of god. It will make any issues with your passat look like a blissful existence. All modern fords in the our company fleet have been horrific for electrical and safety critical faults and many have been returned as not fit for purpose. We are now looking at a totally new fleet

A Octavia would be a completely pointless swap as they’re basically the same car (stretched Golfs).

I’m on my second pass at, first was a petrol estate, this one a diesel estate. If I wasn’t thinking of a transporter next i’d have another one. I reckon you’re just unlucky.

Sorry no help what so ever!!

Well there was a thread on here a while back where it seemed like I wasn’t the only one with Passat trouble. And I’m not normally one to complain 🙂

A Octavia would be a completely pointless swap as they’re basically the same car (stretched Golfs).

But the Golf has different steering and significantly better handling last time I drove one (admittedly that was a 57 GTi but still . . . )

Yep defo a Friday afternoon build. 218K on mine & no bother (yet 😉

I had a few issues with my previous model Passat but got through those and was on 217k when it got written off.

Now have an E39 525d Touring which is fantastic to drive in comparison but has had as many ‘issues’ just that they’re more expensive to fix…

Got very close to spending on a ~year old car but have decided to keep the mk3 mondeo running a bit longer. I reckon (hope!) it might just be more reliable than a new car!

But the Golf has different steering and significantly better handling last time I drove one (admittedly that was a 57 GTi but still . . . )

All based on the Golf. Passat is just an elongated Golf Platform (can’t remember the stretch) with big overhangs to boot. The Octavia is just a Golf with massive overhangs to all intents and purposes. Of course in reality it’s a little more complex than this, but the Passat/Skoda Superb used to be a platform on its own (well, shared with the old Audi A4), but VW figured it would save money by just lengthening the Golf platform for this and the last Generation Passats.

Hard to recommend a new(ish) car without too many faults these days, sounds odd, but they’ve all got their issues! What I do know is that given the number of those issues caused by being a diesel rather than a petrol, I’d be buying a nice petrol motor and getting it converted to run on LPG myself…

110000 miles on a Mondeo and not a single fault light, most reliable car I’ve ever had

KIA Ceed SW or Hyundai i30

Toyota avensis. End of.

My Mondeo has been faultless too just service parts. Tazzymtb company must have bought all the faulty ones so everyone else will be okay.
I liked the Octavia but was put off too with the lip on the boot, never understood why they had it there on an estate.

I loved my Passat, but the electronic handbrake was a PITA. It once failed to come off when trying to disembark a ferry. Mortified.

Don’t Ford diesels have fuel pump bother any more?

Factory recall on the Mondeo, should get replaced for free.

Mine’s due to be replaced in November. Seriously thinking of replacing it with another Mondy. Is the facelift model out yet, anyone know?

Get something with a long warranty – Hyundai or Kia and then stop worrying.
Kia Soul replaced a passat estate here.

Not a Friday car… the handbrake motors go on all of them eventually. Our first side went so the aa sold me their repair cover for £70 after they recovered it. Sure enough 2 months down the line the other side went. Luckly the repair cover paid for that. But it don’t end there its had the stearing lock fault which is very common, all 4 injectors replaced as part of the vag recall, engine speed sensor died just before xmas.

Nice cars when they work….. But that’s my 4th and last vw.

Other cars a subaru impreza which hasn’t missed a beat in 9 years. Legacy would be my next top of list car.

We run an old Mondeo, 52′ plate with nearly 170k. Juts goes on & on.
🙂

If we are talking newer though I’d be looking at an Avensis. 140hp D4D version. Latest Mondeo’s are nice but just seems to be so much to go wrong these days.

My ’56 plate 2.0 tdi Passat (company car) saw +90k without one single issue.

My ’07 Ford Ranger is coming close to 80k, without a single issue either.

Toyota avensis. End of.

Life? I think I’d top myself if forced to drive one of these often, or just fall asleep and crash. The most boring car I’ve ever driven, just no fun in it at all.

I’ve got an 04 plate Passat 2.0l 20V petrol and its never missed a beat from 60K up to a current 110K. It’s pot luck with second hand cars like, guess I’ve just been lucky… It doesn’t get much better than 35mpg tho!

I really don’t understand all this electronic handbrake stuff. There was nothing wrong with the old fashioned types and if they went wrong were simple things to fix. The one i used in a vauxhall hire car a year back was the worst I’ve experienced. You had to have your foot on the footbrake in order to release it, I was in it with a colleague who was not comfortable jumping from the footbrake to the bite point on a very steep hill and we must have rolled a good car length back…

most of the Vw/Audi group cars have hill start assist where it will automatically release the E-handbrake when you get to the biting point.

I loved the electronic handbrake – conversely, another manager didn’t and caused quite a bit of damage.

Oh and Avensi – driven a few and they are truly horrible.

That makes sense, guess vauxhall never thought of that on whatever it was I hired… might of been a meriva.. had these crazy suicide rear doors! I still don’t understand why they replaced the old fashioned ‘hand’ brake. I’m of the ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ camp – more stuff to go wrong.

You had to have your foot on the footbrake in order to release it, I was in it with a colleague who was not comfortable jumping from the footbrake to the bite point on a very steep hill and we must have rolled a good car length back…

In the Passat at least, you don’t worry about any of that, you just set off and it releases. Dunno if the Vauxhall was the same (I wasn’t aware they’d ever used one), but I wonder if that’s just user error.

My Octavia ( not mine any more thankfully ) sounds like the OP’s Passat.

I had it for just over two years from nearly new (400 miles on it) and it was seen by 6 RAC men in that time, all of whom said, ” that’s strange, these dont break down” I got the feeling it was a standard line they all used.

The thing seemed to be plagued by annoyingly unreliable sensors making the engine light go on.

The Mondeo I had prior to the Octavia however, never went wrong in the time I had it from 12,000 miles to 140,000 miles.

I’d never own another VW based car again.

You had to have your foot on the footbrake in order to release it, I was in it with a colleague who was not comfortable jumping from the footbrake to the bite point on a very steep hill and we must have rolled a good car length back…

In the Passat at least, you don’t worry about any of that, you just set off and it releases. Dunno if the Vauxhall was the same (I wasn’t aware they’d ever used one), but I wonder if that’s just user error.

User error. Should have read the manual. You have to have foot on brake to manually release, otherwise automatic. What a clot

Mondeos here for the last 8 years, until December when I collected an A4 Cabriolet.

The Audi may have it on looks.
But its terribly fragile AND expensive to fix.
The only reason I tolerate the Audi after owning Fords, is the Roof.
Theres nothing else the Audi does better than the Fords I’ve owned.

IME, my Mondeos have been more economical, more reliable and more robust.

Last Ford was a 53 Mondeo I picked up for 6K, one onwer from new.
I didn’t maintain the service history, and I am capable of changing the engine oil, which I did every 5K.

I drove that car from 72K to 241K and it was still going great when I sold it for 600 quid with a full years MOT.
All previous MOTs cost me only the fee for the test.
The last MOT on the 8 year old car and 239K on it was 100 quid.
The new owner text me a week later thanking me for the car !, he was well chuffed.

In my opinion, the old suburban folk lore of VWs being super robust and just allround fabulous, is now a myth.
I’ve heard it said that JD power (independant surveyors) have data showing Fords to be more reliable than VWs.

I wouldn’t hesitate in having another Mondeo, 2.0 TDCi, preferrably Zetec spec as they come with air and Cruise.

I know you’re always going to get Friday afternoon cars, regardless of the badge on the front, but I’ve had successive Mondeos and all were great.

I loved my Passat, but the electronic handbrake was a PITA. It once failed to come off when trying to disembark a ferry. Mortified.

It’s the one glitch on an otherwise excellent car. Cost £70ish to fix the parking brake switch though, so no massive problem. On ‘just’ 140k on my TDI Passat, costs have been basically service items, other than the fact that I recently had to have the brake calipers rebuilt. At 6 years old I can forgive that.

Still original clutch, turbo, exhaust, wheel bearings…..it just runs. No warning lights (other than when it’s out of washer fluid or on the odd occasion when a headlight bulb or the like has failed).

OP doesnt the Octavia share alot of its underpinnings with the Passat? Why not try Honda?

Another Mondeo here approx 25k miles per year and nothing wrong with it apart from routine service items.

Great motorway cruiser, maybe not quite as smooth as Passat, but its 100% more fun to drive than a Passat.

Having owned one VW previously, not sure I would buy one again because the build quality is not good, and they a boring to drive.

100% more fun to drive than a Passat

This very much.

I’ve owned VWs and Audis before.
I can see how they’ve, very slowly, raised their game in the ride-n-handling stakes.
But they still don’t touch Fords, imo.

I’ll also ackowledge that most folk don’t really get into their driving enough to be bothered about RnH to any great degree.

I am looking to get a second hand car at the end of the summer.
Quite fancy a Honda Civic 2.2cdti but they are a bit more pricy.

I was also thinking of a Mondeo.
I had started to look at the early plates of the latest mk4 model. 2008 ish. As these are not much more cash than the mk3 and they get great reviews, huge car though.

Are the mk3 a better bet for a cheepish diesel runabout?
Hoping not to have to spend too much time or cash keeping it running.

I’m selling my Mondeo Estate in the next few days. Love the car, but have to get rid for (ahem) family reasons.
Anyone interested can email me. (It’s a 07 plate, v low mileage, £7.5K)

100% more fun to drive than a Passat

what isn’t??

There’s a bit of data here re reliability

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

Hard to verify it but they do have a lot of numbers at their disposal to draw from
I can’t really see any reason for them to ‘spin’ any particular model over another

But that’s only data from cars that have had an extended warranty taken out on them. I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that.

But that’s only data from cars that have had an extended warranty taken out on them. I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that.

It’s data from a sample of at least 50 of each model they list
Don’t really think it matters if you know them or not

As I said, you can’t verify it but it has to at least be as good as everyone here telling you how good the one they are selling is, I would have thought

The ratings seem to be by cost of repair, not actual reliability.

As a guideline, the average RI number on the 250 models we compare is 100.The Reliability Index figure is calculated as a combination of:
the number of times a car fails,
the cost of repairing it,
the average amount of time it spends off the road due to repairs
the average age and mileage of the vehicles we have on our books.