Long term Passat issues?

In article >,
"D&LBusch" > wrote:

> I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8 Passat.
> 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term costs of
> keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying and
> expensive.
> Thanks in advance.
> David

Except for a misfire problem that Woodchuck solved on this newgroup and
which took the dealer service dept four visits to fix (needed two new
coils), our 2002 1.8T Tip Passat was pretty much trouble free until
about 61000 miles when BOTH front outer CV boots blew out. Our
dealership servce dept is very friendly and accommodating and the repair
with the 60K oil service was "only" about $600 (ie, actually not too
bad). But that was a wake up call for me. I contacted WarrantyDirect
for a quote on a 2 or 3 year extended warranty. It was about
$1500/2000. I was all set to get it when VW announced a $1500 Passat
loyalty rebate on a new one. I did the math: $1500 + 2000 = $3000
towards a new car.

So what I'm saying is that VWs are great cars but even Woodchuck (with
way over 30 years as a master VW dealer mechanic) says that if you're
going to keep a VW, you'd better get an extended warranty. You might
make it to 100K with minimal cost, but don't count on it. I suspect we
wouldn't have used the entire $2000 but I'm at a point in life where I
don't like living with uncertainly and can afford the alternative.

Here's my philosophy VWs: If you want to keep them after the
warranty runs out and you want piece of mind, you either have to fix
everything yourself or get an extended warranty. I had my 95 Golf for 7
1/2 years and I did all the repairs myself. It never went to a pro
except for tires. Same with my 82 convertible. But the Passat - no way.
Too exotic and too hard to work on. I'm hoping that VWs will become
more and more reliable with each new generation. So far my MKV GTI and
07 Passat have been pretty much trouble free. But time will tell.

Bill

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:33:10 -0600, William Maslin
> wrote:

>In article >,
> "D&LBusch" > wrote:
>
>> I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8 Passat.
>> 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term costs of
>> keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying and
>> expensive.
>> Thanks in advance.
>> David
>
>Except for a misfire problem that Woodchuck solved on this newgroup and
>which took the dealer service dept four visits to fix (needed two new
>coils), our 2002 1.8T Tip Passat was pretty much trouble free until
>about 61000 miles when BOTH front outer CV boots blew out. Our
>dealership servce dept is very friendly and accommodating and the repair
>with the 60K oil service was "only" about $600 (ie, actually not too
>bad). But that was a wake up call for me. I contacted WarrantyDirect
>for a quote on a 2 or 3 year extended warranty. It was about
>$1500/2000. I was all set to get it when VW announced a $1500 Passat
>loyalty rebate on a new one. I did the math: $1500 + 2000 = $3000
>towards a new car.
>
>So what I'm saying is that VWs are great cars but even Woodchuck (with
>way over 30 years as a master VW dealer mechanic) says that if you're
>going to keep a VW, you'd better get an extended warranty. You might
>make it to 100K with minimal cost, but don't count on it. I suspect we
>wouldn't have used the entire $2000 but I'm at a point in life where I
>don't like living with uncertainly and can afford the alternative.
>
>Here's my philosophy VWs: If you want to keep them after the
>warranty runs out and you want piece of mind, you either have to fix
>everything yourself or get an extended warranty. I had my 95 Golf for 7
>1/2 years and I did all the repairs myself. It never went to a pro
>except for tires. Same with my 82 convertible. But the Passat - no way.
>Too exotic and too hard to work on. I'm hoping that VWs will become
>more and more reliable with each new generation. So far my MKV GTI and
>07 Passat have been pretty much trouble free. But time will tell.
>
>Bill
I replaced a egr valve on my 2003 car that I goofed up when doing my
100,000 mile maintenance. I did new injector nozzles a few thousand
miles ago. I would have received no value in an extended warranty. If
they extended the warranty to 500,000 miles and included timing belts
it might make sense to me. 325,000 miles to go to hit that 500,000
miles. Lots of people report low repairs. Depends on luck and engine
maybe. Heck the Rabbits were supposed to have bad ac and electrical
problems. I did not experience that with 300,000 plus miles on two
Rabbits. Gti had 300,000 miles when sold and the other Rabbit had over
200,000 miles when wrecked.

"D&LBusch" > wrote in message
...
> I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8 Passat.
> 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term costs
> of keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying
> and expensive.
> Thanks in advance.
> David
Don't forget a full timing belt/waterpump/tensioner change at 60-65K (go
longer at risk of a $3.5K engine rebuild) at about $800-1,000.

In article >,
"No Spam Please" > wrote:

> "D&LBusch" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8 Passat.
> > 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term costs
> > of keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying
> > and expensive.
> > Thanks in advance.
> > David
> Don't forget a full timing belt/waterpump/tensioner change at 60-65K (go
> longer at risk of a $3.5K engine rebuild) at about $800-1,000.

I believe it's 105,000 miles for the timing belt on 2001 (B5.5?) and
later cars.

In article >,
Jim Behning > wrote:

> On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:33:10 -0600, William Maslin
> > wrote:
>
....snip
> >
> >Here's my philosophy VWs: If you want to keep them after the
> >warranty runs out and you want piece of mind, you either have to fix
> >everything yourself or get an extended warranty. I had my 95 Golf for 7
> >1/2 years and I did all the repairs myself. It never went to a pro
> >except for tires. Same with my 82 convertible. But the Passat - no way.
> >Too exotic and too hard to work on. I'm hoping that VWs will become
> >more and more reliable with each new generation. So far my MKV GTI and
> >07 Passat have been pretty much trouble free. But time will tell.
> >
> >Bill
> I replaced a egr valve on my 2003 car that I goofed up when doing my
> 100,000 mile maintenance. I did new injector nozzles a few thousand
> miles ago. I would have received no value in an extended warranty. If
> they extended the warranty to 500,000 miles and included timing belts
> it might make sense to me. 325,000 miles to go to hit that 500,000
> miles. Lots of people report low repairs. Depends on luck and engine
> maybe. Heck the Rabbits were supposed to have bad ac and electrical
> problems. I did not experience that with 300,000 plus miles on two
> Rabbits. Gti had 300,000 miles when sold and the other Rabbit had over
> 200,000 miles when wrecked.

You're right. Chances are that you'll never "use up" the extended
warranty, expecially on a diesel. Note also what I said above. You're
doing a lot of your own work and staying ahead of the TDI problems (like
the EGR valve) so your car is less likely to break. For the Passat, the
first step in a lot of repairs is: put the car in the "service
position." In other words, the whole front of the car has to be
detached and jacked out about a foot so that you can get enough room to
work. And a quick look at the repair instructions for replacing the
axles scared me off since it involved messing with that complex and
expensive to repair Passat front suspension.

But I really didn't trust that 1.8T. The engine itself was fine, but I
was concerned about things like the secondary air motor/pump, diverter
valve, etc. In other words, all the things that are connected to it.
VW clearly didn't have a trouble free owner experience in mind when they
specified those WWII era fabric covered rubber vacuum hoses under the
hood. These broke twice on our Passat. And they put a rats nest of
those vacuum hoses right on top of the exhaust manifold in the cars with
transverse 1.8Ts (like the Jetta).

To me, the big money items after warranty would be the A/C compressor
and the ABS system. Either of those could go over $2000. By the way,
the Warranty Direct warranty also supposedly covers wear items like CV
boots.

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:40:55 -0600, William Maslin
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Jim Behning > wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:33:10 -0600, William Maslin
>> > wrote:
>>
>...snip
>> >
>> >Here's my philosophy VWs: If you want to keep them after the
>> >warranty runs out and you want piece of mind, you either have to fix
>> >everything yourself or get an extended warranty. I had my 95 Golf for 7
>> >1/2 years and I did all the repairs myself. It never went to a pro
>> >except for tires. Same with my 82 convertible. But the Passat - no way.
>> >Too exotic and too hard to work on. I'm hoping that VWs will become
>> >more and more reliable with each new generation. So far my MKV GTI and
>> >07 Passat have been pretty much trouble free. But time will tell.
>> >
>> >Bill
>> I replaced a egr valve on my 2003 car that I goofed up when doing my
>> 100,000 mile maintenance. I did new injector nozzles a few thousand
>> miles ago. I would have received no value in an extended warranty. If
>> they extended the warranty to 500,000 miles and included timing belts
>> it might make sense to me. 325,000 miles to go to hit that 500,000
>> miles. Lots of people report low repairs. Depends on luck and engine
>> maybe. Heck the Rabbits were supposed to have bad ac and electrical
>> problems. I did not experience that with 300,000 plus miles on two
>> Rabbits. Gti had 300,000 miles when sold and the other Rabbit had over
>> 200,000 miles when wrecked.
>
>You're right. Chances are that you'll never "use up" the extended
>warranty, expecially on a diesel. Note also what I said above. You're
>doing a lot of your own work and staying ahead of the TDI problems (like
>the EGR valve) so your car is less likely to break. For the Passat, the
>first step in a lot of repairs is: put the car in the "service
>position." In other words, the whole front of the car has to be
>detached and jacked out about a foot so that you can get enough room to
>work. And a quick look at the repair instructions for replacing the
>axles scared me off since it involved messing with that complex and
>expensive to repair Passat front suspension.
>
>But I really didn't trust that 1.8T. The engine itself was fine, but I
>was concerned about things like the secondary air motor/pump, diverter
>valve, etc. In other words, all the things that are connected to it.
>VW clearly didn't have a trouble free owner experience in mind when they
>specified those WWII era fabric covered rubber vacuum hoses under the
>hood. These broke twice on our Passat. And they put a rats nest of
>those vacuum hoses right on top of the exhaust manifold in the cars with
>transverse 1.8Ts (like the Jetta).
>
>To me, the big money items after warranty would be the A/C compressor
>and the ABS system. Either of those could go over $2000. By the way,
>the Warranty Direct warranty also supposedly covers wear items like CV
>boots.
My friend brought over his 2002 Passat with a 1.8T. It had an error of
running lean sometimes. That remove the front end to change the timing
belt is not fun.The TDI is fairly easy to work on. Maybe the 1.8T in a
Jetta is ok but not much fun in the Passat.

"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "No Spam Please" > wrote:
>
>> "D&LBusch" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8
>> > Passat.
>> > 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term
>> > costs
>> > of keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying
>> > and expensive.
>> > Thanks in advance.
>> > David
>> Don't forget a full timing belt/waterpump/tensioner change at 60-65K (go
>> longer at risk of a $3.5K engine rebuild) at about $800-1,000.
>
> I believe it's 105,000 miles for the timing belt on 2001 (B5.5?) and
> later cars.

Let it go that long and let us know how that worked out for you <g>.

"William Maslin" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "No Spam Please" > wrote:
>
>> "D&LBusch" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I'm at that funny stage when I'm considering trading my 2004 1.8
>> > Passat.
>> > 44,000 miles 5 speed. I may buy a Hybrid. What are the long term
>> > costs
>> > of keep the Passat? I've read that repairs as they age can be annoying
>> > and expensive.
>> > Thanks in advance.
>> > David
>> Don't forget a full timing belt/waterpump/tensioner change at 60-65K (go
>> longer at risk of a $3.5K engine rebuild) at about $800-1,000.
>
> I believe it's 105,000 miles for the timing belt on 2001 (B5.5?) and
> later cars.

Let it go that long and let us know how that worked out for you <g>.