Living with a Passat

After 6 years with my 1986 Jetta GL, I'm starting to look at a
replacement in the new year. I'm doing well at work, and am
looking to upgrade to a Passat.

I can't justify a new one (I ride the bus to work most days),
but can easily justify a used one, say early '00s.

I've read the reliability reports about sludged engines and
waterpump meltdowns, and know that such a car is going
to be more expensive to look after than my Jetta. So be it.
If I couldn't afford it, I wouldn't do it.

What I'm curious about, when all is said and done, is what
is it like to own and drive a Passat? How do you feel about
the driving experience?

What's it like to actually live with one?

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

laura halliday wrote:

> What I'm curious about, when all is said and done, is what
> is it like to own and drive a Passat? How do you feel about
> the driving experience?

Laura:

Allow me to be brutally honest with you and also relate a fairly recent
experience we had. Up until 2004, we always had at least one VW in the
family. Over the years, included were Type IIIs, Rabbits, Golfs, Dasher
wagons and so forth. The last one before the present crop was a New
Beetle Diesel. Which had: Numerous electrical problems. Windows that
shattered going up and going down (three sets, ultimately), a fuel
distribution system that failed twice... all covered under and
well-past the original warranty period (shattering windows). When we
became grandparents and my wife decided she wanted to shift back to a
wagon, we went to a local VERY LARGE used car dealer and looked after
Passat wagons. We drove out in a Saab 9.5 wagon. I was driving a ML320
at the time, and a few months later, I went to the same place looking
for a 4-Motion wagon... and drove out in a Volvo XC70. Both options
were available to me, both in similar year/mileage/warranty. However,
both of the 'other' options wanted premium fuel, cost more, and had
fewer features... really.

So, allow the heresy of a non VW option.

We presently own two VWs, and I expect that we will own at least one
forever. But one is a 1987 Westie camper, and one is a 1999 Winnebago
camper. These are unique vehicles for which there are no legitimate
substitutes, and so we put up with the continued and unreasonable
quirkiness and sometimes remarkably poor quality-control that VW
somehow cannot seem to overcome in order to have the advantages of the
overall vehicle. And I remain a shade-tree mechanic in simple
self-defense as paying an outside mechanic to deal with the quirks and
foibles of a VW is simply unreasonable for something that is
purportedly an "economy" car. If you want Euro-precision, comfort and
quiet elegance, look for the second-tier Euros. Saab, Volvo. Saab
especially. We had a 1991 Saab 9000 that we drove for 9 years and
180,000 miles changing only the oil and doing only the regular
maintenance. I had a 1994 Volvo 850 that I drove for 120,000 miles
similarly. VW has a lot of catching up to do.

You may wind up with a VW, but be sure you are doing it because you
really, really, really want to.


Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA