Owners' Stories

How much will it cost to replace a thermostat on a 2002 vw passat 2.8????

My 86k 2007 VW Passat engine siezed up 4 days after an oil change. I was driving, the oil pressure light came on, then immediately started making a loud noise, I immediately stopped the car and got it towed. I was notified by the dealer that there was sludge that caused low pressure and hence the engine siezing up. I had taken to car to the VW dealer I bought it at numerous times complaining of high oil consumption and that the engine sounded like it was working too hard, but they could never find anything wrong with it. I will never buy or recommend a VW again.

I have had my VW Passat for 4 years and had numerous repairs . The capper is my VW just died at 66,000 miles .The engine siezed. Changed oil every 5k with synthetic oil and kept going back to the dealer for power loss and they could not figure out the issue, now my engine is seized.

The famous idiot light for oil pressure only came on in my 2006 Passat as the engine died on the freeway just after I had the oil changed!

After this car, I will not buy another VW! 4 years old and it has broken down 3 times in the last year and had to be towed in.

Great car! Had some weird issues within initial warranty period (blown out catalytic converter being the weirdest) but all were covered and the service dept. at out local dealer has been great. Brakes are the best I've ever owned but the rears wear much faster than fronts. Dealer explained this as rear brake bias to minimize front end diving under hard braking. Coming up on 75K miles and need to replace rear brakes before 80K. Fronts are currently projected to last ~130K miles! Original battery went dead after only 3 years but was replaced under warranty. Biggest glitch has been multiple trips to dealer for "check engine" light, but none in last 25K miles. Overall excellent vehicle. My next one will probably be the new CC.

I liked this car until I got the famous "oil pressure" light. The engine blew before I could slow down to pull over! VW is aware of the problem but because I bought the car used I cannot provide all the service records. I changed the oil every 3000 miles but that is not enough for them to cover the warrenty. I will never buy a VW product again!

I bought this car 2 months ago. The first problem I had was every time I started the car, the under carriage shook. I took it into the shop and they kicked the muffler and said nothing was the matter. The next problem I have is that the vents on the dash are at an angle such that they can't blow full at your chest or stomach. The vents close when angling them down. Oh, and that carriage shaking? That was the catalytic converter and turbo pipe cracking/breaking making the car sound like a rusted out 1978 datsun (LOUD!). I do love the comfort and look of the car though.

After rushing and buying my Passat I had to put an extra $3.000 to get it up to par ! Had Sludge problem -Problems with coils. I am now very happy with my Passat after giving it a little TLC!

So after having this car for a year, i had to replace the spark plugs because the engine had an oil leak and burned up the spark plugs. Everytime i press my break to accelerate i hear this knocking on the back of my car. The steering wheel ticks when i turn it and the car always blows out hot air till at least 8 miles. The car has 119,000 miles on it. Replaced the tire boot last year and have to replace it again.

You right, should be the age... My AC is giving me only warm air Sunroof is nor working, I have the same ABS light and I'm not planing to fixed either. I have the same problem with the same window (only up),.. but I love the engine and the turbo. It's 1998.. do you spend some money in lit repairs or is time to replace it??

i bought this car from my Aunt and it is a cute and fun car to have but being 11yrs old it has a lot of issues. 158,000 miles on it now. Faulty ABS Module $925 repair - i'm not fixing that! Sunroof drains clogged and flooded the inside of my car, ruining the carpet - reimbursed by settlement for lawsuit $125 at VW dealership Upper control arm joint loose $250 repair Ignition coil replacement -idk what that's gonna cost me yet $450 hopefully less BAD oil leak! Needs valve cover gasket and tensioner seal; VW dealership wanted $650! yeah right... O2 Sensors need to be replaced $300 repair Back right window doesn't roll down but rolls up... My 6-disc CD changer went out but thank god for cassette tape adapters and ipods! Other than that I love the turbo and it's a nice car but not worth keeping for more than 6-8 years.

I wonder why the air condition takes to long to blow cold air?

I bought it brand new 1999 it currently has 78K miles had the following issues: 1. Replaced ignition coil $500 2. Replaced o2 sensors 3. Replaced rear window regulator plus others $1500 Besides the above maintenance the car was very reliable and still drives as new. I enjoy the comfort, and safety.

I get unsolicited comments from people on what a good looking car I have...why is that? I don't know but it is good looking and of course I would say that. I bought it for $3600 with 170,000 miles. It's one of the best driving cars I've ever owned and has all the right creature comforts. I hope it runs forever...the turbo is sweet and the Monsoon audio is better than my living room stereo. I prefer rear wheel drive but this vehicle handles well enough to feel comfortable in curves and at 85+ highway speeds. The A/C is great...can't say that for the heater which can take 5 miles of driving or more to warm up. I had the auto-door locking feature disabled and my life is much better for it. I would recommentd this car to anyone who likes well built cars and the luxury of a sculpted leather interior and superior performance.

I bought this car repossessed from a local credit union. Cost to get timing belt done was 1800 in Madison. 750 with waterpump in Brookfield. I can't believe the nerve some dealers have looking a customer in the face and saying, "gee, 1800 to do a timing belt. When would you like to schedule that." CEL was on for about 2 months, but had a local mechanic look at it, and he fixed the pcv valve and some other valves that may have caused it. Error was "Air Intake". Over having this vehicle for 3 months, I've put about 1k into it, and bought it for 4.5k. Nothing is wrong with the vehicle, no sludge using 0w40 Mobil One.

We have a 1999 VW Passat 2.8 V6 5spd., my uncle bought it new. I bought it from my uncle at 90K. My uncle had new axles installed, control arms, and clutch. I now have a 122Kmi on this car and I think its a poor example of transportation. Coolant pipes under intake leak, major oil leak and smell from valve covers and cam chain tensioners. Electric water pump quit working, power steering leak, expensive timing belt replacement. Only seats I have ever rode in that give me lower back pains after 400+ road trip. For my house hold this car has been a piece of junk.

This is a fantastic car. We have an excellent non-dealer VW specialist for repairs and maintenance. Bought new, 160,000 miles now. Had to do the coils and radio recall when it was new which was very annoying. Also the current coils recall - still annoying. The 4 cylinder turbo, manual trans we average 33mpg, but have done 40 on long expressway drives. Plenty of acceleration. Handles best of any car I've ever driven. No plans to sell it any time soon.

I bought this car in 2005 with 42,000. I paid $17,200. I now have 160,000 miles and it has been a fabulous car. I replaced the timing belt at 90,000 and the brakes at 120,000. I have replaced summer tires once and just bought my second set of snow tires. The car rides like new. Tight steering, smooth and quiet ride. Plenty of power. Since day one it has been prone to leaking a little oil. Turns out it is an oil seal that requires major labor expenses to get to. I add a quart of oil between changes. It is a pretty inexpensive solution. I agree the dealer is an expensive way to keep the car maintained, but I have a local guy who is capable. I have a couple of big ticket items coming up. Catalytic converters, and soon another new timing belt. Also, the struts can't last for ever, although they seem fine right now. Those will all total about $2800. But they are maintenance items, not something "going wrong". I am hoping to get 300,000 miles out of the car. The body and paint are perfect.

When I bought this, I thought I was getting a very nice car. The exterior and interior was what sold me. However, it has been a pain in my a@#. Not only does it have major electrical issues, it's also expensive to fix. It started with the ABS module failing on me while driving on the freeway. Imagine the horror I felt going 70 mph when all of a sudden, I hear a beeping noise and then blinking brakes lights. Ever since then, I've been haunted. When I got my car towed for an illegal parking, all kinds of noises have been going off - it sounds as if I'm driving with the car door open. Then, I have had to replace the clutch and flywheel because of the steep hills here in Seattle. Now, 3 days later, I replaced the alternator only to have a check engine and battery light come on. To be driving on the freeway and only being able to go 60-65 mph while gasing it all the way down is very troubling. I would only sell this car to someone I don't like. Anyone know how to get some money out of the cash guzzling junk?

I wanted to love this car - and did at first. But didn't take long for me to find out how expensive this car is to maintain.

This car has served me well. Other people have told me they've had electrical problems with the Passat, but I've not had any.

Very Reliable. Best car I have ever bought. No major problems.Love the htd seats and the quiet comfortable ride. The passat is a fun and enjoyable family car!

The best value car I've had in 25 years. It gives you the best bang for your $. Look after your Passat and she will look after you. My drivers door lock is the only problem I've had in 8 years.

I bought this car used with only 13,000 miles (volkswagen company car) I have the 3.6 engine with luxury package 1. Pros: Great engine power, great interior, great repair dept at dealership (I think this is a common thing across volks. dealerships) Cons: road noise, annoying interior squeaks, too many minor and major repair issues. I have had more problems with this car than any other car I've owned. Fortunately, most of them have been under warranty but I drive lot and I'm already out. The last problem was a defective sensor on the steering column that required completely replacing the column..because i was only 14,000 miles out of warranty Volkswagen did a goodwill repair and picked up 50% of the 1400 repair bill.. but still ouch. In the end I'm torn love the service dept and volkswagen really impressed me by stepping up when they ovbiously didn't have to..but I would cautious about buying another one especially out of warranty.

Didn't know we had to use synthetic oil till I saw that on this site, What bad engineering to use too small a pickup tube coming from the oil pump beware change oil every 3,000 miles and use synthetic oil or the tube will plug with sludge and destroy the motor 1.8 turbos only

Good car. Mine is the V6 w/4Motion. Nice legroom, and I'm 6'2". Engine is peppy enough, but could be a little stronger. I like the TipTronic transmission, but shifting with it isn't as nearly satisfying as a manual with a clutch, but that's not why I bought this car. This is a very comfortable, quiet riding car. MPG is a little low around town, but between 20 - 24 on the highway. So far, there haven't been any extraordinary repairs required.

I thought this car was amazing when i bought it. It got the new body style, all the options, and 106,000 miles for 8,400 dollars. I had my nice car for the first time ever, and then started realizing just how horrible of a car it was. It had a lot of perks and nice things about it. But all those things hid the fact that the car was expensive to fix, and wasn't worth much. The steering was giving me all sorts of problems, and the windows decided when they wanted to work. part of the dash readout decided when the lights wanted to fade and not show me all my mileage and everything. There were noises in the suspension that were checked by 3 shops. Each said there was no problem, just an annoyance. Small parts broke here and there as well. The kicker is that the car was actually not worth much at all. At it's mileage I could hardly get 5,000 out of it. for trade in, they wanted to give me 2,000. I finally got a family friend to give me the 5,000 because I needed out. oh, and a 5 dollar gasket for the turbo cost 200 to replace.

Compared to the Audi A4 this a lot of car for the money.A few electrical problems...the flashers quit , door remote problem.The check engine light came on twice.Replaced coolant sensor and a spark plug wire to fix.Brakes have been replaced front and rear. Mechanically other than maintenance I've done the axle boots. Very comfortable around town and on the road.OK by me.

Worst brakes in any car I have owned. AC is nothing to brag about but this may be age. The area for the driver's feet is very small/cramped and the gas and brake pedals are too close. Seat adjustment is a hassle and a pain when we change drivers.