2003 Volkswagen Passat

1st new engine 35,000 miles. Second new engine 70,000 miles. V6 model. An absolutely beautiful lemon.

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.

This is a great car, reliable and fun to drive. The only issue is the outrageous cost of service. Nobody knows how to service or repair them except a VW dealership, and they charge a jaw-droppiing amount. I'd be a VW customer forever if I could get reasonable servie costs, but as it is, I'll never buy another.

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.

Overall, I believe this is a great car for the money. I've had to replace the brakes, ignition coils, cv joints, and rear springs so far. I know that I'll have to replace my timing belt and water pump by spring, but oh well, normal wear and tear.

Perhaps I got a lemon, but this car has been trouble since day one.

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.