Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Fri 5 Apr 2019 15:39
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - Gkooi

Good afternoon,

After driving a few years a VW Bora 1.9TDI, time has come to replace this vehicle, as it has done 425k miles now, and a lot of things start to play up.

I have been looking into the VW passats. The B6/B7 version to be more precise. Seen quite a few different versions from around 2008 up till now. With a budget of up to £4000.Now and then I come across a high mileage 2011 to 2013 version, which I don't exactly know what to think of.

Couple of examples:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201903286369345?advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&radius=100&sort=price-asc&make=VOLKSWAGEN&postcode=ip288gb&model=PASSAT&seller-type=trade&price-to=4000&year-from=2011&page=1

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201901174028824?radius=100&postcode=ip288gb&make=VOLKSWAGEN&year-from=2008&model=PASSAT&price-to=4000&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=price-asc&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&seller-type=trade&page=5


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201901174036429?advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&radius=100&sort=price-asc&make=VOLKSWAGEN&postcode=ip288gb&model=PASSAT&seller-type=trade&price-to=4000&year-from=2011&page=1

To me to be fair, it seems to cheap for the car itself, is my feeling right, or am I wrong? What would you guys advice? Stick with a B6 lower mileage? Or are these B7's actually quite good at the mileages they are at?

Edited by Gkooi on 05/04/2019 at 15:51

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 16:07
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - nick62

No experience of the model you state, but I wish they still made the one I brought new in 2000. It was the last of the pre face-lift B5 estates with the 115 hp PD engine, never missed a beat and always did 55+ MPG, sadly written-off in a crash at 101,000 miles.

It was like brand new inside and out until it got wrecked. The only problem was the scuttle drains used to get blocked, (and no one at VW told you until your car was full of water).

Sorry for hijacking your thread BTW!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 16:41
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - Avant

Yes, that was a great engine, Nick: I had one in a 2001 Golf estate.

I think the Passats are comparatively cheap because of their six-figure mileages. This puts many punters off, but shouldn't deter you if they have a full service history and your own mileage isn't too high.

Alternatively, look at a Skoda Octavia or Superb, whose choice of engines has been similar to the Passat's. These tend to be a bit cheaper than Passats with the same age and mileage.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 17:13
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - Gkooi

Loved these old cars. My Bora, build in 1998, never stopped going. Still got the original turbo, and only had once a clutch change in it's 425k miles. Still going strong, but you can notice on the car, it's getting very old.

My own mileage is roughly about 30k a year. It seems interesting a new-ish car, but as you say, it's a lot of miles done. Don't know how strong these cars are, at these mileages. I can understand a clutch/dmf change would be likely in the next 50k miles, if not done before, as for the turbo's; how long do these last now a days?

One of them, I have been looking at, says it got full volkswagen service history + cambelt changed. Which is a start, but has to be seen when viewing the vehicle.

Edited by Gkooi on 05/04/2019 at 17:16

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 17:22
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - nick62

Personally I wouldn't buy a second-hand (or new) diesel of any description, unless you can afford to write it off if it goes wrong?

Edited by nick62 on 05/04/2019 at 17:22

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 17:59
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - Gkooi

No, me neither, would of course have an extensive test drive with it, if not possible, I am not interested. But just wondering what modern cars are capable off, as I have absolutely no experience with them ones, only old bangers haha

Or do you mean no diesel is reliable now a days?

Edited by Gkooi on 05/04/2019 at 17:59

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 19:18
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - badbusdriver

From what i have read, most of the reliablity issues with modern diesels has to do with the type of useage. With the huge increase in popularity of SUV's, especially bigger ones, they need an engine with a bit of grunt to pull all that weight, which inevitably leads to diesel. But the problem arises when, as is usually the case, these cars are only used for short, stop/start journeys, dropping off the kids at school, going shopping, etc. That is the kind of useage that will cause problems with regards to DPF regen, and if that is ignored, big bills will follow!. If you do the kind of journeys which neccessitate diesel, and keep on top of servicing, and (this is the big one) you know the previous owner/s have done the same, you shouldn't have too much trouble. But how do you determine this?. Modern diesels are extremely complex so anything goes wrong on your £3.5k high mileage examples will very likely wipe out any fuel savings over a petrol engined equivalent. For the kind of budget you seem to be working on, i'd be thinking about petrol engined examples of (in no particular order) the Mazda 6, Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis or Ford Mondeo. Here are some options that may tickle your fancy,

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20190314588...1

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20190131445...1

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20190314588...1

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20181213324...1

Even something more obscure if you are not a badge snob and like a bargain like this low mileage Kia Magentis for under £1800.

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20190214493...1

You could probably haggle that down to nearer £1500, think of what you could put the money saved towards!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 5 Apr 2019 20:13
Volkswagen Passat B6/B7 - VW Passat B6/B7 - CHarkin

.Now and then I come across a high mileage 2011 to 2013 version, which I don't exactly know what to think of.

I have had five VW diesels over the last twenty odd years and was a big fan, but the cars you are looking at were subject to the emissions update and thats a problem. The update causes big problems for the majority of cars in that age range and this is where the unreliability comes from. You can check if the car has had the update by typing its vin number into a VW web site. There is also a sticker placed in the boot at the time the update was done.

If the car runs well it is possible to have the ECU software reversed back to the original version by a specialist at a cost of £80 to £150.

The emissions fix increases soot by a factor of 4 and gives the EGR valve and dpf a greatly increased work load. The fuel injection pressure is increased from around 250bar to 350bar giving the injectors and high pressure pump a harder life than they were ever meant to take. EGR valve is the most common failure and the def the least common ( surprisingly ).

Edited by CHarkin on 05/04/2019 at 20:44

Reply | Report as offensive | Link