VW's! Are they perfect?

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Thu 31 Jan 2002 17:35
VW's! Are they perfect? - martin glover
I have been looking at used cars for some weeks now, and have finally decided to go for a VW Passat. A women up north is getting rid of her 1995 CL1.9TDI with 140k on clock, FSH at VW dealers. Car has only had two previous owners including her and the HPI check is lovely and clean. However, i have tried to establish what bad points VW Passats can have. Parkers say they are great and do not mention what to watch out for except Air Con. Which magazine is equally praising.

However, there is always a catch in buying used cars and i am sure VW Passats have their bad spots.

Any ideas as to what is typically problamatic in high miler Passats?

thanks

martin
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Thu 31 Jan 2002 18:20
Re: VW's! Are they perfect? - Marcus
TDI engines can sludge up the engine's air intake piping ( recycling crankcase fumes ) - so check around there, plus the central locking can be a B*stard if it starts playing up as it is electronic and pneumatic, otherwise there is nothing awful to worry about !
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Thu 31 Jan 2002 18:44
Re: VW's! Are they perfect? - martin glover
thanks

i'll take a look at the air pipes. If they are slugged, what is best to clean them out?
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Thu 31 Jan 2002 18:52
Re: VW's! Are they perfect? - Marcus
Paraffin and a rag !
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Thu 31 Jan 2002 20:29
Re: VW's! Are they perfect? - Andy Bairsto
Gearboxes on high milers ,brakes, TDI cylinder head gasgets,suspension joint failures plus all normal where and tear.TDI normally good for 500000km in German taxi form where as DB do 2000000
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Fri 1 Feb 2002 23:45
Re: VW's! Are they perfect? - JohnM
I bought my collegue's 93M TDi Passat estate at 4yrs/100k from the leasing company, as I knew it had had no accidents and that he didn't thrash it, especially from cold, checked the oil, etc.
My wife drove it for 2.5 years/20k, approx 45mpg, acres of space, twin airbags as std, but it cost a fortune to keep going: central locking vacuum pump,
wheel bearing and stub axle (4th time bearing on the same wheel had failed, I
later discovered), printed circuit board for instrument lights, wiper motor, plus
normal tyres/disks/battery etc. Boost value controller also needed replacing (unusual fault - air mass meter on TDi's is much more common). Windows refusing to return are also a common problem. There was no crud in the inlet hoses when I checked.
It wallowed as well, though I recall it being floaty when I drove it when it was still young...
Great car,but not perfect - current Passat a big improvement in refinement.
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