No subject

Wed Apr 15 09:17:53 PDT 2009

Coolant and oil leaks have plenty of places to arise from and more
likely
than not, will happen. Cam plugs, seals, valve cover(s), coolant
lines,
metal line o-ring headaches, valley pan gasket, transmission problems,
ABS
pump failures (typically the electronic half, not hydraulic).
Instrument
cluster issues. EPC faults. I could go on.

My opinion of them is very low due to first hand experience.

Your S6 sounds like it needs a good chunk of change to be brought up
to
snuff, and would then be a keeper compared to the 2.8 Passat.

Of course, you could appease her current dislike for the S and then
once
acquired the Passat that is a never ending money pit,  and once it too
late,
reminisce on just how dependable and servicable the S6 was.

I service these particular cars a lot and everyone that has one is
either
looking to get rid of it or already has.

Caveat emptor! Aaron

-Brian

On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 11:58 AM, AaronT <atay101 at gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks everyone for your insight
I should have mentioned - My interest in the passat is to replace my
Avant
which has essentially ended up in my wifes hands and she is tired of
the
"nickles and dimes".
With my job ive been taking the bus or riding my bike and the only
time
I
drive seems to be when we are out of town on the weekend camping /
riding
etc and for that we use the camper van. (Ford diesel - 160Kmi
NOTHIING
needed except brakes for the duration)
So...performace concerns with the passat are understood coming from
this
crowd but she could basically care less.
My concerns are with longevity and maintenance costs.
I  understand the V6's run a timing chain so 60k mi timing belt
changes
are
a thing of the past.
Anything else significant to look forward to on the path from 75k to
150k+
mi?
Cheers
Aaron

On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 9:09 AM, LL - NY <larrycleung at gmail.com>
wrote:

Maybe it's just Passats, since my buddie's Passat seems to be just
as
recalcitrant. New batteries and the subsequent reset is all.

On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 11:03 AM, Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
wrote:

I wonder if you have issues with your keys- my mom's beetle has
been
fine
and the old a4 never had any issue with the key.

Did you try fresh batteries and resyncing the keys?

On Sep 9, 2010 8:30 AM, "LL - NY" <larrycleung at gmail.com> wrote:
I can chime in on my experience with my Mom's 2001.5 GLX 4mo Wagon
(same
car, for the most part as an '03 I think some features change,
otherwise it's another post facelift (still B5) car. 2.8 V6 30V).

Beware, the car is of very low miles (Mom doesn't travel much,
just
local
driving) and it's been through a number of hits (one fairly
severe)
as
Mom
also doesn't drive real well.

Overall, competent vehicle, pleasant enough of a drive. For
spirited
driving
if you're used to UrS thrust, well, it doesn't have it. It has
perfectly
adequate pull, but the very act of spirited driving highlights
it's
one
biggest flaw, Tiptronic. In regular driving, it's fine, virtually
transparent. In spirited driving, it's slow to kickdown (even with
manual
selection) fast to shift up, will not hold at redline and it's got
a
low
rev
stall speed (for the weak low down torque, this works against
getting
a
good
launch, say, like trying to get into heavy fast traffic from a
side
street).
Due to the pedal interlock, you can't LFB.

Problems (car has less than 30K miles), running wise, essentially
none.
Only
real problem is the stereo head unit, which has now the standard
VAG
issues,
(display winks out, first it was the backlight, now when the
actual
display
goes out) the only control that works is the power switch on the
head
unit
and the steering wheel controls. All other head unit controls go
AWOL
when
the display is out. You can sometimes restore the display (thus
control)
by
pressing on the face of the unit, but this obviously is not going
to
last
forever. The unit is a Typhoon, but doesn't have the CD changer
out
back.

Car has held up fairly well considering that Mom doesn't really
care
about
cars at all, and it's condition at any time kind of shows it. A
good
cleaning would bring everything back (i.e. the materials, inside
and
out
hold up well except the exterior brightwork, which is getting the
VAG
"milky" patina) except for the dents that have nothing to do with
the
car.
As a DD, it's nicer (I think) and a much better drive than say a
similar
vintage Camry. Still, it doesn't have quite the same verve as the
UrS
when
the roads get interesting. I guess the best word I can think of
for
it
was
the first one I used...competent. And perhaps more reliable than a
C4
car.
It IS much more dependent on diagnostics and system changes on
VAG-COM.

My local friend has a 2003 1.8T 5sp 4mo Wagon (rare!) and the only
real
issues he has had (car has well over 100K miles on it now) has
been
the
door
locks, and brakes (although he has a dirt driveway. Mom's car is
garaged).
BOTH cars suffer from the most irritating remote key controls on
the
planet.
It's like Forrest Gump's box of choclates. You press a button and
ya
never
know if it's gonna work. If it were me, and nothing of value was
in
the
car,
I'd leave the damn thing unlocked...oh, you can't. The stupid
hatch
will
lock anyway. It's like the car's remote and locking functions were
designed
by and for...Americans.

HTH,
On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 12:16 AM, AaronT <atay101 at gmail.com>
wrote:

Sorry folks but another non scar question -
Anybody have any direct experience with a 2003 VW passat 4Mo
wagon
(2.8v6)?
Still looking for a reasonable replacement for my 95S6Avant....
Which by the way has been rather trouble free lately - famous
last
words.
Thanks
Aaron
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