My Brother '96 Passat wagon has one of these antenna's. It was factory mounted,
so it seems VW goes with the flow on some cool items. When he bought it last
year, he complained over the bad radio reception, so the dealer pulled down the
rear end of the head liner, and found that the amp was missing. Wonder where
that one went. He's happy now!

PerL
87 Syncro 112i

Antaki wrote:

> These are amplified antennas to help make up for the long cable to the front
> of the car.
> A 12V power wire is run to the base along with the signal cable. Fuba makes
> most of them.
>
> Typically, the amplifier in the base will fail, necessitating headliner work
> as well. And the cost of the replacement is relatively high. Mine needs
> replacing, sigh.