Stories like these confirm the wisdom of holding onto my ancient but rock
solid Audi C4 Avants.  If I could figure out how to transplant the Quattro
running gear into my Vanagon, I'd be all over it.

On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 12:35 PM, Joe T. <vanagon85@gmail.com> wrote:

> It's crazy how many Vanagon people have also been Passat people.  I bought
> my wife an '01 Passat 4Motion Wagon, 30V V6, silver with black leather
> interior, absolutely beautiful and amazing to drive.  I loved that car.
>
> Then the warranty ran out, a warranty that I got my money's worth out of at
> the dealer.  After that, I was hard-pressed to work on the thing myself (I
> do own a Vanagon, for heaven's sake, which takes up a good bit of my
> mechanic time and skills) and every single trip to the mechanic for the
> Passat was $1000+.
>
> My wife now drives a Highlander.  Not nearly as cool, but it has more
> space,
> it's incredibly durable with two crazy little kids, and gives us absolutely
> ZERO trouble.
>
> Now that prices have come down on used B5 Passats, I find myself looking at
> them occasionally, but then I remind myself of the water pump
> self-destructing and basically destroying every pulley on the front of the
> engine, costing me $2000 and leading to the trade-in.
>
> --
> Joe T.
> '85 Wolfsburg Westy Subie 2.2
>
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 12:46 PM, Joe Luther <jluther@alfons-haar.us>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I had a pampered 00 Passat with the 30v Audi V6, it was the end of my
> > relationship with VWoA and the end of my flirtation with 'newer' VW's.
> >
> > Surf around on passatworld.com for a taste of the maintenance and other
> > expenses associated with ownership before doing more than dreaming.
> >
> > VW is supposed to be the people's car, the Passat is the rich people's
> car.
> > They are incredibly expensive to own.
> >
> > Also, watch the 1.8T, they have a serious issue with sludging in that car
> > that is not present in the transverse Golf/Jetta platform.
> >
> > That said, the B5 Passat is one of the best looking watercooled VW's ever
> > made, I sure wish they were less painful to own.
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Joe
> >
> >
> --
> Joe T.
> '85 Wolfsburg Westy Subie 2.2
>

--
Casey