I might surmise that many troubles were specific to the exotic W8  
engine and running gear, although the latter is allegedly based on the  
Audi A4.

A few friends own 1.8t Passats and are very happy with them.

Chris.

Wysłane z iPhone'a

Dnia Apr 1, 2011 o godz. 15:35 "Joe T." <vanagon85@GMAIL.COM> napisał 
(a):

> 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