Road Tests: Long-Term Test

In June, the Passat was transferred to the loving hands of yet another Edmunds.com editor — in this case, Road Test Editor Erin Riches. Like the rest of our staff, Erin has always been fond of the Passat, and so she slipped comfortably into a routine of commuting in it, savoring its miracle 1.8T engine, forgiving-yet-responsive ride and thoughtful cabin amenities. Perhaps most importantly, Erin found it validating to drive the Passat and be seen with it; often when she walked toward it in a parking lot, she found herself glancing about to see if anyone noticed the woman with the cool sedan.

Her dreamy adventure was interrupted early in the month, as it was time for the Passat's 50,000-mile oil change. Our VW's maintenance schedule is a bit unusual compared with those of other cars — it requires an oil change every 5,000 miles and an extensive battery of inspections and services every 12 months. Noting that the Passat had received its 12-month service in late August 2001, Erin realized that only an oil change would be needed this time. Further, since the car's Michelin Pilots are only about 5,000 miles old, it wouldn't be necessary to rotate the tires, either.

We did have a couple of repair issues for our VW dealership to investigate, though: First, the right brake light hadn't worked since last November; having confirmed that the bulb is still good, editors were convinced that we had a wiring problem. Second, although our Passat's clutch has always engaged high in the pedal travel (likely due to a combination of design and clutch wear from the previous owner), some of us, like Senior Editor Christian Wardlaw, feel that it has started to engage later and later in the cycle, making it irritatingly easy to overwork the clutch on inclines — which can result in bouts of gear slippage. Erin hadn't found the clutch bothersome, but at Wardlaw's urging, she decided to have Santa Monica Volkswagen check this out.

Our road test editor called to make an appointment about a week in advance. When she arrived at the dealership, the service drive was crowded with blonde-headed Golf and Jetta drivers and their cars, and it took Erin a few minutes to locate her assigned service advisor, J.D. She waited another 5 minutes while he finished up with another customer. He then greeted Erin pleasantly and carefully typed up the services she wanted. When our editor explained why only an oil change was necessary at this time, J.D. didn't pressure her to do more for the Passat.

As she was telling him that there might a wiring problem with right brake light, J.D. pulled out a VW bulb and suggested that sometimes a bulb's metal contact point gets worn down (even when the bulb itself is still good), rendering a lighting element non-operational. At this point, Erin probably could have asked to him to cross that item off the service receipt and purchased new bulbs from the dealership's parts department. As it turned out, had she opted to do this, she would have saved $13.20 in labor charges — technicians did find worn contact points on two of the Passat's bulbs (they were only making intermittent contact with the wiring), and according to our service receipt, the bulbs retail for $2.46 in the parts department. So, if you're driving around in a VW with extinguished lights, all you may need to do is purchase a new bulb or two and open up your owner's manual, which explains exactly how to replace them yourself — for free.

Since the VW dealership is located close to our office, Erin left the Passat in J.D.'s care and walked back to work. Later in the afternoon, J.D. called our editor with some interesting news. He wanted to know where we'd had our last oil change performed. It seems that someone had put the oil filter on so tight that when the technician pulled it off, the oil cooler came with it. This fiasco had necessitated the reinstallation of the oil cooler with a new seal, which costs $45. Erin assured J.D. that the Passat's last oil change had occurred at this dealership at the 45,000-mile interval. He seemed relieved and told her that this would probably be enough cause for the dealership to pick up the bill for the new oil seal (had this occurred at the hands of the Jiffy Lube staff, he said, we definitely would have been out of luck).

J.D. also gave Erin the lowdown on the clutch. A service technician had road-tested the Passat, and while he hadn't gotten the clutch to slip (neither had Erin), he did agree that the clutch engagement was quite high in the pedal travel. Unfortunately, since the Passat has a hydraulic clutch, no adjustments can be made — you simply have to replace the whole thing. While J.D. didn't think it was necessary to have the repair done right now, he gave us a quote for the entire job in case we wanted it later — $1,075! Suffice it to say that our Passat will not be getting a new clutch before the end of the lease (late August 2002), and even if that weren't the case, we'd definitely shop around before forking over that much cash.

Within 15 minutes or so, Erin received another call from J.D., who told her that Santa Monica VW would indeed foot the bill for the new oil seal and that she could come pick up the Passat. When she arrived, she paid the bill for $44.71 and had to wait only a minute or so while the Passat was transported to the service drive. Overall, it was a positive service experience, given the reasonable charge for the oil change ($24.99) and the fast turnaround — in by 11:30 a.m., out by 4:00 p.m.

Later in the month, Managing Editor Bryn MacKinnon spent some time with the Passat and encountered a few ergonomic annoyances in the family sedan.

"I dislike the inconvenience of having the remote trunk release button in the glovebox," she wrote in the logbook. "Leaning over from the driver seat to reach into the glovebox to find the button — at the same time keeping my foot on the brake so as to prevent the vehicle from rolling — required advanced yoga technique. Luckily, I've retained some of my flexibility from a brief stint as a hatha student. Someone with less stretch to them might find it more difficult. Therefore, I say this: My lowly Honda Civic DX has the trunk release located conveniently at the base of my seat on the door side, just a lazy-left-arm-dangling away from me; would it kill VW to follow suit?

"And while I'm on features that make me unhappy, how about the crank seatback adjuster? My boyfriend complained that his 1983 VW Jetta had the same technology going for it. In nearly 20 years of product evolution, you'd think they would have tried some other possibilities."

Toward the end of the month, Erin needed to map a route for an upcoming luxury sedan comparison test (in which a 2002 Passat W8 will compete), and she decided to use the Passat. If you're familiar with our comparison tests, you know that our driving routes always include plenty of curvy two-lane roads so that we can evaluate vehicles' handling. Obviously, the Passat isn't a sports car, but Erin found it to be an entertaining companion nonetheless.

"Our VW may have a soft, absorbent suspension," she wrote in the logbook, "but it doesn't isolate the driver from the road. I felt confident pushing the car around curves, since I had a good idea what was going on with the tires at all times. This car is so predictable — after weight transfers to the outside wheels, the Passat soon returns to a more neutral gait, which affords ample balance and grip. Even around tight turns, the steering gave the car a nimble feel; the weighting of the wheel is unusually good for a family sedan. Also, the new Michelin Pilots are very quiet."

As she turned in the keys, Erin felt only affection for our Passat. "Other midsize sedans may be faster or cheaper, but none are as thoughtfully engineered or as thoughtfully furnished as this VW. I get the impression that VW's design team actually cared whether customers would enjoy driving and spending time in this car."

Current Odometer: 51,189
Best Fuel Economy: 25.6 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 23.4 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 25.2 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: $44.71
Problems: None