Used 2003 Volkswagen Passat Consumer Reviews

Fun to drive, but loads of exasperating maintenanc

Bought my V6 GLX PASSAT FROM THE SECOND OWNER. At 72,000 original miles. I paid $4,000 for it which I thought was a good deal. But to my chagrin it is been a money tornado. I've done nothing but work on this car constantly because of all the little things that go wrong with it. After I first got it it blew a heater hose immediately while in line at a fast food restaurant. After I fix that. It the water pump started leaking so I went ahead and performed the timing belt maintenance that was going to be due any up at about 100,000 miles so I went ahead and did all that. I replaced the valve cover gaskets spark plugs fuel filter. All the vacuum lines under the hood were deteriorating and broke apart the minute you touch them so I had to replace all those if I had to take this car to a dealer it would have cost me a fortune and I probably would have walked away from it but since I do my own car repairs and it's a hobby of mine I'm learning about the Volkswagen was eye-opening experience in itself. The V6 is very tight and you have to perform a what's called a remove the front end pull the front end out to do any kind of work on on the car really it's not that big of a deal but some people you know you could require special tools and stuff. That's the only drawback but you can rent these those tools to do these the job and you know it's it's not a vehicle for a college kid or somebody who needs a consistent vehicle that doesn't have a lot of tiki tack things break down on it other than that the the airbags have never give me a problem braking system is fantastic the steering system and a suspension is fantastic the engine as long as you change the oil and take care of it you it will probably run for as long as you want but there is a lot of plastic on these cars that I don't hold up overtime. I got to say there's no problem with the engine of the transmission in any shape or form or like the big things like the sunroof and things like that but other than that I like the my car to be in tip top shape and looking like it's it's in we'll take care of so little things that go wrong can be real bothersome and believe me this car will be bothersome you either love it or you hate it.

Watch out for sludge

I love my '03 Passat for its handling and performance. With that said, I have recently encountered the sludge issue. It is a issue that they leave out during the sales pitch. You only encounter it when it is time to change your oil. That is when they inform you that you must use synthetic oil because of sludge build up. My car is less that 4 years old and I have had to rebuild my engine. I followed the instructions from VW to use the more expensive oil and it still occurred before 140K miles. VW offered to give me a new engine, only if I supplied 100% of the scheduled oil change receipts. They asked for 26 and I could only produce 20. Therefore no new engine.

My Mom-Mobile

This is a wonderful car that has given me few problems in the time I've owned it. The AWD allows me to corner at any speed I want and never complain. I've been able to drive through rain and then a couple of feet of snow and it feels no different that driving on dry pavement. This really feels like it is the Audi in VW clothing.

GLX Passat Wagon, 5 Speed Manual

I usd to be a valet car prkr and hve drvn thsnds of cars, rngng frm Yugos to Lmbrginis. Fr undr $30,000, the Pasat is an absltly fblus cr cmprd to othrs. I also cnsidrd the 2003 Hnda Acrd but I didn't lke it's mre desensitized sterng and suspnsn; tpicl of Japnse cars. Don't get me wrng whn you read my sugsted impvemts; I thnk the Psat is a fblus cr. It's jst tht car cmpnes wld be wise to hire me to fnd thngs wrng with ther crs. I excel at that. Thre are ltraly hndrds of outstndng thngs about ths car. Only 300 chrctrs ar alowd in the nxt two clmns, so I am gng to wrte sgstd impvmts in bth clmns.

Disappointment