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Used 2003 Volkswagen Passat Consumer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
592 reviews

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3.88 out of 5 stars

Never again

John from Shoreview, 02/07/2008
2003 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8T Fwd 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl Turbo 5M)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful

My Passat was purchased used w/ 17k miles. It now has 66k miles. The driver power window failed immediately and required 3 dealer visits. The fuel pump failed at 40k in traffic. It eats tires. It eats rear brakes. Maintenance and repair costs are ridiculous. Handles wonderfully, is fast, and has beautiful exterior lines but I consider it unreliable enough to not use for long road trips. I've never been to the dealership when there was not at least one person yelling about a failure or bill. Runs poorly below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Monsoon stereo is awesome.

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4.75 out of 5 stars

2003 GLX great car!

Passatman, 02/11/2003
2003 Volkswagen Passat GLX Fwd 4dr Sedan (2.8L 6cyl 5A)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Impressive car to drive, smooth, quiet and fast. Lots of very nice touches. Better than the Jaguars, lincolns, and other expensive cars I test drove. Love the layout inside the car, love the firm but smooth ride, the silky smooth v6 and auto trans are tops. Loads of nice options on the GLX.

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3 out of 5 stars

VW Quality

joeM, 02/11/2003
2003 Volkswagen Passat GL Fwd 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl Turbo 5A)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful

I had 6 japanese cars prior to the Passat, the Passat does not come remotely close in regards to reliability. First 5 months had to go for repair of Homelink twice, Tire had a slow leak due to counterweight installed to close to valve stem. last weekend got stuck 250 miles from home with a problem known to VW for a while, had to be towed and repair took 6 hours to replace a defective coil. There is a VW advisory out on these coils, but they still refused to replace the other 3 in my car. the comment from the Corporate office is that I have to break down again for the second time before they replace the remaining defective parts.

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4.75 out of 5 stars

Its ok with a W8

rough driver in MT, 12/25/2009
2003 Volkswagen Passat W8 4Motion AWD 4dr Sedan (4.0L 8cyl 5A)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Yea I read a lot of the complaints that these cars have but have you ever noticed that the complaints are only about the 1.8T? We have a 03 W8 passat and were the type that takes a car anywhere. Are passat goes through a lot of abuse because where we live has a lot of rough roads and unpredictable weather and it still runs ok. So if you are going to get one these cars get a W8 with 4motion because these cars are very heavy and do need the extra power and the 1.8T may do the job but stresses the engine to much causing parts to wear faster.

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5 out of 5 stars

A Super Car!

bjbird2, 09/25/2002
2003 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8T Fwd 4dr Sedan (1.8L 4cyl Turbo 5A)
0 of 0 people found this review helpful

This car is really a kick to drive. I actually look foeward to my commute to and from work since I bought the Passat.

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