2003 Volkswagen Passat V6 TDI review from UK and Ireland

Power steering pump belt failed

Engine Seized

Power steering pump belt failed again

Air Con stopped working.

I bought this to be a comfortable daily driver that would be capable of taking the Daily grind, plus my regular motorway drives, as well as being capable of towing.

Good bit (won't take long)

This was one great car on the motorway. By far the best I have owned. Smooth, soft suspension giving excellent ride. The Engine suited the car perfectly.

Bad bits.

I will always remember this as the worst car I have owned. for the 6 months I owned it, it spent 4 in the garage. The soft suspension that I originally fell for and gave it its motorway manners also gave it woeful handling. It rolled around corners with terrible body control, pitching all over the place.

The Interior design was traditional VW and this is a good thing. Well laid out and the Interior quality was lovely. Less lovely though was in spite of this, the actually build quality was not good, with trim reguarly falling off. The interor was not worn, in fact it was in beautiful condition for a 90k car. Strips kept coming out the doors.

I have heard so much about VW build quality, but a friend with a Golf mk4 has also suffered. My own opinion, and I am sorry if you disagree is that because the interiors are so nice looking, and made from such quality materials that VW have gained an undeserved reputation for build quality...

At the end of the day, I was deeply saddened that such a nice looking, comfortable car turned out so badly. I have since replaced it with a Mondeo. Bit bumpier than the passat on the motorway, but the firmer chassis give handling abilities that the passat can't dream off.

I do acknowledge that I got a bit of a Friday Night model. Even so if it had been perfectly reliable, I would still prefer the Mondeo.