2003 Volkswagen Passat W8 Variant review from Australia and New Zealand

Rough idle that the dealer has been unable to resolve. I had been told that it has a faulty coil (one of eight) and that they were just working through them one at a time until the problem was resolved. The agency changed to another dealer as the warranty expired and now no one wants to know about the problem.

The Torque Converter gave intermittent problems and then failed (just after the warranty ran out) The dealer replaced the unit with some financial assistance from VW NZ. The down change still has an intermittent clunk at low speed.

A good passage maker. This car can cover a lot of distance with little effort. Driving position is good and the car does all of the work for you. Passenger's are comfortable and because the car is so smooth a fair speed can be maintained without a slap on the back of the drivers head from the left hand seat.

I have found the fuel consumption very good (for an eight). The car will run at about 10.5 litres per 100km on the highway at 110kph with the odd burst to pass. Driven hard around town it can consume the 75 litre tank in less than 250km.