2003 Volkswagen Passat Sport review from UK and Ireland

Temperature gauge stopped working.

Passenger footwell trim fell off.

Intermittent misfire - dealer had it in twice and couldn't find anything wrong with it.

A nice car in many ways. It's big, elegant and still looks sharp even though they are everywhere now, and the design is getting on a bit. The interior design looks high quality and modern, and the performance from the 1.8 turbo engine is good.

I didn't like the steering which was too light and the brakes which were over-assisted to the point of being dangerous. Much less of a drivers car than the Peugeot 406 I had before, although it was a bit better built. Not as much so as the hype would have you believe though.

Some niggling faults, but basically reliable. Some of the trim quality and levels of fit and finish were not so good if you looked closely, despite a good, solid overall impression when you first get in the car.

The worst thing about the car though was the fuel consumption. Even on a motorway run at a steady 70-80, it wouldn't do much more than 28-30 mpg and around town it averaged 24. Not good enough for just 150 bhp really.

Generally an OK car, but like the 406 it does feel old hat now next to the Mondeo and Mazda 6. New model should be better.