2001 Volkswagen Passat review from North America

Ignition coils. They would only replace one at a time, so you were scared to death of breaking down at any given time. It seemed each year, one went at a time. Luckily for me, all of mine have been replaced at this point. The final replacement I refused to drive the car in (it wasn't totally broken down, but sputtering), and my dealership gave me a hard time and just told me to "drive it in." Needless to say, after that conversation, I was on the phone with the General Manager. I think because the service representative I happen to get on the phone thought because I was a woman, I must not know what I was talking about, and it couldn't possibly be the ignition coil... guess what? It was.

This summer... water pump went... since I had less than 50,000 miles, it was under warranty.

Check Engine Light. Comes on every single winter. Usually, it is nothing. I've been told it's some senor, or some misfire...etc,., and the car runs fine even w/the engine light on. This winter, about 3 weeks ago, the engine light came on again. But then, went off a week later. A big sigh of relief. Next week, back on. Running fine until about a week ago. Starts fine, runs fine, but when I'm at a light, it does not idle properly and feels like its going to stall, but does not (I give it gas to "even it out.") Called two VW dealerships in my area (the one I purchased the car, and another one that is actually closer to my home). The one dealership, will not look at something like that on a Saturday, so has to be a weekday, which means, time off from work. And the other dealership will do it on a Saturday, but there is a "special technician" that takes care of the engine light problem, and only works one Saturday a month. Thankfully, that is this Saturday. So this Saturday, I guess I will find out how much this is going run me!

Love the stereo and how it handles, but would never purchase another Passat...I'll go back to Toyota, thanks...200,000 miles and rarely had a problem, except for general maintenance!