Faults:

- Door opening joints becoming loose and weak.

- At -8°C a click can be heard from the rear right, possibly handbrake seizure - not sure!

Apart from the two minor irritations, the car has performed reliably over the past 20,000 km's.

General Comments:

Driving position is not to my liking, I am 6ft3, I like to sit high - if I do, my knees are in the way of the wheel. If I sit low I feel very short and my sight is impaired (slightly)...the leather seats are very uncomfortable, the lower back region is very hard - even lumbar adjust does not correct this - a pain as I travel a lot.

The car is not quick, it only has the smaller 100ps TDI engine, but to be fair it feels well planted on the motorway at 140km/h, more so than the new 06 edition VW Passat with 150ps I recently hired.

The steering is a bit vague compared to the Mondeo I hired too, at 180km/h (vmax) it feels a bit light and and floaty - but at that speeds I would guess the suspension geometry would also need changing to accommodate.

Faults:

Ignition switch needed replacement.

Really bad oil leak.

Door handle covers separating from handles.

Headliner falling off.

Transmission needs new transmission needed soon.

Leather seats cracking.

General Comments:

Great autobahn car! But that's THE ONLY good thing about it!Except for all of the extra space.

It's a complete nightmare!

Seats are kind of hard. Not very comfortable.

Bad gas mileage.

Faults:

During the first half of my ownership when mostly used on the autobahn, the car underwent on-condition maintenance, which means that it was serviced according to the manufacturer's specifications. Afterwards I only did what was absolutely necessary. The Passat Variant (or Quantum in the US) never had a breakdown in 18 years.

Catalyst retrofit at 90.000 km.

New clutch at 120.000 kms; several rear exhausts during its lifetime, they usually lasted 3 years.

New speedometer at 196.960 kms.

Heating of the carburettor had to be exchanged at 210.000 km.

After compression on one cylinder deteriorated after 255.000 km, the engine was exchanged with some auxiliary systems (i.e. clutch).

New starter at 270.000 km.

New alternator at 290.000 km.

Slight signs of corrosion on the outside of the rear wheel bays and at the lower rear of the car's body.

Interior kept very well.

General Comments:

During all of its lifetime the car turned out to be a very reliable workhorse. The flaws during its latter lifetime occurred well beyond the mileage at which you would usually expect.

The 1.6 litre engine with 85 HP (double solex carburettor) offered a good compromise between performance and fuel economy (not more than 9.0 litres at 140 kmh, at a constant 100 kmh in fifth you could easily reduce it to 7.5 litres). Of course it was no racing car and I would have preferred the in-line five cylinder later, but you never really felt underpowered as cars in those days did not have all the weight-adding extras like electric windows etc. The Passat Variant had a ramp weight of 1050 kgs only.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

This is hands down the best car I have ever owned. Performance is on par with cars that cost thousands more. Comfort and convenience are superb. This car looks and feels expensive. People always think this is a Volvo or BMW, and I say no, it's a VW. They're like really?, that's a nice car.

I have never had a minutes trouble with it, which is probably luck, because the sevice department at the dealership is full of monkeys. I have had it in for general maintenance, and they always try to add something. Once with 42K on the odometer I was told I need an oil pan. I made them let me go back there and look and there was nothing wrong. They just forgot to put a crush washer in last time and there was a little oil on the bottom. My warranty is out now so I just take the car to a reputable mechanic. Thanks for giving us a place to share comments.