Faults:

I had the vacuum hoses replaced around 75,000 miles. I was in an accident, and the car was towed to a repair shop, they claimed the check engine light was on and that the vacuum hoses needed replaced along with accident repairs.

Electronics in the car are spotty like I have heard about all VWs. The gas cap sometimes will take several tries to open, I've spent up to 10 minutes trying to open it but it always opens eventually.

The rear driver's side door randomly loses power, so the locks and windows won't work until the power comes back on.

General Comments:

Great engine and you got to love that turbocharger sound.

Tiptronic automatic transmission is fun to play with on mountain roads.

Car recommends 91 Octane fuel, 87 Octane Minimum. I use 85 Octane (I'm cheap :) and the engine does not knock or ping, but I live over 5,300 feet above sea level and I think the thinner air might have a part in preventing the pinging and knocking.

Seat warmers are amazing and get incredibly hot when they're turned up, works great if you are still waiting for the engine to warm up to turn on the heat.

Handles very well and does OK in the snow.

Have taken the car for four 1/4 mile runs at the race track, and taken it up to top speed several times on a closed track (135mph on the speedometer) and it still runs. It has a durable little engine that keeps on ticking. Maybe I've just gotten lucky though.

Faults:

Emissions workshop frequently on.

Drink tray holder wouldn't latch 50000.

Oil pump issues 52000.

Flasher unit went out 55000.

Trunk latch broke 58000.

Timing belt broke 71000.

General Comments:

Absolutely disappointing and expensive to own. It currently sits at the VW shop with an open case with VW Corp regarding a defective timing belt breaking at 71,000 miles, although inspected at 60K and supposedly good through 105,000...estimated damage to the car which was moving at 30mph when this happened---$6,412.00..yes, that is not a typo... NEVER consider this year, engine and turbo combination!

Faults:

Oil pump.

Window regulator.

Drivers side door lock fell apart.

Various lighting issues (exterior).

CAM position sensor.

Axles/CV joints.

Throttle body adjustments.

Radio display distorted.

Leaky valve cover gasket replaced.

Leaky coolant flange on the back of engine block - make of plastic!

Turbo return line developed a mysterious hole in it!?

General Comments:

The car handles very well for a front wheel drive car and is fun to drive. But the thing is so freakin unreliable and expensive to maintain, you end up hating it.

This car has left my wife stranded more times than I can remember. And we spent a lot of time and money on preventative maintenance as well. We were angry when we just spent $800 on a timing belt job, to find out a month later that the oil pump was shot - another $1000 please. SUCKS!

It might not be as bad if parts and labor were reasonable. But no, everything is like $500 starting, and higher. It's just insane! You may as well be driving a Porsche.

I've had 2 Audi's that are high maintenance as well, and this Passat has cost me more than both those cars together to keep on the road, and I've owned it the least amount of time.

The car is in the shop right now (12 days now), and they don't know what's wrong with it. But I know that it's going to end up being electrical problems. Either way, as soon as we get this car back (fixed or not) we're dumping it at the first seller or dealer willing to taking off our hands and count it as a loss. Obviously, I will never buy another VW again. Total CRAP! We're going to get an Infiniti I35 or a Lexus ES300.