Faults:

Brakes, suspension, all the usual wear and tear of age and miles.

Wheel bearings at front changed after about 100,000 miles.

Coolant expansion tank replaced after suspected leak.

Minor electrical issues, nothing major.

I kept the car serviced on time and drove carefully, it never broke down on me.

General Comments:

One of my best cars. This silver 2002 Passat in SE trim was an absolute dream to drive and own during the 2000's. Value for money motoring never got any better. It was a fantastic time period with fantastic cars.

The car had such a solid feel to it as most VW's do. Reputation for build quality is deserved in my opinion, it was one of my most reliable cars.

2.0 petrol engine performance was OK and it did around 34 mpg which was OK for a petrol engine in a larger car.

Interior space and quality was fantastic. Long journeys were looked forward to.

Sold it back in 2015 (just time to move on, had it a long time). It had over 110,000 miles and was still going strong. I do miss simpler times.

Faults:

The weak suspension can't take British roads, so required lots of replacement parts.

Clutch wore out, but that is to be expected.

Tailgate handle needed taking apart and cleaning to work again.

Used a lot of engine oil; apparently normal.

A/C needed gassing.

General Comments:

Like most VWs, overrated. Build quality actually not all that, and not as rattle free as the previous car, a 3 year older and 30k more miles Vectra!

The handling is poor, very soft, and the ESP cuts in way way too soon. Despite that, the ride wasn't brilliant either; unladen it was thumpy and rough, and fully loaded it was spongy and wallowy. Maybe new shocks would have fixed this, but hey.

The engine consumed oil as if it was being burnt, but apparently that's normal for the 20v engine. For a modern 5v engine design, power and economy was down on rival models. Really suffered fully loaded and MPG was poor generally.

It was huge in the boot though, and we did load it fully once and it was incredible what we packed in, but the rest of the time the car was so tedious as to be invisible!

The blue dash lights look good, but gave me sore eyes after a few hours of night driving.

Surprisingly good stereo, really impressive for standard kit.

The very complex front suspension is quite weak and expensive to fix correctly. Also all engines are belt driven and all models have dual mass flywheels, so can be pricey to keep going if you need to go to a garage.

The only advantage it has is the badge on the nose; other cars are far better to drive and own.

Faults:

Water coolant reservoir drained.

Front left CV-joint knocking when turning left.

General Comments:

This car introduced me to the world of diesel engines, and I'll never go back to petrol.

Take off power is excellent, and the handling on the roads after putting on a set of alloys with hard wearing tyres, has made the drive smoother.

The economy is second to none for the age, mileage and size of the car - at my last calculation it is doing 55.4 mpg.

The biggest plus for this car is the excellent comfort from every seat while on the move.

Faults:

Was impeccably reliable until about 70,000 miles then the following in the last 14k (all out of warranty:

Clutch judder (common fault and nearly £800 to fix)

Have had to replace almost the entire front suspension due to knocks, creaks and clonks over bumps. Apparently, 70,000 miles is good going for front suspension on a Passat!! Nice to know these things when you're paying a big bill.

Water leaking into the car because of a blocked drain channel (design fault and common problem)

Alarm developed a mind of its own (common problem caused by the water getting into the car)

Inside edges of rear tyres scrubbing (worn bushes, another common problem)

Temperature gauge "quits" after about 20 minutes of running. Switching the ignition off and on again cures it. For another 20 minutes.

Pipe popped off the intercooler reducing boost to zero. This car can barely move its own weight when that happens. Oh, this is a common problem also.

General Comments:

Great car in many ways. Classy, comfortable, lively, economical, refined and good looking (in my opinion)

Was the model of reliability for 70,000 miles. Didn't have to so much as replace a bulb. Sadly, once it got to 70,000 miles it was like it had been pre-programmed to self destruct.

Had I followed the "offical" VW dealer route for all of the above repairs, I would have spent over £2,000 on unscheduled repairs in the last year. By using independents, I managed to get it down to half that, but still appalling on a supposed quality product.

The disinterest and rudeness of VW dealers has to be experienced to be believed.

I want rid of it, but having just spent a grand on it, I want to get my money's worth. I still really like driving the car, but I don't trust it any more.

The least reliable and most expensive to maintain car I have ever owned, and I have owned two Alfasuds and a Rover SD1!