2000 Volkswagen Passat GLS review from North America

Sunroof stopped working 2 months after I got the car.

After I got my oil changed, my car leaked oil everywhere.

O2 sensors, MAF sensor, plugs, and other misc. belts are complete garbage.

So I bought this car as a first car for myself in 2007. It was a beautiful car. 2000 Model year, 1.8T GLS, sunroof, heated leather seats, monsoon sound, tiptronic tranny, etc. All the "bells and whistles," but let me tell you, this car was anything but that.

I got it in May of 2007, just in time for the summer. I loved everything for the first couple of weeks I had the car. The sunroof. The quickness of the car. Heck, even the key was sweet (switchblade key).

However, towards the beginning of June, I noticed my sunroof was starting to rarely open. Then it just stopped opening. So now I have to open it up manually. Thought it was the switch ($70), nope. Thought it was the motor ($400), nope. It's the whole thing. Linkage and motor (1k!!!).

Then I got my synthetic oil change. Oh great. Got it done then the car started leaking oil. Took it to my local VW dealership and they charged me $80 to check it out, then another $220 to "fix" it. Then, it leaked... again. Luckily this time they put dye in the oil to pinpoint where it was coming from. Another $600 later, they wanted to "fix" it again. I yelled at them, talked to the manager who was so kind to lower the price $100.

Then, the ever so infamous check emissions light comes on whenever it pleases. Got that checked out. Car needed new plugs, new O2 sensors, pretty much new everything, and now it may need a new CC, which may run me another $700 or so.

My brother has an Audi and I loved it. I thought my VW was going to be like that. I was wrong. Very wrong. So now $1100 or so later, I am just feeling the burn in my wallet, with more to come.

This car is a nice car, if you have money to spend on it. The Tiptronic trans is nice, but since it's a VW, supposedly everything costs more because it's foreign. Which is understandable, but when a 4 cylinder cars' tuneup costs $400+, that's just terrible. Not to mention that the car takes Premium (93) gas too!