1999 Volkswagen Passat GL review from North America

When I had had the car about 5-months the accelerator stuck for almost a minute. The brakes slowed it somewhat but I couldn't get the car to slow down until it was going well over 90 MPH. VW's comment to me - you were mistaken.

Glove box door broke at 25,000 miles.

The tie rods died in December 99 with 40,000 miles on the car. Cost to repair - over $330. VW told me at that point that having to replace tie rods at 40K miles was not unusual. They subsequently failed to advise me of a recall for - tie rods. The recall came out in January 2000 but I had mysteriously fallen off their mailing list.

The front ball joints need to be replaced at 50,200 miles. VW Customer Care comments to me "... We have no records of other problems of this nature". The VW tech from my dealership told me what was wrong before he saw the car and before I told him anything other than the front end creaked. He said that there is a major problem with the ball joints but that VW will not acknowledge it.

I've had a Honda, an Olds, an Eagle, and a Dodge. If there was a problem, they would advise you of it. VW will not do so.

Ball joints don't go bad at 50,000 miles of highway driving - gravel roads, maybe... freeways, no.

Bad product, bad customer relations.

The package was great originally, smart, stylish, responsive.

The customer service and the quality of the suspension are atrocious for a car in this price range.