2002 Volkswagen Passat Station Wagon from North America - Comments

It is a love hate relationship. I love driving it but, I hate the fact that I bought the car and have spent more time in the dealer than any other car I have ever owned and VW will not take responsibility. Rather they told me that a quart of oil per 1000 miles was to be expected and was in the operators manual. I have to say I have read the manual and it does in fact say that the car may use some oil i.e. at high speeds. However, I drive my car to and from work at approx 45-55 miles per hour and in less than 1000 miles acutally in 800 miles I have to add almost two quarts of oil. I have a signed copy of a receipt saying this is normal. When I went to the dealer they asked if I wanted to change my oil. I must say why would I change the oil when I put new oil in it every 3 weeks. Other than the problem listed I have to say the performance of the V6 is nice it was my first and last German car. It is a shame that VW will not own up to the fact that this car probably has valve stem problems and they could fix it and have a loyal customer rather they would like to pretend that there are not any issues.

It is a love/hate relationship with my 2002 Passat wagon (1.8 Turbo). On one hand it is everything I want in a car, lots of room (love the wagon especially with a family and a dog), good performance, great looking, good gas mileage, comfortable, etc.

I bought it used with 44,000 miles on it and since then, in the 14 months I've owned it, the ignition coil has gone out (car had to be towed in), the solenoid needed to be replaced, dash display read out faded, sun roof stopped working (only when the temp rose above 65 degrees), heater doesn't work now (only when the temp dropped below 70 degrees) and the car is currently in the shop. Why hasn't VW done a recall on the ignition coil?

I'm so disappointed, and frustrated. I love this car, but with all the problems, I have to get rid of it. It came with a 24,000 mile certified pre-owned warranty (thankfully!) that has 2,200 left on it. By the time it runs out I will likely be in a different car.