27th Oct 2007, 20:06
Referring to the above comment:
The Diesels may be noisy, but the 130 version certainly ain't slow! 1.8 (turbo or not) and 2.0 versions frought with coil problems and leaks, and anything over 2.0 in UK pointless because you WILL be stung by expensive Road Tax especially the W8 which will run at £400 p/a.
I'll stick with my TDi130 thanks!
20th Dec 2007, 04:43
Original reviewer here. I forgot all about this review until I stumbled back across this site recently.
Still have the Mondeo - now it's on 66,000 miles and apart from an injector needing recoding (warranty job no questions asked) it literally has not missed a beat. Servicing is half the cost of VWs, and the dealer doesn't look at you as if he's found you smeared on the sole of his shoe.
The Mondeo is not as plush inside as the Passat, and some of the materials used are cheaper feeling, but I genuinely feel it's a much better engineered car under the skin. More refined, equally fast, smoother, better riding, infinitely better handling, and every control is almost perfectly weighted and modulated. I In fact if my memory serves me correctly, this has better damping and body control after 66,000 hard driven miles than the Passat had when delivered.
The new Passat looks appealing, but I will never give another penny of my hard earned to Volkswagen after their disgraceful customer service. I accept that on a product with so many wires and moving mechanical parts, the odd thing will go wrong, but I don't expect multiple faults in a short time, and certainly not to have to argue to get them fixed. Whatever I choose to replace it with, I will never go back to VW.
21st Mar 2008, 17:46
I see the passat came 67th place in the driver power 2008 survey, owners complained of soggy vague handling and unreliability. The Mondeo came 49th not brill but everyone is under the illusion that the passat is a better car when this is clearly not the case. Vectra 69th enough said.
16th Oct 2007, 21:52
As far the Passat B5 and B4 concerns, the only decent one is the 1.8 Turbo 20 Valve with the 5-speed manual. Might I suggest to go for the Passat B5 (2001-2004) which got a an extra 20 Bhp compared to the 150 Bhp of the Passat B4 (1997-2001).
The Tiptronic gearbox operates smoothly, but it doesn't work at all mated to the 1.8T 20V engine.
There is no point going for the 2.8 V6 30 Valve engine because not only it will guzzle more fuel, but its performance is hampered by the extra weight of the four-wheel-drive system (4Motion).
So what about the Diesels? Well the 1.9 TDI is slow and noisy, so the 2.5 V6 TDI is the one to go for, although still isn't fast, again, due the extra weight of the 4WD system.
Forget anything powered by 1.6 8V, 2.0 8V, normally aspirated 1.8 20V, 2.3 V5. Basically don't bother with any normally aspirated 4-cylinder or 5-cylinder stuff.
If you can afford the fuel bills and find one for a decent price (only 300 were sold in the UK market) the Passat W8 is quite a car. 280 Bhp and 4WD under the rather anti-septic body of a Volkswagen Passat... brilliant!