2001 Volkswagen Passat GLS review from North America

We live in Seattle and went to Berkeley, CA to purchase the car used (however, it was certified) and the car broke down about 1/2 way home, in Oregon. Volkswagen's roadside service towed it to a dealership nearby that said the car should never have been certified and it had "sludge" on the bottom of the oil pan and the motor was bad. The car was towed back to Berkeley at VW's expense where the dealership told us not to worry it would be taken care of. Needless to say VW would not cover the blown engine and told us we must have done it (we only had the car a few hours and didn't drive crazy or do anything stupid), we said what about the "sludge" and they didn't care. The engine rebuild cost us over $10,000 plus another trip and time off work to get the car in California.

Shortly after getting the car home to rainy Seattle I discovered that the sunroof drains were clogged and leaking water in the car, had to have the dealer flush them, at my expense.

At about 50,000 miles an air line failed and caused the car to barely go, had to have it fixed at the dealer, warranty covered that-finally.

The display in the dash that states the temperature, gear engaged, etc. works intermittently.

Rubber/Plastic trim on door handles and around "cubby" under stereo has been and is peeling off.

Within the past few hundred miles have noticed the coolant it leaking, excessively. It looks as if it's coming from the front passenger side, but who knows. Every four days or so I must add coolant, the car flashes "stop" and lets me know the coolant is low.

My husband had a 94 Jetta when we were in school and it was great, but this has left such a bad taste in my mouth I wouldn't even consider purchasing a VW again.

I'm seriously thinking of trading my car in for another just because I'm scared of more problems to come.