2003 Volkswagen Passat SE review from UK and Ireland

Minor problem with the radio - dealer replaced under warranty - no quibbles.

The options added to the car at purchase were metallic paint, sports suspension (kept the standard SE alloys) and the winter pack that came free with the car at time of purchase - the heated seats were spot on, especially on early cold winter mornings.

I found the 130 diesel engine to be a reasonable mix of performance and economy. It is a little on the noisy side, when compared to some of the competition, but I didn't find it to intrusive, in fact I quite liked it (weird maybe!!). On one occasion I managed to squeeze almost 60 mpg on a 600+ mile round trip (Didn't even need to top to fill the tank). On the whole it generally averaged approx. 52mpg, which for an estate car, that probably has all the aerodynamics of a wardrobe isn't too bad at all - especially considering the sort of kit that I had to run up and down the country.

The seats were OK, with plenty of adjustment to get comfortable and all the switch gear seemed to be in the right places. Something that sets this car apart from some of the others is the attention to detail, for example the small sun visor that flips down from behind the rear view mirror, closing off the gap that's always between the passenger and drivers sun visors - no need for the black stipple effect that's usually found in that area of the windscreen.

Although it is only meant to be an estate car and not really designed for chucking into roundabouts, keeping the standard wheels, but opting for the sports suspension, gave the car more precise handling in the corners, but did not effect it's motorway ride quality too much.

I found the dealership very helpful and efficient - I cannot comment on service costs etc, as this car was my company car, so all costs were covered.

On the whole this car is a good all rounder, it's probably not the best car in this category, but I found that it managed to do everything that I needed it to do.