1996 Volkswagen Passat TDI from North America - Comments

We have had to replace 2 oxidation catalysts and a window regulator more recently. Apart from routine maintainence, this car is very dear to us and would not give it up for anything.

In general, VW's dealership body in the US is poor and is the Achilles Heel of the organization. VW has tremendous products, but the dealerships can make the ownership experience quite miserable. On the other hand, if this shortcoming could be addressed it would be a huge victory for VWoA.

The overall performance envelope, fuel economy (avg. 43mpg lifetime) and carrying capacity of this car are unlike any other. We are the original owners of this diesel and value it more with every passing day. We have done some minor upgrades to the car, but it largely remains as delivered by the manufacturer.

We hope the day comes soon when we can purchase a new diesel powered wagon larger than the current offering (Jetta TDI wagon) in America...'til then we'll just keep enjoying the 1000+ mile crusing range of this excellent car.

I fully agree with the above.

I have at 96 passat TDI. I looked around to buy a new car, but found nothing as good.

My only major repairs were to replace driver window motor, exhaust, and I just replaced front struts and rear shocks.

Hello.

I have had a 96 TDI Passat since new and mechanically the car has been reliable, however, convenience more feature reliabilities have much more room for improvements.

Here are some repair histories:

Replaced ECM due to emission failures as per tech bulletin. This necessitated 4 fuel injector replacement as well. Since then no smoking or dark cloud issues.

At 19K miles failed moonroof motor, replaced..not cheap.

Front door handles worn out at 90k miles.

Instrument Lights went out at 20 and 50k miles Tried repairs 3 times total.

Best mileage 53mpg

Worst mpg 38.

Made 800+ miles to the full tank few times w/o an issue.

Had to replace catalytic converter and weld exhaust pipe to the catalytic converter due to vibration.

Overall no issues with turbo charger/intercooler.

Biggest quirks, dealers did not know well enough to do confident maintenance...once I started to do the mx, the car actually ran better.

Good luck.