the car has alot of power and the steering is great. The car feels solid and safe.

the defroster system seems strange and i can't get my back door
of the wagon to lock.

I recommend this wonderful car not only because i think it handles well but it performs well in the snow. Recently my daughter had to drive my car over a mountain pass in a severe snow storm. we did not know about the storm and my daughter spent over 5 hours getting to her distanation because of people leaving cars in the road, accidents, no one plowing the roads ,just a general mess on the road. she had no chains and said this car never spun out or slipped and she had to stop constantly on steep hills and start again. she thanked me over and over for letting her use my new car and felt if she had not had that car she would have spent the night along the roadside in the cold.she wants me to buy her this car.the only other car that did well without chains was the sabaru outback. Many of the suv type vehicles put chains on because the road conditions were so bad.

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German car drive, quality feel to the interior controls, flexible and easy upgrades to engine if desired. Styling is beautiful, especially compared to the Japanese offerings.

The base model should have come with alloy wheels.Weak cupholders.

About three years ago, I was in the market for a new car for about 20K. I test drove the usual assortment of cars. The Accord, Interga, Altima, Taurus, Contour, none had that quality "connected to the road" feel of the more expensive offerings from Germany and Sweden.

When I test drove the Passat I was truly impressed. My first impression was how "expensive" and solid the ride was, it felt planted but not harsh. As you cruse, you feel a sense of strength and confidence.

Second was the wonderful torque feel the relatively small turbo engine was delivering, no lag.

Third was quality and attention to detail in and around the car…go to the dealer of the car your thinking of buying and just compare the trunks –
1) The Passat has non-intrusive double hinges.
2) Fully felt lined trunk lid (even the screws are felt lined).
3) Wires neatly tucked out of site.
4) Interior close handles.
5) Full size spare.
6) Cavernous. This trunk has swallowed its fair share of large items.
7) Not just easy rear light access, but smart. See for yourself.
And that is just the trunk, wait to you discover all of the little details.

Driving this car for the past 60,000 miles has been a joy. I am still enthusiastic about it and the car has served my well. At 5,000 miles the horn went off by itself, the problem was in the steering wheel was replaced under warranty. At about 50,000 miles I started to have some minor problems with the driver side power window controller, I have to press it a couple of times before it engages, might be dirty contacts. That has been the extent of my problems with my Passat.

Since buying this car I have discovered another great reason for owning one, the superb and enthusiastic online chat rooms dedicated to this car. They offer further discourse to the advantages owning this car. Check www.vwvortex.com and www.clubb5.com.

I would highly recommend this automobile.

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About three years ago, I was in the market for a new car for about 20K. I test drove the usual assortment of cars. The Accord, Interga, Altima, Taurus, Contour, none had that quality "connected to the road" feel of the more expensive offerings from Germany and Sweden. I have tested the Volvo S40- Small cheap feel interior.

-Beatiful Interior desing, everyone likes the blue and red lighting.
-Excellent handling and braking.
-Smooth ride and quite engine.
-Superb 8 speaker stereo system .
-Rommy passengers seats.
-Big trunk.

I like everything about my car!!!!

The passat looks and feels like a cheaper Audi , it has pretty much the same interior and engine, but the audi has a few more luxury details, i would recomended to everyone , when you drive the passat you feel that you are in a german car , because of it's interior and exterior desing it is truly a masterpiece of german engineering.

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A4, Volvo s40, Galant VR.

- Very quick off the line.
- Engine noise minimal. Can't tell the car is running.
- Exterior noise almost zero. Actually turn my stereo off to enjoy the peace and quiet.
- Attention to detail on dash, interior.
- Handling is excellent. I can accelerate into corners with little/no problem.

- No weaknesses found (and I've looked)

If you like a car that's a lot of fun to drive then the V6 MANUAL is for you (automatic boring!). Great quickness. Quiet. Nice interior. Leather is comfortable. Huge trunk. Definately a European car. Do NOT buy this car is you like super-mega drinks because cupholders are minimal (which is great!) This is a car for driving, not for taking the kids to soccer after your local fast food drive through.

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Honda Accord, Peugot 406, Volvo S40

So far we seem to like everything about the car. Performance and handling are better than expected. Interior space is large and seating position is comfortable front and rear. Gas mileage has been excellent

Cloth seats are a little hard - my other vehicles have leather. Runs on premium gas

Highly recommend this vehicle. Performance is better than expected, and much better than competition. Able to pass and climb hills in 5th gear without downshift. Handling is far superior to any of the competitors I drove. Suspension allows you to feel the road without being abused. Didn't have that choppy feel that some of the others had. Gas mileage with the 4 cyl. turbo has been 25-34.

Interior spaces are large with plenty of headroom in front and rear and that's with a sunroof. Doors swing open extra wide for easy entry. Trunk is cavernous and lid opens extra wide. I have been amazed how much stuff we can fit. We originally were going to buy a new Explorer to replace our old, but Ford dealer was so difficult (stupid games) we decided to wait. We then looked at cars - all the usual, but my wife fell in love with the Passat. I liked it, but was not thrilled. My tune has changed! Every time I drive it I appreciate its qualities more and more. I highly recommend giving this car a test drive.

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Honda, toyota, subaru, ford
VW seems superior in all phases.

Too many to describe. Go check one out and buy one. You'll love it.

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Best car I've ever owned. Flawless. No problems. Exclusive styling for a low price. People stop and ask me about it constantly. Almost everyday I find something new about it that was engineered purposefully and logically. I love the FULLY folding rear seats. It makes into a full size bed when I want to go camping and carries plenty of hardware when I go to the building supply stores, yet it has great performance. The electronic manual shifting has added a 3rd dimention to shifting that I find really fun, too. I LOVE this car!!!!

Strengths: Excellent drive quality and safety features. Great seats. Fantastic sunroof. Numerous standard features and options at a fair price point, especially when compared to family sedans in similar price range.

Weaknesses: 1.8T engine, also used in the Audi A4, was tuned down from Audi specs, resulting in decreased performance. The Passat’s acceleration and handling is markedly improved with the V6, but when a car approaches the $30K range, it should possess a certain degree of luxury that just is not offered here. Dashboard has a cheap look to it. VW lease deals are not very competitive. 2-year bumper-to-bumper warranty offered by Volkswagen is ludicrously substandard, especially in a car you have to pump 93 octane gas in. Cupholders are useless.

Review summary: I walked away from a deal for a Passat 1.8T in favor of a Volvo S40. Strangely, I was able to lease the S40, which stickered over $2000 more than the Passat, for less than the Passat due to incentive financing from Volvo. At the same time, in the S40 I was getting an extra 2 years (for a total of 4) on the bumper-to-bumper warranty from Volvo, a more luxurious interior, and, in my opinion, a far better performing car when similarly equipped to the Passat.

The Passat I was strongly considering was equipped with a 1.8T 4 cylinder engine and Tiptronic automatic transmission. Acceleration in the Passat equipped with the 1.8T, while adequate, was nowhere near as impressive as the S40 with its 1.9T . Interior dashboard doesn’t appear as “finished” as competing models in this price range. Beige and gray interiors highlight the imperfections in the black dash’s aesthetics. Cup holders are jokes. Head rests are not very supportive, and in a car that is gaining a great reputation for safety, VW should be ashamed of themselves for leaving the head rests “as is”. Monsoon sound system is overrated. Multi-function steering wheel for 2001 has a cheap feel, even with the leather.

The Passat competes well with family sedans such as a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, which means that VW should get serious about improving such things as the warranty, the cupholders, and interior storage capacity if they want to blow that competition away. For 2001.5 (see vwvortex.com) it appears they are 2/3 of the way there on that one. However when a Volvo S40 and BMW 3-Series become viable options in a price range similar to a loaded Passat, the Passat falls short in too many fundamental areas to justify the expense, unless you just plain want/need a physically bigger car.

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Volvo S40

Whats not to like? Hmm an 8 speaker sound system, a sweet little 1.8. turbo. I went with the leather and the 5 speed auto. The tiptric is more fun than you could expect, but still its not a stick. Other things, heated leather, good passing power, ASR traction control.

The only thing that i could possibly whine about is the acceleration. My last car was a Pontiac Firebird, so i am used to squealing rubber without trying. This car is fast once it hits 35 kmh, b ut until then it is a little slow. I guess that is about it, the front cupholder is pretty weak.

I would diffenetly recommend this car. For the price, warrantee and fun this is a sweet ride.

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Several hondas, pontiac grand am, grand prix.

I'm not so much reviewing the whole car as the powertrain. I own an earlier model Passat, specifically a B3 (This year is B5) with a VR6 and a 5-speed tranny. This is basically the same powertrain currently availiable with only some changes in the On Board Diagnostics to differentiate them. I use this car for work, which involves driving around and servicing Xerox copiers. This involves a large amount of city driving and frankly I beat the hell out of this car to the tune of 25,000 miles per year. After 2 other owners and almost 140,000 miles I am amazed at how well the car has held up It often gets mistaken for a much younger car. The motor still starts and runs like clockwork, has plenty of power, and the car holds a tremendous amount of parts for a 4-door sedan. Even with the high mileage and the type of driving I do I still get a bit over 20mpg. Bottom line, if these cars are taken care of, the run forever.

The tranny crunches on 1-2 gear shifts if I do it too fast. I'm told this is common on these trannys. Yet I must admit that it still works fine.
Plus, there don't seem to be any cheap repairs on this car, but then again I am used to american cars, and the cost is still far below what other european cars are.

I paid $7,500 for it used, with 109,000 on it, and I would definately reccomend this brand to others.

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The 115hp diesel-engine has lots of torque, makes overtaking saver and gives us around 39mpg.
The exterior and interior style is nice and roomy, also our dog likes the wagon trunk.
The car runs smoothly and safely.

A few interior details may appear odd, like cupholders or armrests. Also our seating-cloth in velour charged some of our clothes in the first months, and we discharged them when getting out and touching the doors.
The oil-control is only a manometer, not a quantity-control.

We got the 115hp TDI when this engine was brandnew in the wagon, that was in spring 1999. The best offer was randomly from the closest and smallest VW dealership in the surrounding. We paid an equivalent of 26500$ including a 7.5% discount of the MSRP.
You can find cheaper cars and you might find better cars then the Passat, but probably you wont find a car which is both at the same time.
The A/C is nice and the whole car is pretty comfortable, but sometimes I would like the suspension to be more sporty.
Be aware of controlling the oil-level as long as your engine is young. It seems to soak it in somehow and the oil-control doesn't warn you, but after the first change it stabilizes.
We got the lid of the glove-compartment replaced, because the lock didn't close anymore and the trailer-clutch got replaced by VW as a callback. Also we got a new rear bumper, but that was because of someone else braking slower than we did.

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The most other wagons are either somewhat smaller or somewhat bigger, like Mercedes C and E, BMW 3 and 5, Audi A4 and A6, thus hard to compare.