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Terrible transmission Very expensive to fix
I had the Passat for 1 year and it was nothing but trouble from the start. Transmission problems, EPC lights coming on and other issues too. Costs an arm and a leg to fix and not all mechanics touch European cars and even auto-electricians shy away from VW's.
Interior is nice, with quality touches here and there but overall a very bad experience. Probably wont ever buy a VW or Audi in future.
Terrible!
Purchased in November 2018.
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dontwannawalkSydney, NSW
Nice car but fundamentally flawed
Our company bought a VW Passat Highline 2 Litre TDi from the dealership in 2013. The car ran beautifully, it was a pleasure to drive and is very economical. There have been issues with the car relating to the wheel speed sensors and rattles which were relatively minor. However it had serious problems early on.
About 3 months after the warranty period and with 40,000 Klms on the clock (the car has always been serviced as recommended) I noticed that the coolant was dropping over a period of about a week.
When I took it to the dealership, they ...Read more
Purchased in October 2013 at Barloworld.
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ZootPerth, WA
I will NEVER purchase another VW (Passat or sny VW for that matter)
I have driven my 2008 (2009 Upgrade) Diesel Passt 2.0TDI for about 9 years. Whilst 11 years old it has only 115,000 kms on the clock. It has done short city commuting with a couple of longer country drives every year. A few months ago as I was about to emabrk on a 450km journey, my oil pressure light illuminated (after 2kms of the journey). The alert stated to pull over and contact service. I did that. Car was towed to my service agent. Diagnosed eventually (after $1,800 cost) that the problem was that a hexagonal key that sits at the end of a ...Read more
part of the car called the balance module system had worn out. This hex key drives the whole oil pump system for the entire car. The balance module system is at the bottom of the engine and is a system that removes shudder from the car. The hex key simply wore out. The result, the whole balance module system needs to be repalced. About $4k. In addition without having the chance to stop any earlier on a main road safely the turbo has been affected. Total about $6k min. Uneconomic to fix. My mechanic has suggested tarde for a 2k min trade in or scrap value. The car is perfect otherwise. Fully serviced and maintained. The issue has never been raised with me, but evidence around the world indicates it is a well know design issue. Some Passat's have capacity to remove the balance module kit and replace the oil pump with a simple system, but my Passat does not fit this scenario. Evidence suggest more likley to occur about 200k kms but 115k. What a joke. By the way, contacted VW just to see what response would be. What a joke that was. So the car is rubbish and the value of the car is less than it might be anyhow because of VW's Dieselgate fiasco. Talk about double whammy. BE WARNED. Oh and the servicing costs are on the high side (naturally). I will stick with Korean. No expectation, full warranty. Who cares about Euro rubbish.Purchased in March 2011 at Volvo dealership for $30,000.00.
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JasonPerth, WA
- 8 reviews
- 6 likes
Automatic transmission is a money pit
We owned our 2010 Passat station wagon 118TSI for five years. It had the DSG gearbox.
In summary, don't touch these cars, they're a disaster.
First issue was the engine consumed about 1 litre of engine oil every 2000km. And the recommended engine oil is quite expensive. We did just under 10,000km per year, so the car would consume 5 litres of oil, then need another 5 when it was time for its service.
Apparently this is normal as VW dealerships will to up your oil for free, but it's such a hassle to get to the dealership during the week, wait...Read more
in queue for a service adviser, and then wait for a mechanic to come out, that in the end we just bought our own oil. Then the DSG transmission is prone to failure. The control unit that is inside failed twice. It's $5,000 to replace, but because it's so common VW covers some of the cost even when the car was 4years out of warranty! The second time it failed, it damaged some of the selector forks as well, so the repair took 2 months and still cost us $2,500 even with VW contributing to the cost.Purchased in July 2014 at AHG (Automotive Holdings Group) for $21,000.00.
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MariaPerth, WA
- 9 reviews
- 4 likes
- B8 MK7 Sedan 206TSI R-Line
- Verified purchase
Passat R-line, Luxurious
I use this Passat R-line sedan for work and for private use. It is very comfortable but most of all, very economical. I can get a 1000 km out of a tank of petrol.
I love the luxury package, the memory seat position, the stylish dashboard, the driver assist options, though at times it thinks it is smarter than I am and tries to make decisions for me, ie, changing lanes in traffi:, if the car thinks the other car is too close, it would try to stop you from moving to the other lane. However, once you are use to driving this smart car, you will get use to the intellect. It is stylish and a pleasure to drive.
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renleeGreater Melbourne (Metropolitan), VIC
- 14 reviews
Fantastic car
Recently purchased the Passat R-Line wagon to carry our two bikes. This is the best car I have every owned, the comfort is just outstanding and the safety and mod cons is terrific. The car has a lot of space, more than the Tiguan we were going to purchase originally. This car has every luxury in it and is just a blast to drive, would highly recommend this vehicle. The only negatives are the Satnav leaves a bit to be desired but I just plug in my phone and use Google maps through Apple car play, fixes that issue and also the car does not have a DAB radio which is slightly annoying. Other than those two slight problems that car is amazing.
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GraemeGreater Melbourne (Metropolitan), VIC
- 3 reviews
- 1 like
Good car to drive but had a few faults
The car was used for general family transport with a few long holiday trips, it was in daily use for 6 years but has since been sold early this year, it was serviced at the dealership according to the service book.
It had a number of issues, had to replace the thermostat at about 60000 k's because it would not warm up and the fan kept running. After this was fixed the engine block started leaking water (Fixed no charge although out of warranty)
Reversing camera failed as did the GPS system, quoted $7000.00 to fix this problem as it alegedly n...Read more
1 comment
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Remarkably good
A limousine like car with a smooth silent ride, a spacious interior and cavernous boot. An overall average of 7.2 ltr/km suggests economy rather than performance but it has surprising acceleration especially when overtaking. Fit and finish are excellent, well above others in the market of a similar price
BTW the car was cheaper in Australia than its equivalent in the UK or Germany! The car has been faultless so far at 50k with not even a rattle. We were so impressed that we bought the latest Polo as a second car
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DejanGreater Melbourne (Outer), VIC
- 11 reviews
- 3 likes
This car is the best car I ever owned
I bought 2013 Passat v6 4 motion 2 1/2 years ago .At the beginning I was heaving noises at timming chain Area,was Quoted at volks wagon $6000 to change it my mehanicar stripped it And everything looked brand new he replaced tensioner bolt for timing chain problem fixed
Never had any problems again
I am in love with it now, preformance is just amazing
Recommend to change engine oil every 5000 km
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Don't!
When going this car drives well and I'm happy with fuel consumption, trouble is the mechanical issues.
We bought this car secondhand 11 months ago for $8000 and so far it has cost over $7000 in repairs. Timing belt (we were lied to about it being done, so our fault). When the timing belt is changed the oil pressure pump balance shaft should be replaced as it is made of mild steel, ours wasn't as the mechanic claims he didn't know about it, we didn't either but is an inherant issue. Because the balance shaft wasn't changed we lost all oil pres...Read more
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Not Reliable Emission Software Downgrade the performance
Very impressive drive, very enjoyable car overall with great power and economy, unfortunately the reliability is not there.
Our car was purchased in 2009 and it was one of model build in Germany and I was happy as I was expecting the German quality and reliability but it was anything but.
We have before an old Mitsubishi Galant 20 years old with over 180000KM on the clock and it was running perfect bit heavy on the petrol but never missed a bit, but we wanted a more safe car with Airbags, ABS etc and also a reliable car as my wife was preg...Read more
nant with our second child. Just to cut the story short, we have replaced under warranty, Engine Body Throttle, The turbo was nearly replaced at 20.000Km as it was leaking oil and after more than 6 trips to the dealer it was finally fixed, electronic brake replaced as many time we got stranded for up to 10 minutes in various places including Bunnings car park we were unable to leave. After warranty at 50.000Km front ball bearings replaced $1200, I told the guys at the dealers common ball bearing on the wheels should be the last thing to go on the car not the first thing, Oxygen sensor replaced $900, one key stop working $600 as we did not need the actual key inside the remote as that one would cost more, numerous airbag light resets at the dealer @60 each and now after the emission software DOWNGRADE which was done more than a year ago it really destroy the joy of the car. The car performance is terrible, we lost the torque on the low revs, the engine was running on turbo and the car was picking up and go only at revs above 3000/min, with no torque, it feel like we have a permanent trailer behind our car, les responsive on the gas pedal and the car engine was more noisier having a loud pitch annoying diesel sound and the most annoying thing it was the shaking when at constant speed, you have to accelerate and the car was recovering from that. After many complains to VW Australia, consumer affairs, and more than 12 trips back to the dealer we were told that our car is same like any other cars and no code faults in the system we were left very disappointing and frustrating, one day when my wife was driving the car under acceleration the car engine stall while driving. A new software was installed finally and the car is better but it is not how it used to be and probably will never be, very disappointing with all the experience. Our next car will be a Japanese car.Similar opinion? Write a review on ProductReview.com.au!
ArifWollogong
- 4 reviews
Amazing car VW PassatCC
Vw Passat cc is the amazing car to drive very very reliable and very efficient on full Diesel engines sound is very low very comfortable full lather interior wonderful to drive very powerful full luxury features heated seats low maintenance running cost is very low My personal experience is highly recommended
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RobCentral Highlands and Goldfields, VIC
- 2 reviews
- 1 like
- B8 MK7 Wagon 132TSI
- Verified purchase
VW PASSAT
Coming from a 12 year old Honda accord I drove just about every car out there in trying to find the perfect upgrade. I eventually drove my Passat Wagon and it was perfect. Ticked all the boxes and was a standout compared to the others. It was zippy and no whining noise when changing gears at any speed, quiet as, so smooth a ride, it feels like it is gliding along. It was the entry level 132 TSI 1.8 Turbo auto. I opted for the advanced driving package as didn't want the Leather seats and Sun roof in the Comfortline model. One thing I noticed was...Read more
some vibration in the front seats just under the knees but fiddled with the seat settings and seemed to resolve that one. Only had it 3.5 weeks and done 1423 klm and now have a squeak in the drivers seat as your body moves eg when turning a corner, going round aroundabout. I did have an issue with my trailer lights not working and the dealer had a play. Not sure if they did anything but concluded that if I plug it in, turn on car and wait about a minute the lights will then work albeit with a warning light on the dash. It sounded a bit odd but that is exactly what happens and did again today. Still seems odd but I can live with it. The car is very comfortable, very easy to drive, has the safety features you now can get in most cars, Has plenty of legroom and a boot space you could almost sleep in, well a kid could and that is without folding down the back seats. I have only 3 trips of around 200klms but just find it a great driving experience. It takes about 1500klms to wear in I was told with the economy improving as it gets its act together. I have had it showing 7.6l/100klm around town but seems to settle around 8.x on trips so far. Not sure how accurate the readings really are as haven't done enough klms yet. With 15,000klms or 12mths between each service I thought that was a pretty reasonable running cost combined the expected cost/100klms to improve as I tick over a few more. This is the petrol version as drove a diesel and thought that was real noisy, sluggish and decided not for me. I would recommend you at least test the PASSAT based on my experience so far.2 comments
Adding to my Passat review I did notice that the mats that do come with the car are of poor quality. At around 1700klms I noticed the mat was wearing pretty bad where your heal rests on the mat. Give... Read more
n the price of the car you'd think that a quality mat should be provided as standard. If buying again I'd make sure I negotiated as part of the deal their expensive quality mats instead. I made mention of the LED trailer lights being a small issue but surely when selling a car into the Aussie market the manufacturer should make sure their vehicle works with Aussie gear. I was told the computer detecting the lights are designed for European tow gear not LED ... To solve the problem, costs you another $280 so negotiate that extra they don't tell you about at sale time ... very annoying that I was caught out. I have now done 2600 Klms since April 15th and still happy with the vehicle. On one trip to the footy I noticed the petrol usage got down to 6.7l/100 klm so was pretty happy with that. Around the town it is around 10L/100Since my last update I have now travelled 12500klms including a trip to South Australia travelling 5500klms over a 3 week period so the car had a great workout and it behaved perfectly. The economy wa... Read more
s great (ave 7.2ltr/100klms), the ride was extremely comfortable and am still very happy with my purchase. 2 Large suit cases plus 3 shopping bag size bags fitted nicely in the boot. The car is very quiet on the open road which was a major reason for the purchase. The only gripe I have is that there is a engine whining type noise which is noticeable as you slow down and reach about 65klms then just under. Once you notice it, it does bug you. You can also hear the noise as you then accelerate but once you hit about 70klms+ you don't hear it, The noise happens on all types of road surfaces so not convinced it is tyre noise related. I will mention it when get serviced at 15000klm's but expecting to just have to live with it. Could turn the radio up loud I guess.Similar opinion? Write a review on ProductReview.com.au!
Qingdao ren zai MelMelbourne
- 7 reviews
- B8 MK7 Wagon 132TSI Comfortline
- Verified purchase
Tech, comfort, economy
You would love the driving experience, I do mean that on the highway, over 60kph; the gearbox is still a little bit worried me, as it is running not smooth in gear 1 and 2 under 40kph. But other than that, Passat is a perfect car for the family, I am having a B8 Passat Wagon TSI Comfortline. I love it so much (as mentioned, a little bit worried about the gearbox - DSG 7 speed.) 16500km, average petrol consumption: 8L per 100km; carplay, andrio auto; full safety features. btw auto adjustment seat for driver only. lol
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Frank XGold Coast
- 4 reviews
Love it
I am a international student studying in Australia from 2016. The reason I chose VW is that i believe both the quality and appearance, as well as the driving experience in German auto brands.
The car is so quite and steady wherever places i drive both including the country roads or high way. The leg room is wonderful and it is quiet fuel efficiency on the highway.
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Alex
- 2 reviews
The best car I’ve ever driven, german engenering, what can I say
Very comfortable, materials not cheap, very precise vehicle, joyable ride, like from not to distant future, spacious enterior, desing very beautiful and very functional with boot bigger than expected engine power even though being diesel is very powerful and yet so economical that is mind blowing so in conclusion one of the best cars in the world
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Merlin51h
- 11 reviews
- 12 likes
Solid performer
I've now owned my Passat 125 TDI sedan from new for just over six years. During that time I have had no major issue, exceot for the stop start system which was stalling the engine when releasing the brake. This was traced to the battery and was replaced. Unfortunately it was outside the warranty period. The performance is more than satisfactory, with plenty of torque and power and pulls like a locomotive. Handling is pretty good as are noise and comfort levels. The interior is typically German, designed for purpose and lacking some flair but er...Read more
gonomics are as one would expect with adequate room. A couple of disappointments are the lack of a lower position with the manually adjusted driver's seat. At it's lowest setting one's knees tend to touch the steering column. The other is the sun visors that don't go all the way to the windscreen when down which is annoying. The back seats seem somewhat too hard. The DSG had a couple of strange episodes in the beginning, like a box full of neutrals when in manual mode, but this has seemed to have sorted itself out and have had no issues since. Running costs are fantastic with diesel being cheaper than unleaded fuel and great range / economy. Whilst it lacks excitement, it's a great value for money performer. Always reliable and safe, gives the impression it could drive around Australia with no dramas. Very happy with my Passat. (Shame about the Dieselgate affair and VW's actions).Similar opinion? Write a review on ProductReview.com.au!
WisemanCrows Nest
- 9 reviews
- 5 likes
Great car
Car drives smoothly and with enough power. I got the 1.8TSI wagon. Fantastic for holidays.
Drive it everyday for work. Phone(s) connected and a panoramic sunroof.
The petrol bills are low as well. 750 km on a full tank of 58 litres.
Leather is great and overall a joy to drive.
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MarkoAU
Very reliable and light on fuel
VW Passat 1999 1.9 TDi FWD / When i first bought this car i was surprised that it didn't feel like a station wagon at all. Mine was only a Highline i think, interior had premium feeling for car of its age, no squeaking plastic panels. The 110hp 1.9L engine is so light on diesel, average 5.5L/100Km, highway was below 5L/100Km, but noticed choice of tires made a difference.The diesel engine is quite noisy, especially during cold starts, reminding me of a Fordson Major tractor from the early 60's. With the low consumption there was still lots of t...Read more
orque, gets you up the hills without downshifts. Gearbox was a 5 speed manual that even with the car having close to 300.000 still felt nice and tight during shifts compared to other makes where you hope for the best that the right gear popped in! Everyone has enough legroom if you are normal build and boot space is big for its category, and mine had cargo net making it possible to load the boot all the way to the top. Problems i came across during the years i owned it: I refilled too much oil by mistake but did not think this would be a problem, even though it was just a couple of mm above the maximum line. The higher oil pressure caused a gasket on the engine pop out of its place, causing an oil leak, squirting oil at the CV joints. The following problem was that the rubber cover on these joints gathered dust and sand and broke quickly. Replaced a few CV joints before i realized the cause of them wearing out. The gasket on the engine was in such a bad spot, that the procedure involved a change of the timing belt (that already had to be replaced every 80.000km and costly). Changing timing belts this often is not a expense i want. Also if you live in colder climates you will most likely encounter problems with freezing doors. Doors are frozen that badly that you cant open them and when you somehow get them opened they refuse to close until the car has warmed up. Service your old Passat and I am sure it will treat you well. Although for a bit more money i would recommend the 2001-2005 model that is basically the same as the 1996-2000, but with upgraded interior, exterior, stronger engine and 6 speed gearbox plus other improvements. Consumption: 9/10 Comfort: 8/10 Servicing: 4/10 Size: 9/10 Noise: 6/10Similar opinion? Write a review on ProductReview.com.au!
rick
- 7 reviews
- 7 likes
Alltrack Passat, great vehicle to own and operate
The Alltrack Passat is very smooth, quiet to drive and handles surprisingly well through the hills, we bought one recently and really impressed with the economy even though it has the diesel gate software update. We bought it used with 55k kms for a good price. We average around 6.5 combined hwy and city driving, a bit more than the catalogue states at 5.9L combined, I suspect this is from the diesel gate mod. The car is loaded with features, Sat Nav, reverse parking cameras, heated seats, automatic tailgate just to name a few and has a really ...Read more
elegant interior design. We looked for a while first at SUV's then to wagons and this one was the winner by far, couldn't be happier. The only downside is the service costs are dear, I'm fortunate enough that I can do the servicing myself, but even still not as cheap as any average car because the VW spec oils are more expensive than the run of the mill stuff, I rate the car 5 stars for the price range, if you own one or are going to buy one preferably opt out from the diesel gate mod if you want that ever so slight amount more economy or power.Similar opinion? Write a review on ProductReview.com.au!
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Questions & Answers
debraleayrasked
I'm looking for a paper workshop manual for a B7 2011 vw passat .
4 answers
Sorry Debra, my Passat is a 2018 model. Have you tried the internet or a dealership?
Yes I have but can't find any
We need a 1.8 petrol not a diesel
Nickasked
Hi Steve,
I'm not if my question directly to you last night would have reached you, so thought I'd also do as a question to your review. Apologies up front if you read my question twice....
I have a 2009 Passat TDI 125kw with DSG6. Done 205,000 km and I've had since start 2014 with 80,000km.
Been a great car and had no issues since 2014. But then all of a sudden the gearbox decided to die three weeks ago. Flashing gear selector on the dash, and only going into first gear.
Took it to the auto transmission mechanic who suggested after doing a scan that it needed changing of one of the solenoids for $950 fitted. Presume this is one of the solenoid a in the mechatronic. This didn't fix problem. So they said $4500 for new mechatronic unit or take car to wreckers for $500.
Have since taken car to small mechanic who is looking for second hand DSG to install.
I see you replaced DSG. Can you please share any advice, such as where to source. Auto Trans man told me I can't do it.
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Graeme
When you buy a new car for about $45000.00 you don't expect to be quoted $7000.00 to fix the Satnav & reversing camera, 15% of the cost of the car for a Sat Nav that you could probably something similar at Autobarn for well under $1000.