Considering looking at '97 passat possibly to run along side the scoob and have come across the above :

So are these any good ?
The car has done 86K and all belts have been changed and is fully serviced

Has anyone had one? if so whats the performance like, MPG etc

 

No Ideas then ?

 

My mate bought a 98 model a few years ago, and has only just got rid. In general it was a great car, however if you are even slightly interested in the turbo version, read on.

Be very careful - and make sure you are 100% happy with the test drive. I'm sure this is a rare problem but still worth knowing about.
This was a turbo model, however that is somewhat irrelevant when you find out what the actual problem was.

It went back to the dealer's on innumerable occasions as the performance was very flat soon after buying it. Luckily although the dealer was a crook, we knew him quite well and my mate is a copper so he did what he had to do to sort the car.

On the 3rd occasion the car went back, it was booked into VW and plugged in. They said the turbo was knackered, so it was changed. Still not sorted
so back to VW, couldnt find any problems. Everything was then taken out and tested in isolation in the workshop, no problems.

After around 10 weeks and so much testing it must have cost the dealer a fortune, he went to an auction and bought another 20v Turbo with the intention of swapping the engine, turbo and all other workings as a last act of desperation.

It turned out that after all this eventually they got to the bottom of it by accident - something had caused the engine management system to fail, but ecu worked fine when tested by VW, and indeed plugged in on another car. It was onnly when combined with the rest of THIS vehicle's components did it fail.

VW investigated but never got to the bottom of this.