markbravoone

Hi all

I'm in the market for a family car as me and my parter are expecting our first child in october

As I have found when looking around, many cars just are not suitable to for carrying a pushchair and all other baby stuff. I was looking for a vw bora but the rear legroom isn't great so i've thought about a passat.

The problem is. My budget is about 2k and i need a car that's gonna be reliable and with good fuel economy as my cash situation is going to be a little tight.

I think i'd be looking for a 1.8 20v sport because the tdi's are just too costly.

I've heard that passats are quite unreliable and costly to run, especially when replacing suspension parts.

How correct is this? Can a passat be cheap to run? Anyone onwners got any opinions on the car? I really can't afford a money pit.

regards

Mark

Tobisausage

I would of said £2k will get you a crappy passat, where as £2k will get you an ok mondeo?

Dracoro

Agreed. For £2k you'll get a lot more car, reliability etc from a Mondeo which will be newer as well. Also consider Vectra, Omega, Accord, Primera etc.

Olly

Rubbish. Bought a 58000 miler 20v Passat exactly a year ago for £1800. It's fantastic.

I have used it and abused it. Haven't touched it in a year, and it hasn't got one squeak, rattle or rumble. Nothing has gone wrong and it has needed nothing apart from an oil change. It's very comfy, very quiet, handles extremely well, build quality is superb. Averages exactly 30mpg, and it is smoother and way cheaper than it's oil burning relative.

Don't know about parts prices, it's never needed any.

And it still looks fresh, modern and up to date. An equivelent Mondeo does not.

Downsides? Not many. It's a tiny bit slow, but who cares?

Provides a very strong case for the argument that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get something really decent these days.

Contender for best car I've owned. And I've owned some cars, both new and old, expensive and cheap

brickboy

The achilles heel with Passats is the front suspension upper knuckle joint, it rusts solid which means replacing both upper suspension arms if the joint fails. One of mine did at 4 years = £400 EACH SIDE to sort it at an independent, VAG dealer would have wanted nearly £600 per side.

BUT I know from the forums some Passat owners that have never had it done and they are in six-figure mileages.

The other common problem is water in the footwells if the bulkhead drain gets blocked. If this happens it kills an ECU that's under the passenger seat. Then there's the odd VAG niggle like dying MAF sensors (£70) and ignition coils.

But apart from that they are very well screwed together and carry the miles very well. Great family car as the interior & boot are huge.

I've had my '03 TDi 130 for over years and 60K miles from new and (apart from the suspension joint) it's been great.