dmasini
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- June 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,025
- Reaction score
- 1
- City, State
- Raleigh, NC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2001 XLT
My fiance and I have had this car for just over a year now and I have to vent on Volkswagen a bit. Don't ever think your getting a great deal on the Passat. We bought this thing used for $18k with just over 25k miles on it. Over the time we've had the vehicle we've noticed how much of a hassle it is to own this car.
No one will attempt to touch the car for maintenance, all saying it must be done by the dealer (finally found a garage that would do certain things to it)... This goes all the way down to changing the freaking oil (Even Jiffy Lube told me they wouldn't do it)!! And the dealer we have to deal with has no clue what the meaning of customer service means (that makes it even more frustrating). After talking it to multiple garages in the area I found that the VW Passat is more expensive to work on than a Mercedes sedan!!
VW doesn't allow rebuilt or recycled parts. So all parts must come from a dealer. Just found out today while getting new tires put on that the CV boots were completly torn off and had been torn off for so long that no grease was left on the joints (mind you this is under 50k and my fiance drives like my grandmother). Due to this the drive shaft would need to be replaced (not quite sure how that works but I'm not familiar with the FWD setup). Called multiple garages about the problem and dropped it by two, all told me the same thing so I'm gonna take their word for it.
Since they had to get the parts new from the dealer it was gonna cost $3,500.00!! HOLY SH*T! Something about the axle needing to be dropped. I was VERY lucky that the car has 49,896 miles on it. Falling under the 50k warrenty. PHEW!
But that still doesn't make the fact that these cars are so expensive to work on. When I did the research I didn't find this out and now I'm afraid down the road we're going to end up paying for it. So much so that we're considering trading it in on something domestic (maybe the Ford 500 or Lincoln LS) that I'll know how to work on.
Just in case any VW owners read this, I'm not knocking the car, I find it very fun to drive and very responsive. I just wanted anyone who might be thinking about buying to know about the huge hassles we've had with maintenence because these things are made soley to be worked on at a dealer.
No one will attempt to touch the car for maintenance, all saying it must be done by the dealer (finally found a garage that would do certain things to it)... This goes all the way down to changing the freaking oil (Even Jiffy Lube told me they wouldn't do it)!! And the dealer we have to deal with has no clue what the meaning of customer service means (that makes it even more frustrating). After talking it to multiple garages in the area I found that the VW Passat is more expensive to work on than a Mercedes sedan!!
VW doesn't allow rebuilt or recycled parts. So all parts must come from a dealer. Just found out today while getting new tires put on that the CV boots were completly torn off and had been torn off for so long that no grease was left on the joints (mind you this is under 50k and my fiance drives like my grandmother). Due to this the drive shaft would need to be replaced (not quite sure how that works but I'm not familiar with the FWD setup). Called multiple garages about the problem and dropped it by two, all told me the same thing so I'm gonna take their word for it.
Since they had to get the parts new from the dealer it was gonna cost $3,500.00!! HOLY SH*T! Something about the axle needing to be dropped. I was VERY lucky that the car has 49,896 miles on it. Falling under the 50k warrenty. PHEW!
But that still doesn't make the fact that these cars are so expensive to work on. When I did the research I didn't find this out and now I'm afraid down the road we're going to end up paying for it. So much so that we're considering trading it in on something domestic (maybe the Ford 500 or Lincoln LS) that I'll know how to work on.
Just in case any VW owners read this, I'm not knocking the car, I find it very fun to drive and very responsive. I just wanted anyone who might be thinking about buying to know about the huge hassles we've had with maintenence because these things are made soley to be worked on at a dealer.
