VW Passat?

I have one - an old one. A 2002 Turbo. I love the heated leather seats, the moonroof, the radio, and the good sized area for the dogs. I hate the "turbo lag", the many (warranty covered) problems that had it in the shop a LOT for the first 4-ish years, am still irritated about the $2K we spent on problems that were recalls two years later, and now I'm not too happy that it needs $1200 of work on the problems that the shop found. I don't know how much it will cost to fix the ones that  I know about that they didn't find. Plus it is starting to have electrical problems at 106K miles.

Be sure that the vintage of Passat you're looking at does not have all the electrical on the floor under the carpets because if you spill your waterbottle, you're gonna be yanking out the whole electrical system - or paying someone else to.

Oh, and another thing we learned - german engineers are effing idiots. Who else but an idiot would design a gas tank that if there was an electrical problem with the gas cap door opener, the little door would only break in the locked-shut position? Think about that one. The car is fine, but a little electrical door opener goes haywire, so the logical thing is to NOT BE ABLE TO PUT GAS IN THE CAR.  Breaking the door costs $350. So does ripping the entire back end of the car apart to get to the doodad that will open the door, because gawd knows you can't put a manual lever in there in a convenient location. Breaking the door with an axe would have at least been satisfying. Those german engineers were extremely lucky they were very far away from me on the day that we were leaving on an 8 hour drive to the folks house for xmas and the door broke shut. Guess how many mechanics have time to look at your car on the friday before xmas weekend?

I will never buy another VW, but I am a person who prefers to buy new and keep the thing for 10+ years. Cars are point A to point B for me. They do not get names. Well, I do call this VW "POS", but that's not really the same.

YMMV.

I can't speak for the Passat, but I have owned a Jetta (2000-20010) and now a Routan (van, 2010-?)  Besides being T-boned in the first 3 months of owning my brand new Jetta, there was never anything wrong with it besides routine maintennance.  The van, so far, is the same. 

We have a Nissan Murano (2003 for comparison) that we have been nickel-and-dimed with, needed a new transmission, the headlights cost an arm and a leg, and you can't change the battery, headlights, taillights or rear wiper blade yourself.  Now THAT's bad design.

Good luck with your pick! 

I can't speak directly for the Passat, but my wife has an EOS that will be 2 years old this July.  We've had 0 problems with it (knocking on wood) and it is a really nice car.  I find that the quality of materials and build is pretty solid and it really lives up to that "German engineering" expectation.  I guess the biggest testament is that she has had a SAAB 9-3, Merc. CLK, BMW Z4 and 1 series before this and when the lease is up on the EOS she wants another one.

I have a 2002 Passat Turbo Also.  195,000 on it.  I have a love-hate with the car.  Love the drive/feel/comfort even with all those years/miles.  Turbo Lag on that model=yes, but I don't really care.  Can still wash it and paint shines up nice.  For it's age I think it's held up well in "most" areas.

Hate WHEN something goes wrong that's anything beyond basic stuff.  Mechanics not real keen on working on VW.  If you just keep it for a while and go to a dealer, you are probably ok.  In my case, this thing isn't worth much, so my corner shop guy rolls his eyes a bit when there's issues.  My check engine light is on now and we are throwing money at getting that off (needs to be off in WI for emissions testing to renew plates).  I'm sure if this was your basic Chevy Malibu we'd have it handled by now, so that's frustrating.

I really like the car, and love the style of the new ones, but just have to believe there's plenty of other choices in that genre of car that long-term don't involve some of the above.  I would love to give it a full thumbs up because I really like the car, but can't.