Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  The most practical mid-size sedan you can buy - 2016 Volkswagen Passat
  By David - November 2 - 9:12 am

  My decision to buy this car began in January 2016 when I went to the midlands international auto show and looked at pretty much every car they had there. When considering all factors, including price, the VW Passat was my favorite car there (granted I didnt test drive any at the time). I noticed right away the attention to detail in the design without trying to over-design like many of the competitors. Just compare, for example, the taillight on the passat to the "lego" pieces other cars are using. I thought the Passat looked very well thought out, classy, and something that will still look good in 15 years. The cabin felt roomy, seats comfortable, and outward visibility quite good. Fast forward to May, a local dealership had an offer too good to pass up so I decided to take one for a test drive and absolutely loved it. I went with the R-Line and think it looks better than my 2014 mazda6, which I traded in to get it. The ride quality is nice, even with the low profile tires. I love having dual climate control and a backup camera standard. I also love that the max torque from the engine comes at 1500 rpm and remains until 4700 rpm, so the power feels adequate for most of the driving anyone would need to do (most people keep engine under 3500 rpm the majority of the time). The transmission is programmed for economy so expect it to feel like it is 1 gear too high on occasion, however, it is very responsive when needed. I also learned from the sales guy that VW uses new metal for the body panels with wax in between seams, rather than recycled metal. This is important because it will be much less prone to rust. It is also nice that oil changes are every 10,000 miles. As far as dislikes, I wish the average fuel economy gauge tracked by the tank instead resetting each trip, however, I typically check manually each tank anyways. I also wish the remote starter was a little more affordable for lower trim levels. Otherwise, no complaints other than the fact that my wife gets to drive it instead of me :) . I cant comment on reliability, however, given the price they sell for I can afford a couple repairs along the way and still be quite pleased with it overall. I plan to keep this car a long time. **Update - I replaced the OEM tires with Pirelli Cinturato P7 All season tires and the ride quality is even better with very little road noise. Been averaging about 30 mpg in mixed driving.

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  32K miles and 1.8T REAR MAIN SEAL BLOWS OUT!!!! - 2016 Volkswagen Passat
  By James D. - May 12 - 3:03 pm

  I bought this car in March and do a lot of highway driving, not racing it around. Highway driving is easy: I drive conservatively and all my fluid changes have been done on time. Come to find out, Im blowing smoke out the rear, and I blew a rear main seal on the engine and may have done some internal engine damage, too. The repair bill was nearly $3,000, but fortunately for me, it was covered under warranty. I looked up a VW tech I went to high school with who works for a large VW dealership in Dallas, and he says, and I quote, "VWs rear main seal design on their 1.8ts have been pure garbage for some time, and VW knows about this. Weve seen a few Passat rear-main blowouts already. Its the same motor with the same problem the Golfs and Jettas had. This is how we make our money. Once the 36K mile warranty expires, the cost is no longer (negotiable, as always to the dealership) by VW. So the owner gets screwed." He went on to say, "Most 1.8ts are designed to hit 45K miles without serious problems, but with the 2014 to 2016 Passats, were seeing this problem all the time. Whats an owner to do? Sit around and say, No, Im not going to repair this. They end up forking over the $2600 and thats that, but in the end run, we lose another customer." He thinks VW does this by design, and to me, its no wonder after realizing what they did with Dieselgate, with an aim to deceive. I should have gone with an Accord but was tempted by the extra inch or so of front-seat leg room the Passat offered me. BEWARE DO NOT BUY THIS CAR UNLESS YOU HAVE MONEY TO FIX IT.

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  Unbelievable Value - 2016 Volkswagen Passat
  By Jay D - February 13 - 10:50 am

  This will be a short testimonial. My brother has a 2014 Passat and I liked it. So I was out one day with no intention on buying a car. But I passed a VW dealer and thought I would stop in just to browse. I insisted several times to the salesman that I was just killing time. He told me it didnt matter that he was willing have me do a test ride on a new 2016 Passat SEL Premium that just came in. When I found out that it had a 1.8 T engine I wasnt interested. He insisted that I would be surprised. After much prompting from him, having nothing else to do that day I took it for a spin. I was driving a 2.0 T Saab at the time and the Passat engine had more torque. The fit and finish and quality materials were as good as most entry level premium brands if not better. And this vehicle has every creature comfort and safety feature as standard. Its trunk is very big, has a spare tire (donut), leather seats and the back seat legroom is unbelievable. It wasnt that difficult to get the price down to $30,000. This truly was an offer I could not refuse. I had a 2014 loaded up Volvo s60 for 2 years that had a negotiated price of $44,000. The Volvo had no spare, small trunk and little backseat legroom. If anyone is considering an entry level premium brand they should take a serious look at the "pedestrian" VW Passat. They will be shocked at what they will discover.