OT: Opinions on '97 Passat TDI Sedan

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:40 pm

While out running around today, came across a '97 Passat TDI sedan. 112K miles, 5 speed, still has all the original books, carfax was clean and showed it to be a local car, serviced at the same VW dealership it's entire life. Sticker said they wanted 8K for it.

Yeah, I need another car like I need another hole in my head. But still.... a Passat TDI and 50 mpg.... :twisted:

Opinions? Is this worth giving at least a nibble (and a test drive)?

Goglio704 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:30 pm

I looked at TDIs before buying the CRD. That sounds like a good buy to me. Some of the TDIs need fairly regular timing belt replacement. I'm not sure which years, but I think it can get a little expensive. There are any number of people on here way more knowledgeable on the TDIs. I'm sure they'll speak up.

offroadsubaru · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:30 am

BUY IT!

$8k is a killer deal for a low mileage TDI -- even an older Passat TDI. These have "typical" VW electrical issues that pop up occasionally, but the TDI motor is a really good one. You'll probably need new injectors at 150k-200k miles. T-belts on the 1.9 liter TDI are 60k on earlier manual cars, like 36k (ridiculous) on automatics.

Surf over to www.tdiclub.com for more info ... or just ask Old Navy

cevans · **Joined:** Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:48 pm **Posts:** 278

If you think the CRD has a cult like following, those Passats, called the B4Vs (B4 is the chassis, V is for variant, or wagon) have an extremely loyal crowd. Some have bought gas powered B4Vs and put TDIs in them. They have the largest gas tank of any TDI, some have reported to put over 30 gallons in it, for a max range of about 1500 miles. Also, they seem overall more powerful and get better fuel economy than the same year, and same engined, smaller Jetta.

No rust, good condition B4V for 8 grand is a steal. 112 K on these engines isn't even a 1/3 of their life. Be sure to check the maintenance records, especially for the timing belt. I'm not sure what the interval on the B4Vs are, but I think its 60,000 miles, so it should have already have one done and its due for a new TB in a few thousand. Check out the TDIClub section on B4s for more!
http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=74

cevans

retmil46 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:04 am

Well, it's not a wagon, but a 4 door sedan. Missed my chance literally by a couple days last year to pick up a local '96 wagon with 150K on it for the same price.

Still, even the sedan has a 18.5 gallon tank - that's as big as in the '87 MB. Could come bloody close to commuting for a whole month on one tank.

And one of the previous owners replaced the stock rims with Konig 15" rims and 195/50/15 tires.

Ripster · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 6:48 am

Buy it the B4's timing belt with a 5 speed will go 100,000 between
timing belts, there is a whole group out your way will show you
how to change the belt. It is simple on that model, later models after
99.5 had the engine mount that has to be removed to change the belt
and most have done that on their own. If the TDICLUB.com group
see's this it will be gone.

oldnavy · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:31 am

Ripster wrote:

Buy it the B4's timing belt with a 5 speed will go 100,000 between
timing belts, there is a whole group out your way will show you
how to change the belt. It is simple on that model, later models after
99.5 had the engine mount that has to be removed to change the belt
and most have done that on their own. If the TDICLUB.com group
see's this it will be gone.

What he says's dude.

BiodieselJeep.com · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:59 am

I'd rec buying it, its a good deal if it is in good shape. Those are very low miles for $8k. If anything, drive it for a year (12 tanks of gas) and sell it for enough profit to pay for the gas and insurance! Make sure it isn't a flood-car, though.

I just totalled Jetta and will get MORE for it in the end than I paid for it....and that is from an insurance company and with a deductable.

The TDIforum guys are almost as cool as the L.O.S.T guys, but with more years under their belt.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:05 pm

I bought a 96 Passat tdi wagom new and drove it 107k miles in 3 years. Very sure fotted car with plenty of room. I averaged 45 mpg over the whole 107k miles. I traded it for a 99.5 Jetta tdi that averaged 49.6 mpg for 114k miles. Timing belt on the passat was easy. the later jetta's are not too fun.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:16 pm

Thanks to everyone. Yes, the timing belt was one of my main concerns. I saw the pictorial on tdiclub for changing a timing belt on a later TDI. Gawd, and I thought working on submarines was hard! :wink:

Read thru the "How to Buy a Used TDI" over there as well. One advantage also, on the carfax report it listed the contact info for the dealership that serviced it. Can call them up and ask what the history of the beast is.

I'll call the dealership up and see if we can set up a test drive for tomorrow morning. Now that I don't have to head into work until 3 PM, makes things a little easier trying to get thru downtown Charlotte.

If it turns out to be a "project" car just to get it into shape for normal commuting, I'll let someone else with more time and money have it. I already have two other ongoing projects - the CRD and the MB. :roll:

BiodieselJeep.com · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:25 pm

Hmmm, now that I read your post again, I see that the passat is at a dealership. It would be one thing for a used car place to sell some jem below price because they didn't know what they had (TDI). But I'd be suspicious of a VW dealership "not noticing" that the TDI on their lot is going cheap, these guys are marking up the extra-production '06's and jacking up prices on older TDI's on the lots because of the shortages. There isn't a VW dealership in the country that doesn't understand the demand for the diesels.

Keep a sharp eye out.

1TDI4Me · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:40 pm

Wow! If I saw it first it would be home already. This thing will go forever, especially with the TDI Club support.
If you've lucked into one that looks good and has a clean Carfax it should be worth a try. My TDI will be starting it's
second hundred thousand next week and I plan on my daughter keeping it through college, which will likely be it's
third hundred thousand.
In retrospect, Volks cars should be purchased after 60-80,000 so everything gets fixed on it, THEN you have a reliable car.

oldnavy · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:14 pm

Just ran across a 91 300D MB 2.5L Turbo today and it was showroon clean with 187,000 miles. The guys father-in-law didn't know what was the asking price or anything about the car. Believe it or not it was sitting close to the road at the old mans farm on back country road. Now I have to do some checking on what a 91 300D is worth, it was beautiuful inside and out.

Ripster · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:24 pm

Let me know what you find out about that one, I am heading down
to MO in May on the other side of the state.

Reflex · **Joined:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:48 pm **Posts:** 567

oldnavy wrote:

Just ran across a 91 300D MB 2.5L Turbo today and it was showroon clean with 187,000 miles. The guys father-in-law didn't know what was the asking price or anything about the car. Believe it or not it was sitting close to the road at the old mans farm on back country road. Now I have to do some checking on what a 91 300D is worth, it was beautiuful inside and out.

In my experience, these are between $4000 and $6000 on Ebay, depending on condition. I have a friend who bought one that way and couldn't be happier.

Kellog13 · **Joined:** Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:21 pm **Posts:** 74

That would be a strong buy. I've owned a 92 Passat Gasser (wifes)and it was fun to drive and solid. I agree with the other member here to have a good look before you purchase, review work history and recall transactions that VW maintains on that VIN. The timing belt change is easy to perform, up here will cost you 300-500 CDN OLD TDI, 500-700 New TDI at dealer. If it's low on power, the intake manifold is plugged which happens to all of them and needs to be cleaned, use this to your advantage to strike a better deal. Cleaning takes about 4-5 hrs on a saturday morning with minimal hand tools. Good luck .

oldnavy · **Posted:** Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:46 pm

Ripster wrote:

Let me know what you find out about that one, I am heading down
to MO in May on the other side of the state.

Just got off the phone with the owner, and the price is $3500 firm. He said the car is perfect condition except the a/c is leaking down and he hasn't checked to find the cause. If I buy it I will keep my fingers crossed that it is something simple like a seal or hose. But the car appeared in good enough shape to spend some $$ on from first look, but I was rather excited at the find. I will plug in the camera tonight and charge the battery for some pictures, if weather allows that is.

If I get the car and all goes well with the car and the home front (raising a 2 yr old) I will most likely take it to Marty's GTG, make some VW drivers green with envy until I have to tell them 30/32 mpg's to their 45 to 50 mpg cars. :wink:

retmil46 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:05 am

oldnavy wrote:

If I get the car and all goes well with the car and the home front (raising a 2 yr old) I will most likely take it to Marty's GTG, make some VW drivers green with envy until I have to tell them 30/32 mpg's to their 45 to 50 mpg cars. :wink:

30 to 32? From what I'm seeing on the MB forum, once you get that beast tweaked in, you ought to be able to knock down 35 highway easy with a 2.5 L. I'm doing 30 average with the '87 just commuting to work.

You're making ME green with envy. First MB I looked at, before I knew enough to know better, was a '91 300D 2.5 L. 198K miles, local NC car, had all the maintenance records, blue with white leather interior, not a spot of rust, still had the original radio and everything worked, guy was asking 5K for it. I passed on it for the '87 with 132K miles.

Don't get me wrong, I love the '87 and it's a bloody good car, but there are times I wonder if I should be kicking myself in the rear for passing on that '91.

Called the dealership today. It's a small independent used dealer on only about an acre lot. So far, no one else has expressed any interest in the Passat. Better get my rear down there before that situation changes.

Gawd, what am I gonna do with 3 diesels? Simple answer - ENJOY!

Hey, I just remembered something - I've even got a spare Provent to put on the beast. Bought one for my friend in TX, for his CRD, as a Xmas present back in '05. He traded off the CRD, and last time I was down there he gave me the Provent back in case I could make use of it. Must be destiny. :wink:

KJbob · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:37 am

I don't think you can go too wrong with a TDI. The TDIClub is an outstanding resource for those who want to learn more about their TDI's.

Overall, I enjoyed my Jetta TDI...I really liked the 50mpg! But I wanted a little more room; the CRD seemed to offer a good balance of additional room and "OK" mileage.

Now that the wife has ordered a new 4door Wrangler, I may just give the new '08 TDI a look when it comes out. :wink:

oldnavy · **Posted:** Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:20 pm

Well I took the wife to look at the car and took 3 doz $100 bills with me and he took everyone. :wink:

I had the wife drive it first to see what she had to say about it, she came back saying she really liked it and thought we should buy the car. When we got home with it she said it was the most comfortable and pleasant car to drive that she has ever driven so it now sits beside the Magnum in the garage and the Jeep is outside in the rain. :lol:

The car, so the owner said, will get 35 mpg and that they usually went about 650 miles on a tank before filling up when driving down to TX to visit family. I looked in the OM and the thing has a 21 gal fuel tank, so I guess the old man was telling the truth about going over 650 miles before they would even refuel. Everything on the car is original and works, from the fuel door lock to the old analog clock and even the cassette player. The car has never been somked in, wrecked, has original paint, and was garaged kept. When she was driving it home I followed in the Magnum and her two heavy throttle take off's and one pass only showed just a small puff of grayish(?) soot.

The only thing not working seems to be the a/c and I asked him and he said that they had it converted to R134 last summer and it has leaked down twice and figured it was the condensor leaking. My hope is they pinched the O'rings and the guy that I bought my 240D from did and it only cost $3 for O rings and $69 for the a/c service at the Dodge dealer. I will have too buy a new set of tires for the car before winter gets here again, but for the price I paid for the car those 14" Michelin will be a cheap buy.

Pictures to follow tomorrow if the rain clears out.

OT: Opinions on '97 Passat TDI Sedan

Who is online