OT: Opinions on '97 Passat TDI Sedan

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

oldnavy wrote:

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.

Are you ever lucky! Do I smell another CRD on the chopping block? Good luck with your new ride, they are oh-so comfortable and smooth, a well engineered machine.

spencevans · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:06 am

My sister had a Passat VR6 she sold about a year ago. The car had major electrical issue and automatic tranny issues. She sunk nearly $6k into the stupid thing and it still would go into limp mode every other week. Maybe she just got a lemon but I hear electrical issues are pretty common on that model of passat.

DnA Diesel · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:41 am

ret, tell me you bought the Passat. You'll love the TDI! The B4's are definitely a "did I fill up with fuel this month?" kind of car.

Walt, the W124 is almost as much a classic as the W123. You and the Mrs. will be very happy. $3600 is a steal for such a low-mileage beastie.

Cheers,
Duey

oldnavy · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:55 am

Hey don't worry about the Passat being a problem car they (TDI's) do not have all the electronioc's the VR6 had if I remember correctly. I have met a lot of Passat TDI owners (couple are good friends) and never heard one say that the car was Fix Or Repair Daily type of vehicle, most say their cars are less problematic then most gasser VW's or for thhat matter Toyota.

Jeger · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:54 am

You all got me looking at an 83 300D 144K auto, looks fairly good. The guy says its a non turbo, but he also said it was a 6cyl so he may not have a clue. He is asking 2900 isnt that a bit steep? Its at a used car lot.

What would be a fair price...good, but not excellent condition.. has a few dings here in there but is otherwise clean. Edmunds says 2100

oldnavy · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:12 am

Jeger wrote:

You all got me looking at an 83 300D 144K auto, looks fairly good. The guy says its a non turbo, but he also said it was a 6cyl so he may not have a clue. He is asking 2900 isnt that a bit steep? Its at a used car lot.

What would be a fair price...good, but not excellent condition.. has a few dings here in there but is otherwise clean. Edmunds says 2100

The 83 300D is a 5 cyl turbo, and depending on shape of things under the hood could be a steal for that price. If a/c works, seats are in good shape, dash has little or no cracking, no rust in wheel wells or jack insert holes, and it only needs some minor repairs like replacing fuel lines and filters or some vaccum lines or connectors, I would have went to about $3500 to $4000 for one with that mileage, with all documents and records maybe a $1k higher and consider I stool the car.

I have seen garaged kept 300D's go for $10k plus and they have a big following in some areas for use with Bio fuel, be it staight veggie oil or homemade biodiesel. I gave $3600 for a car that may take $2000 to put a/c back to snuff and consider it still a bargin, because I can always stop in Wally World if OPEC shut off the fuel and drive on veggie oil off the shelf. But hey they just built two biodiesel plants near me, one is just about 10 miles from me and the is about 30 miles.

PS: the car weight is 3515lbs anbd has a 21 gal fuel tank and should do about 32 mpg at 70/75 mph, that is about 600 miles on a tank before refueling when cruising done the highway on vacation.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:35 am

oldnavy wrote:

Hey don't worry about the Passat being a problem car they (TDI's) do not have all the electronioc's the VR6 had if I remember correctly. I have met a lot of Passat TDI owners (couple are good friends) and never heard one say that the car was Fix Or Repair Daily type of vehicle, most say their cars are less problematic then most gasser VW's or for thhat matter Toyota.

Noticed that about 4 years ago when i first started considering a TDI, and started reading all the owner reviews. Nearly all the VW gasser owners (Mexican built) said it was a POS. But I couldn't find a single review by a TDI owner that had anything bad to say about the car. One thing I noticed checking the info on the '97 - that year it was still built in Belgium and Germany.

oldnavy · **Posted:** Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:24 pm

Actually all the TDI's sold in US with the start of the Beetle were made in Mexico and had few problems related to point of orgin being Mexiceo. The Passats and I believe the Jetta after 99.5 were built Brazil and those cars had problems, but it was all body electrical from German VW parts. The plants in Brazil & Mexico only assembled the cars from European parts pretty much, engines and trannys came from Europe on all of those cars and still does or did up till about 05 while I was still keeping up with that stuff. The 99.5 Jetta & Passat wagons were assembled in Germany and were really problematic for several years, not sure if or when they switched production to Brazil on those wagons.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:20 pm

Heading down this afternoon to check the beast out. I just called the dealership that did all the service on it, to check to see if there were any problems in their database.

Last 2 or 3 visits, the owner had declined service on the downpipe, catalytic converter, and CV joint boots. Could be other problems, that's just what the serice dept found doing a quick scan of their records. Plus, if the timing belt had been changed at the required interval (60 K), they said it was done somewhere else because they didn't have any record of it.

Hmmm, that might explain the price and why no one else has snatched it yet. Could be, once you pop the hood, it's got a whole host of projects waitng to jump out and suck up money.

truckbouy2 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:08 pm

Hey.... How did that Volkswagen stuff slip in here..... :wink:

BiodieselJeep.com · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:47 pm

Also got a 97 passat tdi to look at w/178k going for $5,500. Kinda lame interior so I'm not jumping at it. I should though, just to re-sell the thing.

Wife is mad that she has to keep driving me to work because I'm picky about my cars.... Wish that I had enough in the budget for another CRD Libby before people figure out how darn cool they are...

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:04 pm

Checked out the '97 Passat yesterday. Did a writeup over on tdiclub in the B4 general discussion area.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=172832

From what I found checking with the dealer that serviced it, and checking out the car myself - both drivers side windows, CV boots, downpipe, cat, timing belt - that needs repair, I'm thinking that if the dealer won't come at least a full grand off the price, it's time to walk.

There was also no record, either in the maintenance book with the car, or what the dealership had in their records, that the timing belt had ever been replaced. Previous owner had declined replacing CV boots, downpipe, and catalytic converter on last two visits. It had a loud exhaust rattle at idle, so the cat has never been fixed. There was a brand new window regulator in the trunk - pretty obvious, rear drivers window refused to work, front made a loud popping noise when it reached end of travel when raised until you let off the switch.

But otherwise, the car drove and handled well. No fuel or oil leaks even after driving. Looking thru the engine bay, it was apparent all the mechanicals (except for above) had been maintained on the service visits. Hoses, vacuum lines, etc, while not brand new, you could tell had been replaced when needed. All electrical items other than the windows worked. Tranny shifted well and engine seemed to have plenty of power, no popping from the CV joints. A/C and vent system worked as it should.

OT: Opinions on '97 Passat TDI Sedan

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