3 year W8 Passat wagon ownership summary

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Published 2023-12-20
Picked this 2003 Blue Spirit Pearl Passat W8 wagon 3 years ago to the day w/102Kmiles on the odo. Today it sits at ~119K. Been solid once I got the maintenance up to par and a few common failures repaired. Only towed once!

One thing in the video I forgot to mention (among other things....really need to give myself notes!) is that when I got it, I spent a few weeks as mentioned crawling over it cateloging every little thing I found. When I took it in to my shop, I had them do the same thing "Go over it with a fine-toothed comb and let me know what you find." That list was long and I had them do every single thing on it. Not a cheap way to go but the best way to go for the best odds of reducing issues!

All Comments (10)
  • @SchombergTech
    A few years ago I had a W8 Tiptronic - fantastic car. Was actually quite inexpensive over almost 7 years of ownership, around $100cdn a month for buying it & maintenance.After 236,000 (380,000km) often redline miles, something went deep in the block and my VAG guys said it’s done.Now looking at a manual wagon with 130,000km this week! Things to know about this car. 1 it’s a VW badged Audi S6 chassis with the crazy motor. 2 Stock, it will bury the speedo, having done so in my old one (300km/h = 186mph) Apparently the actual to shown speed is only off by 5mph at top speed 3 has a centrifuge to separate air bubbles in the oil system. 4 has a liquid cooled alternator. 5 points xtra bulkheads and chassis supports for improved chassis rigidity 6 air conditioned glove box Just have to look after the little oil screens that would gum up and end up dislodging and getting into some harm causing spot - also cam adjusters need to be examined/fixed to avoid catastrophe
  • @brettywap2295
    Looking at buying my neighbors W8 MANUAL wagon. If he lets it go for my price range I'll be in the "resto" train. I plan on coilovers, a similar exhaust, and a bulletproof maintenance plan. Cool car!
  • @HeathRS
    I'm at the higher end of maintenance levels. I'm at 50k miles on my 2018 GTI. It's had two brake fluid changes, spark plug change, Haldex locker fluid change, DSG change, coolant flush, and a car that is 5 years old shouldn't have a single factory fluid in it. This seems expensive to many people, but having a properly maintained vehicle is huge not only on reliability, but driving experience. Being Stage 1 IE tuned with DSG tune I know the car sees more wear and I want to take care of it to continue to enjoy it for many years.
  • @StealthGTI
    "The service position:" I forgot about that one! I had a new 2003 B5.5 Passat with 1.8T. It was my wife's ride. I learned a lot about hassles with that car. CV joints and a few other things were problematic. The worn interior bits was a B5/Mk4 era problem, probably from VW cheaping out on interiors to save money. That era of 1.8T was subject to oil sludging; so, I stayed on top of oil changes like religion! The car was rude to service, but the ride was nice. I was glad to be rid of it in 2014, though. Thanks for the walk down Memory Lane.
  • I think the w8 Passat wagon is really cool. There is one in the neighborhood. It goes by my house a lot, but I have only seen it once close up in a parking lot. I have 2017 Golf Sportwagen S 4motion DSG. I have kept the power train stock, but had the VW dealer install R front and rear sway bars. 18X7.5 GTI wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport S4. Eventually R struts front and rear. It gets serviced every 3,000 miles and every component serviced a few thousand miles before service recommendations. By having all the changes performed by the dealer using VW parts, my car insurance has addendums added in case of a total, the addendum values will be added on top of the car value. I pay a little more for that coverage, but if I have to replace it, it’s worth it. Love VW Wagens😂
  • @kalidshalati
    Do you plan on making a video for Christmas? Maybe an unboxing video
  • @winman4862
    Your sure you don't wanna sell it 😂
  • @EdA-bz3bu
    After allll that money and headaches it looks like you are driving an old Passat to 99% of the people out there. You better off buy and older Bens or Bimmer. With all that well said.