first 30,000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

I'm up to 20,000 km on mine (in 4 months!). Really happy with the performance. Lights right off in even the coldest weather. Average fuel economy (most of those 4 months have been in winter) has been about 35 mpg (US) or 6.7 l/100 km. Mostly commuting into Montreal, 75 mph on the highway for about 90 km, then bumper-to-bumper crawl into the city for the remaining 15.

My only mod so far has been the bi-xenon lights. They aren't the greatest HIDs out there from what I can gather, but I do notice the difference mostly when I go back to driving our Jetta at night, even the e-codes with high-performance bulbs seem dim in comparison.

Very comfortable highway cruiser as well. I could see myself driving cross-country in this car. Very non-fatiguing to drive.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

30k miles now, another oil change and tire rotation. All is well, runs perfect and squeeked out almost 40 MPG round trip to Lexus school in Chicago.

Really glad our car has the Michelins, as they have virtually no wear at all still and the car is still perfectly smooth and stable at high speeds.

It is under the leaky tandem pump recall still, I'm waiting until I can get one installed by my friend there. He is very busy with stuff there now. They are really understaffed evidently.

I am very seriously considering buying another Passat TDI before they ditch the design and stop TDI importation altogether...but the new Golf looks pretty sweet and maybe I can get that TDI with a proper manual transmission

Perhaps my Jetta will get jealous?

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Our Passat TDI has passed 25,000 miles (40,000 km, now at 43k) without a single glitch, except for two pothole victims: a winter steelie and a summer Continental (huge bulge out the sidewall). I can get 42-43 mpg on the highway fairly easily, but my overall (summer, winter, fast driving, slow driving, etc) average is around 36 mpg.

Am I missing something? How did you get from 30,000 miles to 1,000 miles?

Its a concept we call 'time'...

Am I missing something? How did you get from 30,000 miles to 1,000 miles?

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He drove it in reverse

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Speaking of headlights, my right one shakes noticibly. I can see it when I pull into the garage. That can't be good for bulb longevity with the filament being shaken. Maybe that's one reason for premature bulb replacement.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

I may be wrong, but make sure you do not have my problem, a very minor one, which is the LENS vibrating a little. I get a similar effect when I pull into my driveway. However, all I have to do is lightly touch the lens and the slight vibration and noise stops.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

OK, 38k miles now, no problems. Went to the dealer for the tandem pump recall. This was quite scary, as this was the VERY FIRST time any of my Volkswagens has ever been back to a dealer for anything. Never have I had anything break under warranty, and the only other recall was the silly guard in the RR fender of our '98 Jetta, which I dismissed as not needed.

Suntrup Volkswagen (a former employer) did the job quickly and without problems, although it was a friend of mine doing the job while I watched

Pretty tight getting to the pump on the B5, being the mounting of the engine puts it crammed near the firewall. Mine was not leaking, and nobody there as ever seen one leaking Service manager commented on my Euro TDI badging

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

I may be wrong, but make sure you do not have my problem, a very minor one, which is the LENS vibrating a little. I get a similar effect when I pull into my driveway. However, all I have to do is lightly touch the lens and the slight vibration and noise stops.

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I have this shaking problem with my right headlight as well, they are replacing the unit under warranty tomorrow along with new trunk hinges so I no longer need a crowbar to open the trunk.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

I may be wrong, but make sure you do not have my problem, a very minor one, which is the LENS vibrating a little. I get a similar effect when I pull into my driveway. However, all I have to do is lightly touch the lens and the slight vibration and noise stops.

Click to expand...

I have this shaking problem with my right headlight as well, they are replacing the unit under warranty tomorrow along with new trunk hinges so I no longer need a crowbar to open the trunk.

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The shaking is caused by the headlight touching the bumper cover. I found that if I push down on the bumper cover with some force, it creates enough of a gap to stop the rattling. I had my car into the dealer for this and they even removed and remounted the headlights to no avail. Giving the bumper cover a good shove downward fixed it for me.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Also on my Passat.

I noticed it last week for the first time (7K miles).

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Same here, right headlight shakes. Thanks for the tip on pushing the bumper down. I'm going to try that and see if the problem goes away.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

Ours has a noce bra on it 95% of the time, which has little slats that fit tightly underneath the headlight assembly. maybe that is why I've never noticed any shaking.

Re: first 1000 miles with the new Passat TDI

I may be wrong, but make sure you do not have my problem, a very minor one, which is the LENS vibrating a little. I get a similar effect when I pull into my driveway. However, all I have to do is lightly touch the lens and the slight vibration and noise stops.

Click to expand...

I have this shaking problem with my right headlight as well, they are replacing the unit under warranty tomorrow along with new trunk hinges so I no longer need a crowbar to open the trunk.

Click to expand...

The shaking is caused by the headlight touching the bumper cover. I found that if I push down on the bumper cover with some force, it creates enough of a gap to stop the rattling. I had my car into the dealer for this and they even removed and remounted the headlights to no avail. Giving the bumper cover a good shove downward fixed it for me.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I'll mention it to them tomorrow when I bring it in.

finally!

Hit 100,000 miles last week. Great car, love it!

Upgraded the BS module and alternator pulley, one set of replacement tires, upgraded steel glow plugs and RC1, couple bulbs, all the rest normal scheduled PM. Looks and drives like new!

Woo Hoo! Sounds great.

Its great new and it keeps growing on you.

I hit 180,000 this week, I have had the usual stuff as everyone else plus couple extras. I have love-hate relationship now with my Passat. Love the ride, mileage, looks and when it works like it supposed to. Hate when the what appears to be goofy things go wrong, break and I have to shell out the dough to get'em fixed. Plus price of diesel over RUG is spoiling my mileage advantage. I used to tell people it was the best car ever, not so much anymore. But I'm living with it for a while longer. I'll post a pic when I hit 200K this summer. Regards PJ

Muleman said:

I hit 180,000 this week, I have had the usual stuff as everyone else plus couple extras. I have love-hate relationship now with my Passat. Love the ride, mileage, looks and when it works like it supposed to. Hate when the what appears to be goofy things go wrong, break and I have to shell out the dough to get'em fixed. Plus price of diesel over RUG is spoiling my mileage advantage. I used to tell people it was the best car ever, not so much anymore. But I'm living with it for a while longer. I'll post a pic when I hit 200K this summer. Regards PJ

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At the moment there still aren't equivalent replacement vehicles for a passat TDI wagen even in the VW brand though a JSW would be close.

There really is nothing in a mid sized wagon that gets close to the Passat mileage.

Prius is close size wise, its not a wagon and it does not have the ride, handling etc. You would not drive the Prius as many miles, as its in city oriented (a friend owns one and admits they take the hot rod Honda for road trips).

We are seeing 20 cents more for diesel here, that’s 6% of RUG (some choices need higher octane so its less for them). Happy not, still pays off, and very enjoyable, brings a lot back to even running errands beside annoyance, not to mention some quality of life of being able to go for a drive or make something convenient when otherwise you would have to put on a list and wait.

Passat gets 20-30% better fuel mileage than anything comparable, so its still better.

Move from a large rig to the Passat and its even more dramatic.

Smokerr said:

There really is nothing in a mid sized wagon that gets close to the Passat mileage.

We are seeing 20 cents more for diesel here, that’s 6% of RUG (some choices need higher octane so its less for them). Happy not, still pays off........

Passat gets 20-30% better fuel mileage than anything comparable, so its still better.

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Smokerr, dunno what it's like in your area, but in CT all the gas is 10%Ethanol Blend. The 87 octane gas hear is roughtly $3.00 a gallon. So is diesel really over gas? For my truck I end up buying 90% of a gallon of gas for $3 and the other 10% is a corrosive low mileage fuel called ethanol. I'm not really buying or getting what I use to get in the gallon. With diesel the gallon you buy is 100% pure diesel. In my book, that 90% gallon of gas I buy is really over $3.00 to make up for the 10% cut of ethanol in it. What is the BTU content of ethanol compared to gas? I don't know, but beyond the poor mileage, if there is metal in your fuel injection you are speeding up it's death with corrosive ethanol. My company blends ethanol into gas. The terminals we store the ethanol in charge us 5 times ( no joke) the normal rate due to the faster burn out rate of their steel storage tanks with ethanol. Piplelines will not ship ethanol either for the same reason. It's corrosive in the sense that it absorbs moisture and with that comes the rust. The bad news is there is talk ( nothing passed) of a 15% ethanol blend in our future. I'll keep my diesel.

Blair

I think smokerr will keep his diesel also from what I read. Yes the more ethanol in the gas, the less energy. At some percentage, older cars will suffer the corrosive effects, but until then some will push the % up to make a few bucks.

Doing 120k service this morning, still in great shape!

Goodness Brian, you have more miles on yours now than mine. At 120 what pm did you end up performing?

At 160 now and only 10K away from the second timing belt change.

My wife drove out to Michigan with it on Wed and got 44.3 mpg (44.5 mpg by computer). I did fill it close to the brim when she left so the mpgs could be high by 1.5mpgs or so (by my calc). But still, that's a personal best for the vehicle. I've never gotten over 42.5 on a long drive and she never drives it. BTW, that compares to 32.9 average mpgs over the last 8000 miles when I started using aCar on my Droid.

I see a few possible maintenance items in the future. 25K tranny flush coming up, Possible PS Pump, AC may need a charge as it's been a little week the last couple of years, and I have to track down a rare but occasionally limp mode, but I'm pretty sure it's an intercooler hose connection or o-ring. I also see a tensioner and maybe an alternator pulley in the vehicles future.

At 160,000 now, just did maintenance. Long-term fuel consumption in mixed driving is 32.8 mpg. Have gone over 40 on a couple of trips. Geared BS since 100K, when I also did timing belt, water pump & tranny fluid & filter change. VW has bought me two sets of steel glow plugs on recalls - that's fine. I am glad that at 120K I finally got Jeff's RC2 programming: it was like getting a new car! The front brake pads finally got replaced at 150K - that was AMAZING! Good car, but VW has been absolute turds about the BS module.

leicaman said:

. At 120 what pm did you end up performing?

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Oil change

Oil filter

Fuel filter

Cabin filter

Air filter

Tire rotation

ATF flush

Brake fluid flush

These MXV4 S8 tires are wearing a little faster than the original MXV4+ tires did, so I may end up only getting about 60k miles out of them instead of 70k. But keep in mind, I am not running these down into the wear bars. I'm at a point in my life wear running tires bald just is not worth it.

Recently rolled past 200k:



Still going strong!

At 270,000, heading for 300,000 as soon as I figure out what's wrong with mine.

Have you ever have seen a Passat with loose flex plate rivets? That's my best guess right now, but I haven't taken it apart except to check that the cam looks great.