passat

I have a 2005 Passat station wagon . I bought it about it 2 months ago. put new tires , tras flush no slipping, miles 123,000. is the engine 1.8 or 2.0 ?I get 36 mpg going down the road at 75 to 80 with the air on . should it be better, my fog lights don't work, is it a fuse ,I turn the head lights on then pull nob out but nothing, no fog lights. not that I need them in elp. thanks

Assuming you have a TDI wagon, it's a 2.0 L engine.

That car is rated 27 city / 38 highway. Not sure if others have had better than 38 highway with that car, depends on how you drive, if there are any issues with the engine, the air intake, etc...

Best thing you can do is replace your air filter, change your oil and change the fuel filter at regular intervals. I sometimes use DieselKleen (silver bottle) as a fuel additive, maybe once a year.

There should be a fuse box below and left of the steering wheel (faces the door) which has a chart of what fuse is what. Check the ones related to the lights.

I'll say this about VW of that era and age... the engine is probably in great shape but... a lot of little things on the car will need help from here on out. Also, unless it's had it done already, get the timing belt changed. Hopefully you have maintenance records from the previous owner.

The other main issue with these TDI engines is the EGR creates a huge intake restriction and over time that causes performance issues. It's basically regular maintenance to have that restriction burned off. This can solve power loss and some fuel economy issues.

Good luck.

38 is probably about right for that speed. I ran between 38 and 42, depending on the temp, in mine doing ~75 on the highway.


You should checkout and post in the B5 forum http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65 as you will get a lot more detailed and specific answers from members who drive these are a daily basis.


Having said that I don't remember having heard of a lot of EGR issues. The biggest issue is with the balance shaft module. It needs to be upgraded if not done already. The original units are ticking time bombs because the chain that drives them will break over time. When they break you loose all oil pressure which will trash your engine if you don't kill it immediately. Again check out the above forum for lots of information on this.


Good luck, they are a nice car.

40 MPG would be under ideal conditions, top end. 34 to 38 mostly highway is what is common. The 2004s with 15 inch Michigan wheels seem to do slightly more on the higher side though.

It is a heavy car, with a slushbox. The same car with the standard 1.8L gas engine struggles to hit 27... (I've owned several), and my AWD 1.8L car barely can hit 25... in the summer it is usually around 23 since the A/C makes a bigger dent in the gasser's fuel efficiency, the diesel doesn't care nearly as much.

I drive mostly highway, but higher speeds (75+), so I cannot comment much on city driving.

brandonkraemer said:

...The other main issue with these TDI engines is the EGR creates a huge intake restriction and over time that causes performance issues. It's basically regular maintenance to have that restriction burned off. This can solve power loss and some fuel economy issues...

Click to expand...

You are thinking of the ALH engines, not the BHW. I owned one of these for almost ten years and didn't have that problem, and I've never heard of intake clogging problems from any other B5.5 Passat owners. If the OP has the maintenance records for the car, the most important thing that he should check is if the chain driven BSM and been replaced with a geared unit or if it's been deleted.