1998 Passat TDI in United States?

There is a rumor that a tiny number (like four) 1998 Passat TDI cars were brought into the United States (with US DOT and EPA spec equipment), perhaps to use as examples for some reason in advance of the planned selling of that model. The rumor is that they were eventually sold through VW dealerships.

Anyone know if the rumor is true? If so, anyone ever see one of these cars?

I also heard these runors, but have no idea if they are true or non. Google didn't really help... but I might not have been looknig hard enough.

Anyone have the scoop on these uber-rare Passats? (I wonder if they were automatics? And they had the ALH engine, right /images/graemlins/confused.gif)

-Jason

there were two B5 sedans. Harvieux mentioned that one passed thru the auction system a few months ago.

Search on Burnsville (MN) VW for much more discussion.

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I also heard these runors, but have no idea if they are true or non. Google didn't really help... but I might not have been looknig hard enough.

Anyone have the scoop on these uber-rare Passats? (I wonder if they were automatics? And they had the ALH engine, right /images/graemlins/confused.gif)



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Presumably ALH engine or a closely related one. EPA numbers were 39/50 for the manual transmission, but significantly lower for the automatic (but better than the 27/38 that the current model has).

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there were two B5 sedans. Harvieux mentioned that one passed thru the auction system a few months ago.

Search on Burnsville (MN) VW for much more discussion.

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According to an old post by Harvieux, it had automatic and leather and was sold at the Riverside auto action to Burnsville, MN VW.

That means that whoever owned it traded it in or sold it to a dealer, and that dealer didn't want it for its own lot (though they apparently got a good price at the auction according to Harvieux' post).

I wonder if whoever owns either one knows what a rarity s/he has...

I went hunting for it, and I came across this on autotrader.

Another TDi Mistery to solve Hmmmm......
1999 TDi passat

No mystery....just a typo.

Could be Error. /images/graemlins/confused.gif Tried search again, the ad is gone now. Oh well.

I talked with a salesman at Burnsville VW several years ago. They had a 1998 Passat TDI for sale which was basically brand new but 3 or 4 years old. The person told me that somehow or another two 98's had arrived in the country and ended up on the back lot of a dealership which I believe was in California. The story was that the dealership had gone into some kind of contested bankruptcy and these two TDI's were left sitting on the back lot for some years. The car was advertised by Burnsville VW and they sold it at a premium price, some thousands above its original MSRP. I was interested but would not pay a premium like that for a car that had been sitting for 3-4 years. No one knew how a dealer came to have the only 98's known to have arrived in the US.

One of those 98 TDi Passats was in Omaha, NE. I drove it at the dealers, as I recall it was a light blue color. It was the first Passat I had ever driven and also my first TDi experience. If I had only known... /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I drove a 1998 Passat TDI at Burnsville VW a few years ago. It was one of the 4 that made it into the country. It was "new" but old. It was green with tan interior... It was a bit sluggish with the 90HP engine pulling a bigger car than the Jetta/Golf... I should have bought it, but I ended up with the Jetta I have today... but now I'm drooling over the NEW passats...

In 1998 after final decision by VW not to bring Passat TDI
to US I learned of the five test cars they had brought here.
I offered to buy one of them since they were legal and
approved for sale but VW refused to agree and cars were
shipped back to Germany.Apparently few cars slipped thru in
early 1998 because this was the time they were supposed to
arrive here-Jan/Feb 1998.In March VW postponed Passat TDI
and it all ended in May.I haven't seen one since.