What’s it worth?

[CBM]

2005
265k miles
5spd with about 40k on it
Stage 1 tune
Frank’s cam
Good tires
New upper/lower control arms and tie rod ends
bad:
Sagging headliner
2” dent in fender
cracked tail light

I consistently get around 700 miles per tank with this car. Mechanicals are in good shape. Starts instantly on first blip. Turns out my wife is not a fan and would rather have an suv. It’s not in peak condition and it saddens me that it’s starting to look it’s age all of a sudden. Maybe I’m exaggerating. Once the fender was dented in a parking lot by adjacent car it looked much worse lol. I appreciate any suggestions folks may have regarding a selling price range.

CBM.jpeg

• CBM
• Dec 25, 2020

CBM’s TDI

 

[50harleyrider]

BSM delete or gear driven BSM? Euro TDI 5sp? If all yeses, I wouldn't take less than $1500 unless you're super motivated. Is it Stonehenge gray or silver?

 

[CBM]

BSM delete or gear driven BSM? Euro TDI 5sp? If all yeses, I wouldn't take less than $1500 unless you're super motivated. Is it Stonehenge gray or silver?

Frans supplied 5spd, silver I’m guessing. BSM deleted.
If 1500 is a fair price I would have to consider pulling the 5spd conversion parts, selling them, scraping the rest and maybe using the motor to swap into something else....

 

[Mozambiquer]

I would say probably 3-5k depending on the market. There's a lot of variables, and different areas they will go for a lot less. I want to build a manual Passat sometime, but for now I'm chugging around with the slush box in my wagon.

 

[50harleyrider]

You need to post price and photos or the mods will kill your thread

 

[CBM]

You need to post price and photos or the mods will kill your thread

The car isn’t for sale yet. I’m simply asking for opinions on what the car could be worth (thread title) so I can decide if it’s even worth selling. If the mods are that hard up for somebody to fuss with let em kill it. I’m grateful for the responses I received.

 

[Tom in PT]

Fix the headliner and cracked tail light and ask $ 5K for it, you never know. I had an 05, same color as yours, but with the original trans, a lot less miles, and I had a guy who just had to buy it at $ 6,500. I was getting a lot of hits on a Craigslist ad here in western WA for my car. If mine had the 5 speed manual I would have asked 7,500, and probably could have obtained that. It was a rust free one owner though, and clean in and out.

 

[PickleRick]

How do you get 700 miles to a tank? Bigger fuel tank? Ive never tried to feather the throttle out of an entire tank of fuel but @520 before the light comes on is the best I've been able to do. 480 is my worst. Im usually 510ish. Im 90% city driving and back country highway. Were there different fuel tank sizes optional? Mine is 17 gallons, when the light goes off I fill up with about 14 gallons.

 

[Tom in PT]

The OP must have good driving habits and 90-100 percent highway use of his car.
I believe the car came with only one fuel tank, 17 gallons IIRC.

I virtually never allowed the fuel level to dip below 1/8 tank but 700 miles on say 16 gallons is 43.75 mpg which is doable even with a slushbox. I routinely averaged 44 + on the highway at speeds under 65. Once drove to Lincoln City Oregon on US 101, just over 300 miles one way, on ~6 gallons of fuel, as a fuel economy run. Did that four times, in fact, precisely the same results, no wind, no elevation gain, temps about 50 degrees. The farther I went south on 101 the better the Lie of meter reading, 49.9 when I pulled over at the hotel. It was in April, not sure if it was winter or summer fuel, probably summer.

Around town, short trips, ~ 30 MPG, nothing to write home about.

 

[CBM]

The pump auto shuts off at 14ish gallons from empty on a fill up. I almost always hit 700 miles before the light comes on and then I can get another 20 miles on reserve if needed. My commutes are some back roads with a long stretch of rural highway and I peg it at 58mph or so. The dash tells me around 48 mpg and knapkin shows maybe a little better. This car is a super commuter for sure.

 

[CBM]

Fix the headliner and cracked tail light and ask $ 5K for it, you never know.

I’m going to have to spend some time figuring this one out. The foam is disintegrating and just peels off a fresh layer with every repair. I’ve tried 3m high strength and the fabric spray glue.

 

[Tom in PT]

You might call a shop that does interior restoration and see if they have any solutions.

 

[tikal]

How do you get 700 miles to a tank? Bigger fuel tank? Ive never tried to feather the throttle out of an entire tank of fuel but @520 before the light comes on is the best I've been able to do. 480 is my worst. Im usually 510ish. Im 90% city driving and back country highway. Were there different fuel tank sizes optional? Mine is 17 gallons, when the light goes off I fill up with about 14 gallons.

I have a 2004 wagon with the manual transmission (code EEN) and on the average my light come around 630 miles. I consistently fill up to the neck where I can see the fuel. My average with the manual transmission (many miles and installed seven years ago) is around 37 MPG with approximately 55% highway driving.

 

[danielttt]

How do you get 700 miles to a tank? Bigger fuel tank? Ive never tried to feather the throttle out of an entire tank of fuel but @520 before the light comes on is the best I've been able to do. 480 is my worst. Im usually 510ish. Im 90% city driving and back country highway. Were there different fuel tank sizes optional? Mine is 17 gallons, when the light goes off I fill up with about 14 gallons.

I never get less than 700 miles per tank. Rarely less than 800. Highest was 914. 2005 BEW. 300K miles. 85pct highway and flat terrain.

 

[PickleRick]

That's good mph. If you are getting even 700 miles to a tank to fuel at 41 mpg would equal to 17 gallons. You'd be rolling into the gas station on a prayer.

 

[yahmon]

How do you get 700 miles to a tank? Bigger fuel tank? Ive never tried to feather the throttle out of an entire tank of fuel but @520 before the light comes on is the best I've been able to do. 480 is my worst. Im usually 510ish. Im 90% city driving and back country highway. Were there different fuel tank sizes optional? Mine is 17 gallons, when the light goes off I fill up with about 14 gallons.

I get that mileage without even trying on mine with the 6 speed

 

[danielttt]

That's good mph. If you are getting even 700 miles to a tank to fuel at 41 mpg would equal to 17 gallons. You'd be rolling into the gas station on a prayer.

I am usually right at 50 mpg. I pray for things much more important than filing stations.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

I just had Frank mount and balance a set of .216's; I am hoping for stellar FE...meaning something greater than 34MPG. Next fill up I will post my FE. Even if I do not get stellar FE, she now runs so well, I may not even worry about it.

 

[Mozambiquer]

I just had Frank mount and balance a set of .216's; I am hoping for stellar FE...meaning something greater than 34MPG. Next fill up I will post my FE. Even if I do not get stellar FE, she now runs so well, I may not even worry about it.

I just adjusted my passat's iq by adjusting the torsion value until idle fuel consumption was at .4lph. still twice the amount of my ALH... My fuel economy went from 30 up to 33 on winter fuel. But it doesn't heat the car as well, so I turned it back a bit, now it's at .6lph. I'm getting a stage 1.5 RC tune, so hopefully that will make a bit more difference

 

[Nevada_TDI]

After you put in the tune, you may need to adjust the IQ again.
Did you decide on a 1.5 tune to save your clutch?

 

[Mozambiquer]

After you put in the tune, you may need to adjust the IQ again.
Did you decide on a 1.5 tune to save your clutch?

Yeah, I'll be doing some adjusting and figuring things out. I decided on a stage 1.5 since a fellow club member had an immo deleted ecm for one. Mine is still automatic,

 

[Nevada_TDI]

With the ticking time bomb auto trans you have, I would not go big on a tune either.

 

[Mozambiquer]

That's muy thought as well. It has 238k on it right now, and works well, but it's been serviced as well. I had one transmission problem, but that was a bad TCM.