:shock:

 

Nice rant. Now stop hitting curbs and off roading. GM products don't stand up well to that either.

 

MOVE THIS THREAD SUMWHERE... IT IS NOT GOOD FOR NEWBIES TO BE READING THIS, VERY DISCOURAGING... :sad: I have my problems also, however i dont dare to speak of it is such a manner... I just take a drive in my friends honda civic and i feel all better!!! :thumbup:

please move this thread, It will make a newbies Passat Wet Dream Errections disappear... Bad things will happen, Group Buys will be at a all time low and somebody might not buy a Passat from reading your comments and buy a dodge neon or sumthing, please for the good of all, remove this horible thread. :weirdo:

 

Wow . . . you two are uninformed. Passats don't hold up well at all. Those suspension parts are meant to be replaced because if you look at their design, they're very prone to wear & etc.

Espaz11: I hear ya. I'm at 45k right now and our histories are pretty similar except i didn't have to have my steering rack replaced but I also had to have my waterpump, valvecover gaskets, TB tensioner, and both cats replaced before even hitting 40k. I most def have a few more things that can be warrantied but dealing with VWoA is more painful than just living with the issue.

Either way, our passats are by far the most perfect thing in the world. I'm sick of mine as well. Already have something new in mind after this winter.

Dave

 

Either way, our passats are by far the most perfect thing in the world.

do you mean UNperfect?

 

I'm not uninformed, or naive. I know they have their share of "quirks." I know the OEM rotors blow. VWoA is a PITA. This is my second Passat, my first was totaled by a freak incident involving a hurricane and water. It just seems to me that normal driving doesn't trash suspension parts like you two are running through them. Half of the fun of these cars and this site is modding the Passat to be the car we know it can be. Upgraded suspension and brakes are among the first mods you should do. I have seen a few people on this site that auto x in Passats. Not the sign of an unreliable, weak suspension having car. Just my little rant in response to another one. :wink:

 

i meant . . . . far from the most perfect

imperfect would have worked as well

 

imperfect would have worked as well

haha, that's the word I was looking for.

 

I can't believe the Columbus dealers were so crappy.

There is a VW training center right there--they should know better.

 

Yeah, yeah, go buy a Honda or something... oke: I will repeat it again: sh^% happens, some people will get lucky with their cars, some will not. End of story.

 

I'm not uninformed, or naive. I know they have their share of "quirks." I know the OEM rotors blow. VWoA is a PITA. This is my second Passat, my first was totaled by a freak incident involving a hurricane and water. It just seems to me that normal driving doesn't trash suspension parts like you two are running through them. Half of the fun of these cars and this site is modding the Passat to be the car we know it can be. Upgraded suspension and brakes are among the first mods you should do. I have seen a few people on this site that auto x in Passats. Not the sign of an unreliable, weak suspension having car. Just my little rant in response to another one. :wink:

RS6's use a similar control arm setup and they have to have all 8 replaced after each race. The design is good for performance but crappy for longevity. I highly doubt all the people experiencing these issues trash their cars. I've met plenty of people who are not lowered and use their car as a daily grocery getter and have experienced the same failiing control arm issues.

Modding is fun but not when you have to replace parts all the time. Either way you haven't been around long enough to even know Espaz11 and that he isn't one that abuses his car like you claim. So before you go around making allegations towards other people's reckless behaviors perhaps you should think before you post.

Dave

 

Yeah, yeah, go buy a Honda or something... oke: I will repeat it again: sh^% happens, some people will get lucky with their cars, some will not. End of story.

Just wait till you have issues . . . . . then I'll tell you to go buy a honda.
:roll:

 

best of luck, truely. w/ 2300 posts you've obviously been here awhile and perhaps will be missed. anyhow, we all move on, some more dramatically than others. even if we don't want to, we'll have to eventually. for example my Gen1 Stratus is my baby, but Gen2, not my style [shrug], so no more Strats for me even though it's been perfect. maybe b5 lovers hate the 5.5, maybe we'll all hate the PQ46 or whatever it's called... who knows... and to some degree, who cares?

peace out,

a.s.

 

There's no doubt that Passats are high maintenance vehicles but they're fun to drive and aesthetically pleasing, you have to judge for yourself whether it's worthwhile or not.

Unfortunately, as cars become more complicated, the repairs and recalls are going to get worse.

Complexity of Vehicles Causes Record Recalls

The Daily Auto Insider
Monday, November 29, 2004
November 2004


More vehicles have been recalled in the United States this year than ever before because of increasing complexity of cars and trucks and greater vigilance rather than a decline in quality, the Associated Press reported, citing industry analysts.

About 25 million vehicles have been recalled so far in 2004, topping the previous high of 24.6 million in 2000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which oversees recalls for the U.S. government.

The AP said that experts offer several reasons for the soaring numbers: federal guidelines that require companies to report more defect data to NHTSA; vehicles that rely more heavily on computers and electronics; the growing practice of sharing common parts among a larger number of models and more safeguards at “litigation-sensitive” automakers to reveal problems earlier.

Analysts told the AP that the rising number of recalls — most of which are initiated by automakers themselves — shouldn't be considered an indictment on overall vehicle quality, which has risen in recent years.

"I don't view all these recalls like, 'Oh, there's poor quality here,' because quality in general has improved among all automakers," said Mike Wall, an analyst with the forecasting firm CSM Worldwide. "Certainly there are some eyebrow-raising volumes, but at the same time they can be for fairly mundane things. They're important to get taken care of, but it doesn't take very much to trigger one."

 

The passat was also ranked most unreliable car of the year by consumer reports in one of their latest studies. . . . . oke:

Dave

 

Just think of it like a high maintence woman.

 

The first year of any new car or major redesign is a bad idea.
All makes and all models.

 

99 was not the first year . . . . the passat has been around since '97 (in europe) '98 in the US.

The 5.5 was purely a cosmetic upgrade as not much was changed. The 1.8t used in the 5.5 was introduced in 2001 B5's. Only other thing that resulted from the 5.5 was a 15% increase in chassis stiffening, however I doubt welding of a few more pieces of metal could cause all these issues.

 

All I can say is, start reading the Honda threads on Edmunds. I'd say, based on those, that the high point of Honda reliability and "bulletproof-ness" is over.

 

I wonder why so many people are burning through control arms. I know the design is subpar but the installations must also be a problem. Driving on rough roads is probably part of the issue.

A lot of mechanics must not know the importance of setting the control arms correctly. My '99 has 75K on it with about 40 of that lowered. The control arms are definately softer than a new set but not falling apart. I've done suspension on four different Passats and always set the control arms after installation. None of those cars have had these control arm issues.

Are they not allowed to run spherical bearings on the Champion RS6s?

 

I wonder why so many people are burning through control arms. I know the design is subpar but the installations must also be a problem. Driving on rough roads is probably part of the issue.

A lot of mechanics must not know the importance of setting the control arms correctly. My '99 has 75K on it with about 40 of that lowered. The control arms are definately softer than a new set but not falling apart. I've done suspension on four different Passats and always set the control arms after installation. None of those cars have had these control arm issues.

Are they not allowed to run spherical bearings on the Champion RS6s?

You hit the first assumption right on the button. The only people i've ever heard of adjusting the control arms for the ride height are the folks in Colorado Doing so released a lot of tension on the bushings. If not, over time, the bushings will crack and fail due to the constant stress and the normal drying out of the material.

The ball joint on the end is also a bad design in that IMO, its too small and wears down quickly as a result.

Obviously road conditions make a world of difference. Back in CA, I never had issues because all my roads were perfectly smooth. Out here in NY, the rough wavy roads and potholes make the suspension wear out a lot faster. Incidentally, Germans have better roads than us and perhaps that's why it isn't so much of an issue over there.

Dave

 

Passats are great cars to drive, but they just aren't very reliable. Theres a reason why VW is at the bottom of JD Power's reliability list.

 

FWIW, my 96 Civic EX and 99 Integra GS-R were cheap, rattling, squeaking suspension, chassis-flexing pieces of junk. Honda's not much better than anyone else. It's all relative.

Want a generic, appliance-as-car? Buy a Camry.
Want a design study in bad design? Buy a GM (this is slowly changing).
Want a big European sports sedan that looks great and is fun to drive, but don't mind spending big $$ on maintenance and putting up with overengineered parts that fail all the time? Buy a Passat.

You can't have it all. At least not with today's offerings. Styling is, of course, subjective.

 

A lot of mechanics must not know the importance of setting the control arms correctly....I've done suspension on four different Passats and always set the control arms after installation. None of those cars have had these control arm issues.

I'm curious....how do you "set" the control arms after installation and/or lowering?

 

A lot of mechanics must not know the importance of setting the control arms correctly....I've done suspension on four different Passats and always set the control arms after installation. None of those cars have had these control arm issues.

I'm curious....how do you "set" the control arms after installation and/or lowering?

You loosen and retighten at the new position.

Dave