Well I have owned 3 B5's 2 of which are Passats. 1 of which is an a4.

I currently have the passat. Once this one dies(after 200k miles I'm so close!) I am upgrading, and it is not in the VW/audi family

My next car has some requirements,

All wheel drive (a must in NE winters)
Easy to build. Reliable motor. Turbo'd
abundance of parts at good prices..
and an all around fun car to drive.

For me. I am upgrading to a Mitsubishi Evo 8/9 in the near future. I want power, and I cant see myself spending thousands of more dollars in my passat (stage 3+) already to get it over 300hp. With that kind of money I can get an Evo/STI to 450+

So thats my answer I LOVE passats and vw/audi's I'm just ready for change :thumbup:

 

All wheel drive (a must in NE winters)
Easy to build. Reliable motor. Turbo'd
abundance of parts at good prices..
and an all around fun car to drive.

.....aka......subaru WRX

 

I might look at a B6, but not based on the B5 - it's a completely different car. Though, I might look at a Jetta instead, as the B6 is essentially a stretched Jetta. The NMS (2012 "Passat")? Nah. If I wanted an American car, I'd buy a Chevy.

 

If you do decide to look for a B6, take a look at this site: Used Volkswagen Cars

Great tool for finding CPO VW's, I saw a few B6, 2.0t's with a six speed and under 50k miles for less than 15k.

As far as switching to a B6 is concerned, I think the B6 is still a great car even though it is very different from the B5/5.5 Ultimately everyone has different tastes, but IMO for a daily driver, you are going to be able to do better than that for the price of entry.

 

No. Not another VW.

 

Eh, maybe.

 

I did. I sold my POTM B5 last September and picked up a B6 waggie.

I wouldn't say they're totally different cars but clearly there are differences. Stepping from a B5 to a B6 was like morphing into something familiar, but different in a good way.

I also went from the V6/tip to 2.0T/manual.

Much as I liked (okay, loved) by B5, I love the B6 even more. A bit bigger, more roomy, more comfortable, more storage on-board.

I looked at a number of different cars out there but the one that did everything I wanted it to was the B6. My only regret is that VW didn't offer North Americans the B6 in 2.0T/6 spd manual/4Motion. But the reality is, I haven't felt the need for 4Mo despite living in Canada.

 

DaveNay, I don't consider the B5 to be MY ideal car, either, but it's damned good. And really not ideal only because it's a bit too big for me.

What would you consider to be your 'ideal' car?

 

What would you consider to be your 'ideal' car?

I came from a Mustang GT, so the obvious things I really miss are the V8 grunt, the road-hugging nature generated by taut suspension and fat tyres, and the wail when you mashed the pedal.
I'd take another GT in a heartbeat, but it's not practical for either my family, my commute, IL winter weather or $4+ gas.

If it were a little larger, the WRX would be ideal. Great performance, great handling, 4 doors, AWD.

In all reality, a TDI Jetta Wagon would come closest. Roof bars for my canoe, cargo space for the family, diesel economy for my 100+ mile daily commute and the VW feel that I really like.

 

I love my b5.5. It's by far the nicest car I've ever owned. I wouldn't trade my baby for anything, but then again I've never had love for a car until the passat came into my life

 

I don't know where you guys get your luck, but my car has been down 60% of the time since I got it. It's never running and if it is, there's always some other obscure issue that becomes worse and worse until it's just sitting in the garage broken again. I have 67k miles on it, and it breaks 3x as much as my friend's 150k mile Silverado, and my other friend's 100k WRX. No major issues with either of their cars thus far, and in the time I've had mine I've had to swap 3 turbos, have a trans leak, a fucked up CCT or valve rocker, 2 axles, ALL control arms and tie rods went bad, wheel bearing, I can go on and on. They have had nothing comparable but a timing belt and some brakes, of which I've done both as well. Go try another car that isn't a Saab, Audi, VW, or Daewoo, and tell me you don't love it more.

There was a time I liked my Passat, now I can't wait to get rid of it. I feel like I'm counting the days until I can get ANY other car. I can't afford this money pit.

/Rantacular

 

I don't know where you guys get your luck, but my car has been down 60% of the time since I got it. It's never running and if it is, there's always some other obscure issue that becomes worse and worse until it's just sitting in the garage broken again. I have 67k miles on it.

Sorry, Sleeper. I had some work that needed to be done on my 2000; but it had 240,000 miles on it. Never failed to run, and well. My current 2004 is at 60K and I saw one CEL - from a clogged PCV system - right after I bought it. Aside from that, zero problems in 2 1/2 years. It's a pussy cat.

 

I won't, but may consider a newer Audi A4 model. I'm addicted to AWD turbo 4's with manual transmissions, so no B6 for me

 

I would rather pay off my mortgage than get a new car.
I plan to keep my B5.5 for another 11 years and then hand it over to my son for his college.

 

Love my B5. Sitting at about 145K now.

 

Totally! I am on my 4th water-cooled and 3rd air-cooled. I enjoy the tinkering and really my old jetta (which was a piece) was the only one I spent real money on big repairs. My wife now wants a touareg which I fully support :thumbup: it's a mix of the cars being unique, fun to drive and the community that makes me love my dub.

 

I've beat on my 1.8t for 113k and only had 2 days of downtime in 5yrs. I would buy a B6 if they made the steering heavier. Yes.

 

Only if they make waggies again.

 

Our B5.5 Passat Wagon is the family car, and we've been very happy with it after buying it used. We'll drive it into the ground, then very likely look back to VW for another used wagon. By that time though we might be looking past the B6.

We really like the idea of a Subaru with AWD for the winters, but in every Subaru we've looked, the driver foot well is cramped. The right side intrudes and my wife gets hip pain from the angle within ten minutes of driving. We were initially sold on Subarus until we actually took them for test drives.

So as long as VW keeps the foot well fairly wide, I'm sure we'll be looking back there first.

Plus, I'm a lifer B5er in the Audi family so VWs just feel close to home to work on.

 

TDI Jetta Sportwagon or S6 Avant for me. Just depends which one is more affordable when I go to purchase. Gotta say though, it'll be years before I replace the Passat. It may be 10 years old, but she's only got 86K miles on her.

 

...Mustang GT...road-hugging nature?!?

Never thought I'd hear those two phrases uttered together. The Mustang is a damned fun car to drive (haven't tried a 'new' one), but 'hug the road' was one thing they DIDN'T do. More like, uneasily skirt along it while hopping the rear axle along the pavement. The Mustang guys I knew could only keep up around corners because they were completely sideways...

it's not practical for either my family, my 100-mile commute, IL winter weather or $4+ gas. If it were a little larger, the WRX would be ideal. Great performance, great handling, 4 doors, AWD.

Well, AWD isn't completely necessary. A well-balanced car and driver can easily make do with FWD. The commute completely blows, combined with the price of gas. I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything EXCEPT a Diesel or a REALLY frugal gas 4-cylinder. From everything else, I would say a Subaru Forester XT would suit your needs. Near-WRX performance, good mileage, lots of room, and clearance for when the roads get bad...

 

No more VW for me B6 or otherwise. The new models look nice and VW is one of the few that makes diesel passenger cars but I just can't risk getting stuck with another car that always seems to have something wrong with it.

If Toyota or Honda made an identical twin to the B6, yeah I'd definitely take a look.

 

No, I won’t buy a B6 based on my B5.5 experience. Mind you I was a VW loyal customer and bought three new VW’s before. But the unreasonable problems on my B5.5 and the hassles of getting the warranty repairs from VWGoA make my loyalty simply just faded away.

Seriously we should buy a B6 based on B6’s performance and reliability itself, not just from the experience of the B5.5. I’d be looking for a car with reasonable reliability and longevity since I don’t want spend too much time on fixing problems. Not until 2008/2009 when the timing-chain equipped 2.0T TSI engine came out, the 2.0T FSI engine uses the timing belt. We all know that the timing belt system on our B5/B5.5 is like a ticking time bomb due to its unpredictability of longevity and potential catastrophe when it fails long before VW recommended replacement interval. Whereas Honda, Toyota and Nissan had switched to timing chain long before 2008 even though their previous timing belt systems are much more reliable. And wait, the proven fatal flaw on oil pump bolt failure from 3.6L VR6? Thank you very much VW and Audi. If I really want a German car, I’ll get a BMW or Mercedes.

 

I drive 150 miles round trip to work. This is my first VW (01 Passat V6), I only had it a couple of months and I can tell you this is the last VW I will own. As I have said in a couple of other post, I have to keep my vin number in my wallet, its the first thing everyone ask for when I go to the parts store. It seems like anything plastic on the car is junk, you touch it, it breaks or it is already broken (door handles, side mirror knob, vents ect). Removing the whole front end of the car for a thermostat or timing belt/waterpump is insane. I have replaced heater cores before, but getting to this one is also insane. The fabric on the door panels falls loose extremely easy, even looking for replacement panels, the fabric is loose, obveous this is a problem ( I wound up stripping the cloth and painting them with a textured paint and they actually look great). I have the 2.8 thank God I did not get the 1.8T with all I read on sludge build up.

My last car was an Altima and I put it to rest at 260K, and it still runs great. The only thing I did to the Altima was put half shaft in it. I just got a little worried about the mileage and getting stranded. After this Passat, I think I would have been better off dropping a new engine in the Altima.

Right now I hate to say it but the Japs has the dependable car hands down!

 

^This is more like my story.

At 67k miles mines ready for the junkyard. Fix one thing, two more issues pop up. All it needs to do is get me 1.5 miles to work, two days a week, and it can't even do that. I keep up on all the maintenance and I am anal about oil changes and other misc fluids etc., to the point people call me an idiot. They don't understand how stupid these cars are designed. I wish I had as good luck as most of you guys claim to have. Maybe if I hadn't taken the car over from a mom who hasn't the slightest idea about how to take care of a car after 9 years, it'd be in better overall condition. Sadface.

 

Well one thing you got to realize is when you replace one part, the stress is removed from that part and put on supporting parts. So those supporting parts will begin to die one after another.

Driving 1.5 miles one way to work = 144 miles a year to work. Looks like a tank of gas would last you a few years in that car... lol. I dont see you needing oil changes as often as you may say lol. :lol:

Another thing you must realize, many of us have full time jobs paying 30k+ a year so keeping up on things that breaks isnt as big as saving 3 months worth of pay to repair. :/ Nothing against you, I was in that job situation for a long time :banghead:

But IF you were to leave the car stock and not franken turbo it/FMIC/Chip it/ etc etc. I am sure your 1.8t would have a long successful life. Just saying..

Same with mine, If I left it as is, I would have SO much money in the bank I wouldnt know what to do with it.

Also if I were to take the 12k I have put into my car the last year alone... I'd have a 500+ HP JDM :banghead:

 

Richard - why did you buy this car to begin with? You bought an 11 year old car for a 150 mile commute and expect it to not need any maintenance?? Did you do any research??

I would probably buy a B6, assuming I could find a manual transmission wagon, but I admit I'm leery of the DI engines, what with the intake valve carbon build up.

By the time I'm done with my B5.5, I expect VW will be on to B8...

 

I feel bad for you guys, I had mine for 7 years/77k, now and left me only once do to fuel pump. Even with BT on for 2 1/2 years no problems. Still original spark plugs :icon_eek:

Its been so good to me that I went and bought one more :lol: Hey Brandon I smoke your evo last week on my way to JFK

 

Yeah yours is mint:thumbup:

Must not have been mine. Mines currently in the garage. I swapped a 1.8t in it, and made it fwd... :lol:

I know, I'm just
And I drive it more than that on the weekends, of course. When it runs.

Yeah I hear ya, It really sucks

 

Sleeper. Bring it up here one weekend and we'll go over your car top to bottom. Few thing on this car go bad without warning.