I have a 05 Passat that was a one owner, dealer maintained vehicle. It had 71K on the clock when I bought it and now has 82K. I have had to do some maintenance but nothing major.

The auto trans seems to be fine. I will be changing the trans fluid soon. VW claims it has lifetime fluid but I am not buying it.

The engine is a PD type where the cam activates a pump/injector unit through a rocker arm. oil selection is criticle to keep the cam healthy. The engine has a fatal flaw. The balance shaft is driven by a chain on the US model. Everywhere else in the world got a gear driven BSM. The chain tensioner can fail and throw bits of metal into the drive belt. This is bad. There seems to be a debate on just how wide spread the issue is. Some on the TDI forum argue the BSM HAS to be changed, while others say it isn't really a problem.

It is a nice vehicle....by far the best VW I have ever owned. It is at the end of the day still a VW. Little things break and IMO a 6 yo car should not have brittle plastic already. It is a small peppy car compared to the Merc, but not even close on build quality. I commute 120 miles/day and the VW is a good fit for that and serves it's purpose well.

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95 E300 Diesel 200K