manny - Sorry, but you are wrong. The 4 cylinder engines in the Mk iv chassis cars have no distributor. And it was the 4 cylinder cars, the 2.0 and 1.8T, that had all the oil problems. The PASSAT doesn't come with the VR6 and it had the coil pack problem on the 1.8T cars. Also, Audi never used the VR6. Although I received a letter from VW saying they would change my coil pack in the GTI, I have never done so. Your 1997 was a Mk. III; a POS. I have had a Mk. II (1988), Mk. III (1996), and now own two Mk. IVs. The Mk. IV is so different it is hard to believe. I hated my Mk. III even though it was very reliable. As for Mercedes, in 35 years owning 6 M-B myself, with another 6 in my immediate family, they just don't compare for reliability. They are better in a lot of areas, but not reliability.