Passats with traditional manual handbrakes

[JohnPierpoint]

I'm looking to replace my current 2003 B5 Passat with a newer car.
I've seen a few B6s for sale (2006 and 2007) which look about right, but I've been really put off by the electronic handbrakes. I don't trust them, and have read horror stories about them going wrong frequently - and being difficult and expensive to fix when they do.

So I have a few questions:
1) Are there any B6 models that still have traditional manual handbrakes?
2) Do any later models (B7 etc.) have traditional manual handbrakes?
2) I'm interested in any opinions or direct experience of B6 users pro- or con-.

(I like in a hilly area, in a house with a steep drive, and spend a lot of time driving around hilly places like Malvern and mid-Wales, so this could be a big deal for me!)

As always, I appreciate any useful info from my VWAF colleagues!

[AndyN01]

I've a 2008 B6 with the electronic handbrake.

It's great. No trying to balance the clutch & revs with releasing the manual handbrake. It just does it all for you. And it's rock solid - no trying to haul the lever to the headlining if it's particularly steep. And no fiddling with adjusters to get it to hold properly.

Downside is if it packs up locked on there isn't a great deal you can do. Yes, if you've got the tools you can unbolt the unit but otherwise it's time to call the breakdown truck and open your wallet. And, for simplicity, you need VCDS to get it all set up properly.

I don't know for certain but I suspect all the B6's and newer have them fitted. Happy to put right if that's not the case.

Andy

[Crasher]

All after the 3B had electronic parking brakes and those on the 2006>2008 were a bad joke, using VCDS it gets very jumpy and warns about ECU failure if you are not careful. If new calipers are required VW parts are daft money at £502.28 each but units from the OE manufacturer TRW are more sensible at around £220 each. Dash actuation buttons (what they call the “control head” for some odd reason) are also failure prone but cheap and easy to change. The 2008>2010 models were less prone to ECU faults but when the calipers started failing they were not available from TRW. Another pain is the pig tail brake pipe from the hose to the caliper, these nearly always twist when you try and remove them, making your own is difficult as the bend radius is so tight and new ones are £27.38 just for a poxy bit of brake pipe and TPS never keep them in stock. If you get the impression I regard the Passat 3C (I also hate this B nomenclature rubbish) then you are right, the 2006>2008 is the biggest piece of unreliable **** to come out of VAG in my forty years of working on their products... nice to drive and class leading car at its launch but a lemon. The daft part is I bought one as a customer loan car!

[JohnPierpoint]

Wow! This is quite an eye-opener! I was wavering over a cheap 2007 Passat that is being sold locally (so I could even walk there to look at it) and another 2006 one I've seen at a trader's. But I'm coming to the conclusion that (with my limited resources - work has all but dried up over the last year), I'd be better off looking at Skoda Octavias (all with real handbrake, as far as I can tell).
The nomenclature issue: everywhere I've looked, in all my years of driving Passats, it's been the "B" series. I always assumed that this was the official terminology>
Where can I find info on this other nomenclature system that you refer to? I'd like to learn more. . .

[JohnPierpoint]

Thanks for the info. I've read elsewhere (Pistonheads, I think) of people who couldn't even get towed once their electronic brake had failed in the on position. They had to be put on skates and loaded onto a truck! I'm staggered by some of the design decisions VW makes, given that Germany is a country with some very stiff laws on car safety. Like the requirement to be able to change headlight bulbs at the roadside: how on earth did VW get away with designing a car that - according to the manual - requires the front bumper to be removed to change a bulb? (At least, I think that's what it said. . . oh hang on, here's an article that - for the B6 at least - confirms it: To change the bulb, just remove the bumper. Wait, what? - UPDATED..)
I suppose the answer VW would give is that a car is very safe if it won't move!

[Crasher]

The brake can be released by removing the 2 5mm hex cap screws, pulling of the motor and using a 13mm socket to wind the actuator back. I have just done a "control head" on a 2010 CC I have just serviced.

[DMitch16]

Not to mention that a great deal of the original caliper and motor units would have been replaced by now so the likelihood of an EPB brake caliper issue is much smaller than when the 3C was first brought out and they all were technically waiting for housing cracks, water ingress and failure to happen. My TRW replacements have been on the car for over twice as many years than the TRW originals before them, 8 and a half years versus 4 and a half years, so it seems improvements were made to the previous motor design.

If you are on a budget though early 3C between 2005 and 2009 are to be avoided as most are labours of love, not wise buys these days. They are super cheap for a reason and a good Octavia is a better choice or even a well maintained late 3B which are great cars.

[Crasher]

The 3B was the last well engineered VAG products, durable and reliable, also relatively easy to fix compared to the modern nightmares. Mind you, it all went downhill in 72 with the 1303... nothing has been the same since they stopped using animal hair to stuff the seats...