Advice please on what to look for when buying a 2.8 4motion

Hi everyone, infrequent visitor but potentially becoming more regular. I'm considering buying an estate, 52reg, manual, 75,000 miles with full service history but no cam belt change yet. I’d really appreciate any specific tips on what to look out for with that engine and 4motion combination. I know it’s going to be thirsty and expensive to tax but I’m quite happy with that trade off for the creamy engine, 4 wheel drive and good spec :D.

I’ve driven it and it everything feels fine but the the only thing I noticed or felt was unusual was the clutch bit quite high up its travel. I’ve been told this is normal as the clutch is self adjusting. Is it? I’ve done a number of searches on the site here and nothing jumps out saying “stop don’t buy it” which suggests that they are very reliable or there aren’t that many about. Hopefully a bit of both. Anyway thanks, much appreciated.:beerchug:

Make sure all the specific items are carried out in during the services. I think they differ from normal passats in that it is 4motion so the hadlex coupling may needs it's oil changed at 40,000 miles, and obviously the spark plugs should be replaced every 40,000 miles also (i'd do this sooner though)

The V6 cambelt change "should" be done every 80k miles is quite pricey because of the engine layout and complexity. Get a few quotes from dealers and independents and factor this into the price you pay for the car. VW are themselves unsure whether this should be done every 80k/5 years or 60k/4 years, but i'd get this done immediately for piece of mind.

My final piece of advice is that if the car is on LongLife servicing, take it off and put it on fixed milage/annual servicing. The American passat forums may also be of some help to you as this engine is a more popular choice over there than it is here. Hope this helps.

I have this model and thought Haldex couplings are only applicable on the 4Motion Golf where the engine is mounted transversely?

My main dealer cambelt and water pump was £560 last year, but at 80K intervals it isn't bad value. Don't skimp and get one done without the other or you will pay twice for the labour in the long run. Av mpg is low 20's but I'm on LPG so unaffected by this really. If anyone is inspecting a Tiptronic, pay careful attention to the gearchanges. A minor clunk with mine from 5th to 4th cost me £1500, it would have affected resale value although I could have lived with it.

It's a great car and I love it, especially in this snow where I run rings around those who drive on only two wheels. Whatever my next car is, it will be a 4x4, it's as important as ABS in my opinion. Mine's got all the goodies, hope yours has too! Tows my twin axle 28ft (1700kg mtplm) caravan well - 94% ratio according to Towsafe.

Only niggles are common to many Passat's. Luxury suspension is too soft and wallowy, and I suffered a blocked Plenum chamber drain and hence water ingress until I cleared it. Tyre wear is heavy due to the weight of the car and the way I drive. Road tax will not be too bad as both cars are registered before 2006 and there is a banding cap in place.

Running a 2002 v6 4motion saloon 5sp manual owned 2 1/2 years. As other have said great car, superb at towing. Thirsty !!!
Then mine was 2k cheaper than the equivalent TDI, I don't do big mileage and 2k is a lot of fuel.

B5 4motions are torsen diffs B6's moved to the cheaper haldex. No servicing needed on the torsen diff.
Real bonus in the current weather, will drive up sheet ice inclines without any fuss.

Cambelt should be about £500 including water pump and thermostat, check for the usual water ingress issue in the cabin.
Check the the exhaust, particularly the flexi's infront of the cats.
Mine needed a full system this year. Not much available aftermarket and from VW i was quoted £1900 plus fitting.
Ended up having a stainless one custom made and 200 cell sports cats for £1300 fitted from http://www.stainless-exhaust.com/ highly recommend superb quality. Still not cheap but I do intend to run it for many more years.
Not noticed tyre wear to be to bad, but you should replace all 4 at the same time and keep wear even for the sake of the centre diff.

Mines only done 60,000 miles clutch bite is at the lower end of the pedal, would be slightly wary of the high clutch bite as it could be very expensive. The 4 wheel drive means the clutch can take a lot of abuse if the clutch is dropped at higher revs as the wheels will not spin in the dry, and will only spin if really provoked in the wet.

What a nice, helpful bunch of people! I've made a note of all your points. I'm going to pay a VAG independent who I trust to give the car a once over and I'll ask him to check all the points raised here. I don't expect to run it on the cheap but I also don't want a couple of nasties adding 50%+ to the purchase price so all this is extremely useful. Thanks.

If you are as stingey as I am, you can buy your parts from TPS and get your indi/dealer to fit them for you. I've been doing this for a while (we have 2 vw's in our household) and I save on average £100 per service. They are VAG OEM parts so you are using what VW dealers would use anyway.

Also register to the Vagcat site. This will help you see the various parts that make up your car but more importantly will help you solve problems quicker and allow you to get part numbers which will save you time at the dealers/motor factors.

Get the Elsawin workshop manual from Ebay! There's no offering from Haynes anyway, but even if there were it could never compare. £20 ish.

Hi There,

I have had a 2.8 v6 4motion estate for 3 months. 05 plate. Got it at 23k and it's now done 28k. Fantastic car, so smooth. The only niggles are :
1) fuel consumption at about 23-28 MPG. (though I am noticing that I do get better consomption with super unleaded).
2) Mine is a manual, and it is more difficult to pull away smoothly than I imagined it would be - there is a little clutch "judder" at the biting point. Not sure if that is normal - after all there are 4 wheels to "re-engage" each time But the clutch is pretty light and I love the feel of the gear lever.
3) It is a bit gutless at low revs, necessitating a changedown. I got used to turbo diesels for years, so still getting used to lack of low-down torque. But it's no problem changing down, as above 4,000 revs the engine sounds superb. Below that it is quieter than any car I have ever driven.

Best thing I can say really is that when I was looking for a car I aws driving a brand new Mondeo hire car. A lot of 5 year old cars I got into felt far rougher than the Mondeo - even the petrol ones! But the Passat v6 straight away felt hushed and upmarket.

By the way - I paid 8.5k for my car with 23k miles on the clock, 1 owner. Registered in May 2005. It was in mint condition with that protection stuff on it making the paintwork in showroom condition. Not sure if that was a little high - but I loved it from the start, and have always after a v6. Plan to run it for several years, so will kepp you posted!

This is off-topic, but I was sold on SupaGard and Diamondbrite after I read http://www.clean-image.co.uk/paintsealant/index.htm . Then I checked out the excellent http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php forums where the professionals post. These sealants are not so highly regarded and in independent tests are outperformed by certain 'conventional' products!

Hi Shulbert

Car sounds great, cracking low mileage.
Regarding the clutch judder, before I purchased mine 2 1/2 years ago now, I had read the clutch can be a bit fierce making smooth getaways tricky.

To start with I did notice that this was the case, as you say there's a lot to engage.
Now I don't notice it at all. You will get the hang of it eventually then forget it was even a issue.

8.5k doesn't sound unreasonable to me. I paid 7.5 for my 02 plate 2 1/2 years ago with 40k on the clock .