New Passat - the list of problems grows!

[Argonaut]

Hello!, new to the forum, and relatively new to VW. My latest company car is a 55 plate 140 TDi SE saloon, and was chosen for its VW heritage, tax break, and ability to swallow the family and luggage. Overall I'm happy with the car which achieves an average of 39mpg around town and 55 mpg on a long run at M way speed. For such a big barge it handles well, brakes well, and the mid range torque and acceleration are good. However, turbo lag is noticable, and the engine has a dislike of supermarket diesel, producing too much (IMO) black smoke under load. I switched to Shell Optima and there is less smoke. If you are prepared to put in BP ultima diesel, its a different car, with greater mpg and acceleration. Makes me wonder where the supermarkets get their fuel from...
I noticed some of the threads refer to electrical problems and want to share my experience. On a wet night in January this year, ie 11 month old car, I had total electric failure, couldn't start it, lock it etc. Brakes locked on. AA took it to the main dealer, dragging it on the transporter due to locked handbrake (have since learnt of fuse to disconnect!). The problem was the "Consumer Unit" a box of tricks located under the front passenger seat. The dealer explained that VW know that there is a problem with these units, but won't issue an official recall, they repair them as they go wrong(?!). New unit installed no problem for 3 weeks, until same problem occurs. It transpires that VW had sent an unmodified unit which the mechanic had not realised and fitted. Back to dealer, modified unit fitted and no problems since. However, going back to dealer on Monday for wiper motor recall!.

[Georgeg]

I purchased my new Pasat TDI wagon about 2 months ago. Within a couple of weeks I started to notice a lot of creaks and rattles coming from the dashboard. Stopping, starting and going over bumps makes the whole dashboard creak. A constant creak came from the glovebox area - and an intermttent loud rattle from the around the key area. I took the car back to the dealer in Melbourne Australia who initially suggested it was due to our high temperarures and hot sun on the dashboard , till i told them it happend at night and on overcast days and I showed them a printout from this web site!

The dealer "tightened" up the dash assembly and fitted some kind of material between the bits in the dash that may rub againts each other. That helped a bit, but its still driving me crazy. The dealer told me that VW do have a problem with creaks and rattlers in the Passat dash, and said that they may not be able to fix it so that it does not rattle and creak. I am now hearing a new rattle from the door pillar!

That is not accetable. Even cheap Korean cars dont creak and rattle like my Passat. My belief in VW making quality cars is shattered.

Has any one managed to get VW to agree to replace the whole dash or the whole car with one that does not creak and rattle? If yes - how did you go about doing this?

[Georgeg]

Have just received a replacement 2007 Passat a couple of weeks back after having untold hassles with rattles and creaks from the original one I purchased 6 months ago. New one thankfully is much better (fingers crossed).

There is however a very slight rattle in the glovebox area so interested to see what the dealer has to say on this when this gets looked at.

Hi Steve

What did you do to get VW to agree to replace yr Passat? I am having heaps of problems with creaks and rattles in my new Passat - (4000 kms only), and the VW dealer in Melbourne is saying that there is not much that that can do to fix it. Is yr new Passat free of these noises?

[dmac]

I’ve got a handbrake problem on my 06 1.9 TDI SE if you push the button and it says hand brake fault and it wont go on I have to get out and lock the car and open it and it works but the last time I had the fault the car didn’t lock I went backing into the car and it was dead and it’s still dead after 22 days and counting Vw assistance and vw Customer service are of little help maybe it’s because I stay on a Scottish island. I will have to get the car to the mainland and to vw dealer. I will probably have to pay for recovery vehicle. I have had 7 Volkswagens and 1 Audi and all have been very reliable but the passat is a bit of a disappointment.
I have wipers that stop when the car is stopped at junction handy just when you want to see I have a sticking throttle pedal. The miles change to kilometres on the display

Up date my car has made it to a vw dealer today 25 April it’s only taken 39 days and to add to the problems the car has picked up some paint work scratches

After 10 weeks without a car as soon as I got it back I traded it in for a Honda accord watch is ten times better than the passat I’m now converted and wont have a vw again.

[MikeXR]

Hi everybody, I am a new member from Greece.
I got my new Passat estate 3.2FSI 4motion DSG in January after a 4 month waiting period.
I already have 8.000Km (5.000ml) on it and I can say I am very pleased with the overall quality and handling of the car.
I have had no noises (yet) and no problems with the various electronics (No Kessy or parking sensors installed) or the handbrake.
The only problem I have is the usual thing with VW - the local dealers and distributors.
I had the car specially ordered with the options I wanted (bi-xenon, dynaudio system, solar shell sunroof, integrated child seats etc) but when the car arrived in Greece I found out that it was missing the gear shift paddles behind the steering wheel.
The dealer then replied that you have to order these separately and when I told him that I already did that, we discovered that in his “options list” the code for the paddles was not listed correctly. There was only code PM3 for the multifunctional controls in the steering wheel and no code PM4 for the paddles.
I requested that they find a way to correct the problem but after a couple of days they replied that this is not possible because a change like that requires 2 additional control units, it would cost aprox. 2.000€, and it cancels the Warranty for the car !!!
After that I got in touch with the distributor in Greece who informed me that there is nothing they can do since the signed order was delivered exactly right and they are not responsible for their dealer’s mistakes when ordering and that more or less this was my fault for not checking the order before placing it.
Anyway after that I had to live with the fact that I have to change the gears manually only from the gear knob.
Luckily the operation of the DSG gearbox is great so far and I don’t have to use the manual +/-.
I am really sorry to read that so many of you have problems with the car and I hope that you find a way to fix them.

[Thunderbird]

Hi new here, but have read with interest the multiple entries ref dash/door rattles - I have an 06 140 tdi sport with 21k on it which I've had from new. Its rattled and creaked from day one and been in twice - 1st time my dealer said there was no noise, so 2nd time showed them, and despite them "fixing" it, its still there. Has anyone had any success with their dealer actually curing this?? 2ndly the ipod connection drives me nuts!! I had aftermarket one in previous (03) passat which was fautless. The VW one resets itself constantly, freezes, and refuses to stay in shuffle mode. Again anyone have any ideas?? thanks!!

[BenR]

Greetings. Just joined after reading all these horror stories. I have just handed back my Audi A4 1.9 Tdi after four not particularly satisfactory years. It had a number of problems although it never actually broke down. I went for a Passat SE estate with 2.0 Tdi 140ps after seeing how much bigger it is than the A4 and better equipped for less money. By doing this I was the first to break our CEO's rather unreasonable refusal to allow executive employees to have an estate car.

Now I'm dismayed to read this litany of problems. Not surprised to read about the handbrake though as I'm suspicious of this and am waiting for it to malfunction. Don't like the way it operates as I'm in the habit of briefly holding the car on hills with the clutch as I apply the handbrake and it won't let me do that. So far my only complaint has been a slight rattle occasionally from the glovebox area, stopped by pressing near the latch. I'm hoping that being an 07 model some of thse issues will have been resolved by VW.

The paintwork is a little orange peely but still looks smart in inky metallic blue. The engine isn't the sexiest sounding around but it hauls the car up to speed with little fuss and deceptively quickly. I'm getting about 48 mpg with 2000 miles of wear on the engine. My wife and son like the car and I can fit my mountain bike in the back without removing the wheels, which is a big bonus. Having a slightly longer wheelbase it feels steadier than the A4 at speed. Tyre noise is surprisingly resonant but better since I adjusted the pressures, which the dealer had set too low at 33. Otherwise I enjoy driving it and am enjoying the 6 CD optional stereo, which has good sound.

So far my only problems have been self-inflicted - trying to remove the rear boot light so as to fit a brighter bulb (for illumination at the back of the car) I fused the interior lights - easily fixed. Company fitted a hands-free, which triggered an airbag warning - main dealer reset it for a disgraceful £88, we have sent the invoice to the carphone company. The rearmost power socket wasn't working but this was quickly sorted by the dealer.

Fingers crossed then.

[Stevebarns]

I've got a very unreliable Passat 2.0 TDI Sport - registered June 2005. here's the story so far:

Airbag light has come on twice.
Economy dropped by 7mpg (ish) after 3 months. No help from dealers, but has since (almost) returned to previous levels.
Electric seats have needed fixing twice.
Rattles all down the drivers side door and dashboard.
Cambelt went at 38000 miles - needed new engine
Emissions warning has come on for the 3rd time (meaning probably issues with catalytic converter) - on the way to drop it off (1 week after the new engine went in) - the coolant light came on. The hose had cracked and the car is once again undriveable. I'm not sure what the damage is at the moment.

Should the hoses have been replaced with the new engine ?

I'm a bit sick of this car now, it spends a hell of a lot of time at the dealers. I may have a bad apple - and I'm thinking of replacing it, but I'm not sure that I trust the Passats now.

[Steve H]

Purchased my Passat B6 estate 1.9 SE In May 2007.........on the whole i am pleased with the car however i had to have the windscreen replaced due to de-laminating at bottom of screen. The new vw windscreen that has been fitted seems to be doing the same, has anyone else had this problem?
I also have a whistling noise from rear of car when changing gear? I have been advised of possible wheel bearing at fault, VW road tested car however told me they could not hear anything because of road noise?.....very helpful.

[Dook]

Just thought I would post to redress the balance a bit!! I have had my 170PS TDI Sport DSG Estate 07 plate since late March, and haven't had any issues at all. I don't have keyless entry, but parking sensors, parking brake, DSG box, low rev pickup etc. are all absolutely fine on mine.

Occasionally there are a few creaks in hot weather, but that doesn't bother me, maybe I am just not so picky!

Overall a great car, decent performance, good economy, roomy, very comfortable and nice handling. My only quibble would be that VW should fit slightlier beefier brakes on the 170