Volkswagen Passat '96: Good Car? Easy To Repair?

[junkofdavid2]

My friend offering to sell me her Passat.

It seems to be in pretty good condition, even the paint is good and a nice color.

Question is... is it generally a reliable car?

Are parts widely available? How much more expensive would the parts be than a Toyota or other Japanese brand?

Any Volkswagen owners out there who can share their advise?

[rixalex]

My friend offering to sell me her Passat.

It seems to be in pretty good condition, even the paint is good and a nice color.

Question is... is it generally a reliable car?

Are parts widely available? How much more expensive would the parts be than a Toyota or other Japanese brand?

Any Volkswagen owners out there who can share their advise?

There's a member here whose name escapes me, who is always raving about the cheap VW Golf he bought. If his experince is anything to go buy, i'd imagine the Passat would be much the same. Can you give us details like the model and the price?

[lingnoi34]

Concensus in Germany is that the 96 Passat is not very reliable. Beginning in 2001 with the new model they got more reliable...

That doesn't mean that every 96 Passat will have tons of problems. I have had a 95 Golf GTI and it was supposed to be unreliable too but in the five years that I owned it, it never gave me any grief.

Parts availability and prices in Thailand would have me concerned more!!!!

L

[junkofdavid2]

My friend offering to sell me her Passat.

It seems to be in pretty good condition, even the paint is good and a nice color.

Question is... is it generally a reliable car?

Are parts widely available? How much more expensive would the parts be than a Toyota or other Japanese brand?

Any Volkswagen owners out there who can share their advise?

There's a member here whose name escapes me, who is always raving about the cheap VW Golf he bought. If his experince is anything to go buy, i'd imagine the Passat would be much the same. Can you give us details like the model and the price?

Dunno anything about model... but it's 170,000.

I've sorta decided that I'll go for a Japanese car. Maybe even one which runs on LPG.

Any known problems with LPG, by the way?

[Plus]

Not unless you get cheapest LPG fitted on variable valve engines like Toyota VVTi or Honda Vtec. Then you'll have engine knocking, but it's not a big deal, there are cheap ways to limit possible damage, and taxis don't mind it at all.