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Mar 10, 2012 11:34:19 GMT
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after some honest opinions on these,are they as good as the veedubbers make out? I'm after an estate for hauling the malamute's around in,and been offered a 97 Passat 20v turbo. just out of t+t,will need new rear calipers but oil and water tight.no smoke and rust free sounds a bit too good to be true tbh but i know nothing about these engines.cant afford to buy a potential money pit sooooo,honest thoughts please? have something other than vw's
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Mar 10, 2012 12:14:19 GMT
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In my experience, the 1.8t is fast, but not very strong. If you don't plan on towing anything heavy with it, its allright.
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Mar 10, 2012 12:57:27 GMT
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Keep on top of the cambelt and expect to replace the turbo one in the cars life and they seem very reliable, upwards of 200k seems normal. Coil-packs can sometimes give issues, and exhaust manifolds are prone to cracking (often to no ill effect) but otherwise they seem to be strong reliable engines.
Is this in B5 flavor? I stripped an early one a while ago that was on 198k and everything was spot on other than the cam-belt failure that had killed it. All the bearings and the bores were really good, despite my mate who'd owned it being awful at servicing it (hence the dead cam-belt). The rest of the car around the engine seems very good with B5's too. MPG wise you seem to be able to get 40 if driving gently or on a run, but 35+ is normal in day to day use unless you're heavy footed.
I've got a few friends into A3 1.8t's too, and although they seem to kill gearbox's quickly (completely different box to the Passat), none of them have ever had a real engine failure, ones run his for ~70k since fitting a larger turbo and re-mapping it to about 220bhp, and it was on ~140k to start with, it's now his weekend/track day toy and still going strong with another turbo set-up and 280bhp.
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Mar 10, 2012 13:58:20 GMT
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Engine mounts fry easyly (mainly the front and rear) but the front one is a 20 min job tops, turbos fail at about 80K or so it seems otherwise parts just seem to fall appart around the engine from what i see, i service 4 or 5 all form the same family a few doors down from my yard. Cambelts are a must along with the W/P, the whole front of the car needs to come off to do it, water pipes are curse word clip on ones and hate resealing after removal so clean very well before sliding them back on and don't damage the seal inside the pipe end front end B/J are a weak point as are the TREs, they wear every other MOT i seems especialy the B/Js an lowerd cars.
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R.I.P photobucket
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Mar 10, 2012 14:46:03 GMT
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I've got a b5 20v na estate and they're great, I've o my had to put a new brake fluid bottle and a cv joint (I broke the bottle by accident and the cv gave up as my car is quite low) owned I over 3 years and it's need given any issues. It's not even a particularly well looked after example either so with regular care I can't see why ud have issue
Check uk passats site for a buying guide, learn where the plenum holes are and keep them clear. These being blocked can lead to central locking and ecu issues due to water getting
I use mine for work and the boot swallows up all 3 of my tool kits plus my kit bags and and other items I need. I've even slept in the back on occasion and there find for that too
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Mar 10, 2012 15:36:00 GMT
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122k on my 20v turbo lump, and been running 330bhp for the last 70k of its life. Engine is standard internally and still going strong without using any water or oil!
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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Passat 20v 18t ? would you??10mpg
@10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member 204
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Mar 10, 2012 18:16:41 GMT
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I had them in for front ball joints snapped cambelts blown gearboxes, the usual host of VW central locking woes, leaking calipers, They seem over complicated for me annoyingly hard to work on, even changing a battery will take you 30mins if it's got the bigger one fitted.... and above all not terribly nice to drive, I'd have a mk4 golf estate over a Passat any day of the week... just my 2p worth..
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The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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Mar 10, 2012 18:21:46 GMT
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ok thanks guys,its sounding less and less like a good idea for me.need something thats a bit more...rugged. I'm thinking Legacy estate. shame cos she's only asking 300 for it if it goes soon
Andy
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sparkyt
Posted a lot
selling stuff
Posts: 1,767
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Mar 10, 2012 18:53:48 GMT
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Grab it .. all cars have faults .
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Mar 10, 2012 22:12:17 GMT
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In my experience, the 1.8t is fast, but not very strong. If you don't plan on towing anything heavy with it, its allright. my old audi A4 was a 1.8 T sport and that towed fine pulled a car trailor with my V8 mk3 cortina van on it with no real problems other than the lag from the larger than stock turbo ;D
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Mar 10, 2012 22:45:48 GMT
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B5 Passats are strong old cars....Mine's got 155,000 miles on and I use it hard (for work)- I have 3 other mates wth them and theirs have all done over 250,000 miles... They're not that hard to work on and parts are reasonable...they do eat CV joints and balljoints but if you can wave a spanner then all will be fine!
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Mar 10, 2012 22:49:42 GMT
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ok thanks guys,its sounding less and less like a good idea for me.need something thats a bit more...rugged. I'm thinking Legacy estate. shame cos she's only asking 300 for it if it goes soon Have it! My understanding of Legacies and Outbacks is that they're well made and rugged but not cheap to fix. There are still loads of B5s around so they can't be all that delicate.
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Mate for £300 you can't go wrong their really tough cars and what someone said above about being bad for towing is nonsense,if you saw what I pulled on my old tdi passat (totally illegal) you'd cringe and there were no issues at all.mine was the roughest passat tdi out there but it never let me down and drove like new even though every panel was dented,window regulators broke (common on drivers),heaters didnt work but that was all down to pure abuse before I had it. The 1.8t would be my second choice after the tdi but they will cost you 3-4 times more. Scoobies are great but you won't get one for £300 and it'll be low 20's on mpg.
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Grab it .. all cars have faults . Exactly this, ask about any car and you'll find faults for people with bad experiences, on the whole B5's are good cars, and for that money you really can't go wrong.
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Mar 11, 2012 21:03:12 GMT
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I own an A4 which is basicly the same. I'll try not to rant,i hate it. Full service history and its had loads done to it even when new. I was mad to get,but i did. AFM can and do fail,mine went the day i got it. It handles like a Pi$$ed up crab on greasy marbles, and thats with the bushes all sorted. I'm my opinion the suspension is overly complicated. My overall opinion of them is they are poor quality and not what a German car should be. It drinks alot too. On the plus side it can take my daughters pram and weekly shop with ease, its a nice colour erm what else,oh yeah one day i won't own it! Sorry if i'm being negative but i had high hopes for it and it failed to live up to it
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Mar 11, 2012 21:54:50 GMT
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I own an A4 which is basicly the same. I'll try not to rant,i hate it. Full service history and its had loads done to it even when new. I was mad to get,but I did. AFM can and do fail,mine went the day I got it. It handles like a Pi$$ed up crab on greasy marbles, and thats with the bushes all sorted. I'm my opinion the suspension is overly complicated. My overall opinion of them is they are poor quality and not what a German car should be. It drinks alot too. On the plus side it can take my daughters pram and weekly shop with ease, its a nice colour erm what else,oh yeah one day I won't own it! Sorry if i'm being negative but I had high hopes for it and it failed to live up to it you must have bought a lemon couldn't fault my B5 Tsport A4 other than the fuel consumption (mid 20's around town) it was a great car handled well very well built suspension was fantastic (i switched to a set of coilovers on it as shocks were shot when i got it and the coilies were cheaper the OE shocks great car really didn't want to get rid of it but £40 a week of juice was getting to much especially with the escort almost on the road
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Mar 11, 2012 22:11:13 GMT
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Had the 1.8t 20v engine in a seat Ibiza cupra.The AFM failed,water pump went and a coil pack went.All jobs done under warrenty.Would i have another NO.Car had 11,000 miles on the clock and was a year old.
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Mar 12, 2012 11:59:26 GMT
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Worked on Audi's for over ten years and these engines are alright, replaced loads of oil strainers on these, seem to start blocking up around 100k, if caught early enough just replacing the strainer is enough, but have just engines people run to destruction even tho oil pressure light on, id just ask for any evidence of it been replaced? Also good for over boost and under boost of turbos, Water pumps have plastic impellers so tend to fall apart but not a hard job to replace belt and pump. Coolant temp sensors quite common also. I'm looking for one now
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