2011 VW Passat Wagon (118 TSi) - things to look for

[bennybennybenny]

Hi guys,
Big time newbie here, but looking for a little bit of assitance. I have kid #2 on the way and so looking to replace one of our sedans with a used wagon. I test drove a 2011 VW Passat wagon (11(with the 1.8 TSi petrol) the other day was quite impressed by it for 12 year old car. I know some VW's of this vintage had issues with the DSG gearboxes, especially the 7 speeds so I'm just wondering what I should be on the lookout for with a car like this? Would this be a DQ200 DSG box?

I haven't driven a car with DSG before, but this one seemed to drive pretty well, changed through gears well, couldn't really hear any noises out of the ordinary. The car has 112,000km on the clock and has been serviced at the local specialist VW dealer (Solitaire Automotive) for all of it's services up to the 100,000km service which was done at an independent garage (non VW specialist). The current owner has had the car for 8 months and by the looks of the records has only had an oil and filter change done in that time for which he provided a receipt for but nothing was ticked off in the book.

Any help or advice would be appreciated for any specific things I should be looking out for, or should I steer away from Passat's of this vintage and look at soemthing else?

Cheers Benny

[Lucas_R]

I would recommend looking at a different car if you want a reliable wagon - a Mazda 6 wagon or Subaru Liberty Wagon or Outback for example. A Skoda Octavia RS is a good option if you want to stick with the VW family of cars. If you look at the Skoda, try to get a 2012+ model which should have the updated timing chain and tensioner fitted from the factory. Skoda Octavia RS for sale

The gearbox fitted to the Passat you are talking about is the infamously unreliable DQ200 7 speed unit, which are renown for clutch issues and mechatronic issues. Also the engine is well known to have timing chain issues which can ruin the engine without warning, as well as water pump failures. Yes you can fit new timing chains etc to the engine to fix that aspect, but you will always have the gearbox issues.

If you really like the Passat, then consider the V6 engine or the 2.0 diesel, both of which are more reliable engines and come with a different (more reliable) gearbox. But, I would not recommend the diesel unless you regularly do longer drives on the freeway, diesels do not like constant short trips (dropping kids to school / down the road to the shops etc) and will give you problems unless they get a regular longer drive at 80+KPH to get hot and burn off the soot in the diesel particular filter.