4 years old

[Lams]

So our B6 is 4 years old now, I thought I'd share with the forum members on our experience during this time and perhaps some people looking for a used passat may find this useful as well.

It's a June built '06 model, '07 model year 2.0TFSI wagon. It was optioned with 18" with sport springs and xenon. Upon delivery my mother also added 2 tone leather seats, oettinger remap, MFD2 and the Skoda 729B BT kit.

Recently my mother got a new (impractical) car, but still wanted access to a large car when she needed. So I gave my Caddy to my younger brother and bought this from her. The sport springs on normal shocks gave a very bad handling / ride package so I sourced the H&R kit from ECS Tuning for 800USD. Bargain




VCDS has been an invaluable tool for keeping this car on the road. We've had a few issues over the years, from memory:
- electric park brake button (replaced under warranty)
- front right wheel bearing; dealer tried to blame the tyres, so I swapped another set of wheels on and same noise (replaced under warranty)
- airbag light - side airbag ignitor resistance upper limit. Dealer eliminated both under seat plugs
- 2nd electric park brake button (paid $90 for the part and would probably buy one more for spare)
- April '09: replaced battery with aftermarket well-known battery. August '09, battery overheated or something stupid, leaked acid and destroyed starter motor. Left my mother stranded at the mall in 35C (yes it was 35C in August). Tow truck driver had no knowledge of park brake, took him 3 hours to load it on the tilt tray. Highway VW was very good and repaired the car the next day, at a cost of $1300. Still fighting with battery manufacturer to recover this repair cost
- the car somehow 'forgot' one of the remotes. I managed to resync both remotes with the car using VCDS
- one HID ballast died and took a bulb with it. Replacement of bulbs requires removal of bumper. Not fun.

Ongoing problems:
- Airbag light still comes on every few weeks. I have to disconnect seat-floor plug, clean it, plug it back in, with VCDS reset the code and it'll go away
- lots of rattles everywhere. With Maverick's advise I used cloth tape between plastic trim pieces and it has improved a lot.
- gearbox - this tiptronic gearbox is crap
- front control arm bushes - both gone and replaced with polyurethane ones by M weber
- aircon system: Our Caddy and Eos, both '06 cars, have had aircon systems replaced. Waiting for this one to go bang

It's done 84000km now and still going very strong. For those with B6s with this age, I highly recommend a VCDS - it has been invaluable for us. Next service is the big timing belt one... the car's now averaging around 8.5L/100km, it has very tall gearing but drinks a bit in stop-start traffic. It'd use considerably less if it had the DSG or manual box.

We're taking it to Tassie from Brisbane at the end of the year, it should be great!!

[team_v]

So our B6 is 4 years old now, I thought I'd share with the forum members on our experience during this time and perhaps some people looking for a used passat may find this useful as well.

It's a June built '06 model, '07 model year 2.0TFSI wagon. It was optioned with 18" with sport springs and xenon. Upon delivery my mother also added 2 tone leather seats, oettinger remap, MFD2 and the Skoda 729B BT kit.

Recently my mother got a new (impractical) car, but still wanted access to a large car when she needed. So I gave my Caddy to my younger brother and bought this from her. The sport springs on normal shocks gave a very bad handling / ride package so I sourced the H&R kit from ECS Tuning for 800USD. Bargain




VCDS has been an invaluable tool for keeping this car on the road. We've had a few issues over the years, from memory:
- electric park brake button (replaced under warranty)
- front right wheel bearing; dealer tried to blame the tyres, so I swapped another set of wheels on and same noise (replaced under warranty)
- airbag light - side airbag ignitor resistance upper limit. Dealer eliminated both under seat plugs
- 2nd electric park brake button (paid $90 for the part and would probably buy one more for spare)
- April '09: replaced battery with aftermarket well-known battery. August '09, battery overheated or something stupid, leaked acid and destroyed starter motor. Left my mother stranded at the mall in 35C (yes it was 35C in August). Tow truck driver had no knowledge of park brake, took him 3 hours to load it on the tilt tray. Highway VW was very good and repaired the car the next day, at a cost of $1300. Still fighting with battery manufacturer to recover this repair cost
- the car somehow 'forgot' one of the remotes. I managed to resync both remotes with the car using VCDS
- one HID ballast died and took a bulb with it. Replacement of bulbs requires removal of bumper. Not fun.

Ongoing problems:
- Airbag light still comes on every few weeks. I have to disconnect seat-floor plug, clean it, plug it back in, with VCDS reset the code and it'll go away
- lots of rattles everywhere. With Maverick's advise I used cloth tape between plastic trim pieces and it has improved a lot.
- gearbox - this tiptronic gearbox is crap
- front control arm bushes - both gone and replaced with polyurethane ones by M weber
- aircon system: Our Caddy and Eos, both '06 cars, have had aircon systems replaced. Waiting for this one to go bang

It's done 84000km now and still going very strong. For those with B6s with this age, I highly recommend a VCDS - it has been invaluable for us. Next service is the big timing belt one... the car's now averaging around 8.5L/100km, it has very tall gearing but drinks a bit in stop-start traffic. It'd use considerably less if it had the DSG or manual box.

We're taking it to Tassie from Brisbane at the end of the year, it should be great!!

Good bit of info there.
I have the e-brake in the Tiguan and it is the thing i am most fearful of.
It is a nifty gimmick and makes you feel like you are in a high tech vehicle but you never know what's going to happen with it.

Any reason why you went the oettinger remap over an APR remap?

[Lams]

At the time, APR was busy and didn't have time to write a map for our car (it was the first of this particular code)
Oettinger also offered an engine drivetrain warranty.
However, both my mother's and my wife's Eos have APR and they feel MUCH stronger!
Having a faulty switch the car would still let you disengage the park brake, just won't apply it. It is a dumb feature - one that makes a skid pan course a complete waste of time

[tryingavw]

maybe all the rattles and the HID ballast problem etc due to the harsher ride with 18" and sports suspension?

seems a lot of problems for the age and klms.

[The_Hawk]

Oettinger also offered an engine drivetrain warranty.

Is that par for the course with Oettinger?

[The_Hawk]

Oettinger also offered an engine drivetrain warranty.

Is that par for the course with Oettinger?

[tessie]

...um, sounds like a lemon pretty much. We have a MkV Golf Sportline (getting on to 5yo) 77000km's, and not an issue so far, as it should be. Your post would turn-off most buyers I would have thought. I'm punting around in my 8 month old CC, and loving it, if I was getting your probs, I would'nt be buying another VW. No excuse for crap quality.

[PassatB6]

So our B6 is 4 years old now, I thought I'd share with the forum members on our experience during this time and perhaps some people looking for a used passat may find this useful as well.

It's a June built '06 model, '07 model year 2.0TFSI wagon. It was optioned with 18" with sport springs and xenon. Upon delivery my mother also added 2 tone leather seats, oettinger remap, MFD2 and the Skoda 729B BT kit.

Recently my mother got a new (impractical) car, but still wanted access to a large car when she needed. So I gave my Caddy to my younger brother and bought this from her. The sport springs on normal shocks gave a very bad handling / ride package so I sourced the H&R kit from ECS Tuning for 800USD. Bargain




VCDS has been an invaluable tool for keeping this car on the road. We've had a few issues over the years, from memory:
- electric park brake button (replaced under warranty)
- front right wheel bearing; dealer tried to blame the tyres, so I swapped another set of wheels on and same noise (replaced under warranty)
- airbag light - side airbag ignitor resistance upper limit. Dealer eliminated both under seat plugs
- 2nd electric park brake button (paid $90 for the part and would probably buy one more for spare)
- April '09: replaced battery with aftermarket well-known battery. August '09, battery overheated or something stupid, leaked acid and destroyed starter motor. Left my mother stranded at the mall in 35C (yes it was 35C in August). Tow truck driver had no knowledge of park brake, took him 3 hours to load it on the tilt tray. Highway VW was very good and repaired the car the next day, at a cost of $1300. Still fighting with battery manufacturer to recover this repair cost
- the car somehow 'forgot' one of the remotes. I managed to resync both remotes with the car using VCDS
- one HID ballast died and took a bulb with it. Replacement of bulbs requires removal of bumper. Not fun.

Ongoing problems:
- Airbag light still comes on every few weeks. I have to disconnect seat-floor plug, clean it, plug it back in, with VCDS reset the code and it'll go away
- lots of rattles everywhere. With Maverick's advise I used cloth tape between plastic trim pieces and it has improved a lot.
- gearbox - this tiptronic gearbox is crap
- front control arm bushes - both gone and replaced with polyurethane ones by M weber
- aircon system: Our Caddy and Eos, both '06 cars, have had aircon systems replaced. Waiting for this one to go bang

It's done 84000km now and still going very strong. For those with B6s with this age, I highly recommend a VCDS - it has been invaluable for us. Next service is the big timing belt one... the car's now averaging around 8.5L/100km, it has very tall gearing but drinks a bit in stop-start traffic. It'd use considerably less if it had the DSG or manual box.

We're taking it to Tassie from Brisbane at the end of the year, it should be great!!

I bought a Granite Green wagon in June 06. Now has 80,000km. Very similar to yours but no Oettinger or sports suspension. I certainly haven't had the problems you have had, in fact I've had very few luckily. Replaced washer bottle on warranty, aircon condensor replaced under warranty and an aircon fan which was partly covered out of warranty. Normal Wear and Tear - Had pads and discs done all round. Also had battery replaced.
I find it is very sensitive to tyre wear.
Otherwise I can't really complain. Took it round Tassie- be careful of brake wear on those bendy roads. I reckon I wore out half my pad thickness on that trip!

[slitko]

Yeah my 2.0 TFSI Passat is 4 years old and still going strong.

Issues we have had are

Dead battery after 6 months
Had some rattles in the centre console had dealer fix them
There was a faulty engine part fixed under warranty
Gears shifting from 1st to 2nd would make the car jump fixed under warranty

Still have 2 years warranty left

[Lams]

while this car has had more than its fair share of problems, I think it hasn't turned me off VWs, yet.
My parents, wife, younger brothers, inlaws, all drive VW because overall they put together well packaged cars. Since the battery incident a year ago, this car has had a year free of problems. And now we've installed the H&R kit it's now more enjoyable to drive and more economical than ever! I love its understated looks and it's just the perfect-sized car for us these days
From what I've seen on passatworld and vortex the problems I've had aren't all that uncommon among B6s. It's fair to assume the more 'stuff' you have in a car the more stuff can break... having said that the only problem-free VW that we've had is my mother's 9 month old Eos
I hope that by treating it well it will treat me nicely in return.
I am interested in a e46 M3 next though...