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Buying advice for a 1999/2000 Volkswagen passat V6

hurfi

hurfi

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
26
Location
Melbourne, Austrlia
Hi,

I'm looking to buy a second hand 99 or 00 model v6 passat...but don't know much if anything about them, i've found a few in the $25,000AUD ish range with between 90k and 120k kilometers on the clock.

What should i be looking out for with these cars...i know there is an all wheel drive version but i think that would add too much more to the cost from what i can see, also i am only interested in the v6 model. So if there is anyone out there with any buying advice or things to watch out for at all please let me know, this is my first car purchase so i'm just a little nervous :)

Cheers,
 
First of all, your avatar sucks :p :lol:

I don't have alot (any:p) experience in buying such an expensive car, but have you made a testdrive? You don't really have to know alot about cars or models to make a good choice. It comes in handy if you can look for some parts of the car and see if the previous owner was careful with it, but primarily (IMO) it's all about what you experience during the testdrives (multiple of course).
 
25000 Australian dollars for a V6 Passat? That's not really expensive is it?
You should check if there's something wrong with it.

So have you had any other testdrives?

I assume you want an as wide as possible view on the segment you are looking for.

For instance: (Prices are different here so can't give you prices from here)
Audi A4 1.8T
BMW 3 series/5-series
Seat Ibiza/Toledo
Subaru Impreza 8)

Make sure you drive as much cars as possible, after a few cars you have a 'benchmark' for a car and then you can really judge the car you are willing to buy.
I'm sure you have experience in this, but what are your other options?
 
check for leaks.
check the mountings.you can do that by driving the car and sensing the vibrations.
Check dents look from the tailight towards the front.dent's can be visible no dent can be perfectly curedunless that part has been changed.
Check the timing belt or chain.
Check the spark plug wear it will give you a good idea of where that car has been.
An ideal wear has different mars from,over idling (cars always stuck in jam means you have lot of deposit in the engine and spark plug will be black like hell).
thing like that check with your mechanic.Check body rusts.Even though a five year old car won't ahve rust but then check the under carriage for rust you won't know whre the previous has been.

check the fan belts.get the service record.be a bit fussy coz you are paying for it.
 
25000 Australian dollars for a V6 Passat? That's not really expensive is it?
You should check if there's something wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Yeah thats cheap. Personally I wouldnt get a Passat anyways, get anything else.
Check Drive.com.au and scan there used cars section.
 
SL65AMG~V12~604BHP!!!!!!! said:
25000 Australian dollars for a V6 Passat? That's not really expensive is it?
You should check if there's something wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Yeah thats cheap. Personally I wouldnt get a Passat anyways, get anything else.
Check Drive.com.au and scan there used cars section.
Click to expand...

Why not? is it just a personal opinion on looks/performance or is there something worse i should know about?
 
I apologise for not being very specific but, I just dont like it. Its not bad, its just not good either. There are other cars in the market is what i'm saying.
That probly didnt help much :unsure: sorry
 
It's quite a "family" car. IE, the dynamics are boring, the looks are boring, and the performance is boring.

Generally, a bit of a snore fest. Very reliable, a bit fuel efficient, well built, well damped, and the handling is... safe (understeer). It doesn't excel at anything, but it's a superior car to anything japanese in the same segment.

If you want something that can hold a family, but also be hurried along twisties quicker than most sportscars, i suggest a Peugeot 405 Mi16. As stock they come with 150hp from a sweet 1.9L, and have handling far superior to any other fwd four door. The only downer is the last ones were built in about 1994 or so. You can get a late model in perfect condition for about $10k.

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/articles/peugeot405mi16.jpg

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/articles/mi16/index.htm

I'm not being "biased", it's just i've never driven a fwd sedan with anything close to the composed ride and handling of this thing. It's the best of both worlds, and does 38mpg to boot. If you want a nice interior, get a late model car (new dash is much nicer). Generally speaking though, the 80's variants have the better handling (just).

I might also suggest a subaru legacy wagon in the same field. They're fairly good handlers, have awd, and a neato engine. They're a bit thirsty, but they're very reliable and very well packaged.
 
Yeah the subaru's are good but i just cant stand the cheap interior...mmm those 16v Mi16's are sweet but...i want tiptronic and something a bit newer.
From what i could tell when driving the passat was that it felt a fair bit like a luxury sports car.
 
The Passat stock suspension is nothing to cheer about. When I bought my -98 1.8T Passat with 80 000 km on the clock, the leaning in fast corners and under braking and acceleration were terrible (with the chiptuned power and 205/55R16 tyres there was only endless wheelspin when the front went up under full acceleration).

The handling can be vastly improved by installing a sports suspension kit, such as Koni Sport Kit or K&W Variante 2 (or Eibach or Bilstein etc. etc.). The ~30-40 mm drop in ride height does wonders to the looks as well.
Top speed in my test corner (270? spiral onramp) went from less than 50 kph (with awful squealing and lifting inside rear tire) to over 70 kph (very little squeal, well planted and solid feel, could go faster if I dared) by installing a Koni Sport kit (800 euros installed, wheels aligned etc).

I'm taking the Passat to a track day in a couple of weeks, after that I'll have some real idea how it handles.

Concerning the transmission, I'd stick with the stickshift instead of tiptronic, but maybe it's a cultural thing...
 
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