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by macaddiict
Jun 17 '08
Author's Product Rating:  Recommended: No 
Pros: Well designed, fun to drive, good gas mileage
Cons: Totally and completely unreliable at this age
The Bottom Line: Unless you can accept the trade off of constant repairs for a good driving experience, I would not recommend a Passat of this vintage.
Let me preface this by saying I truly enjoy this vehicle and plan to keep it for many years. However, after you read my review, you'll probably think I'm insane for keeping it (as do all my friends and family). I wouldn't recommend picking up any ...
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by spdster2002
Sep 30 '02
Author's Product Rating:  Recommended: Yes 
Pros: comfortable ride, tight handling, smooth engine, quiet interior, interior space
Cons: leisurely acceleration
The Bottom Line: Though pricey when new, used Passats (1998-2001.5) offer a good value for the money, and many luxury features.
The first Passat was introduced in 1974 and marked a radical departure for Volkswagen cars. It was front-wheel drive, as opposed to rear-wheel drive, and was powered by a water-cooled engine as opposed to an air-cooled engine. By the way, the name...
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by michaelsh2
Oct 10 '04
Author's Product Rating:  Recommended: No
Pros: Interior space, body construction, driving experience, peppy (when the Turbo works), handling.
Cons: Maintenance nightmare, no confidence to keep it out of shop for long, expensive premium fuel.
The Bottom Line: If you like spending money fixing cars and enjoy the driving experience, buy it.
Want good value for money and reliability? Don't go near it. There are better choices.
We bought this car (1.8T GLS, manual transmission) in 2000 with 89,000km on it. It was well maintained at the dealer and I noticed a fair number of repairs carried out on it over the first 2 years of its existence. I once experienced this with a 1986 ...
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by monoblocks
Dec 27 '01 - Updated Jan 24 '02
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: No
Pros: Generally excellent materials/fit and finish, engaging driving dynamics.
Cons: Problems, so many that epinions won't let me list them here ("TOO MANY WORDS..").
The Bottom Line: If you must have one, shop carefully to find one w/ a clean service history; should give you good service. But it still pays to have the open mind...
(Updated for a new gremlin--so what else is new? Guess that couple of thousand trouble-free miles I'd wished for when I first wrote this thing was just a WEE BIT OPTIMISTIC.)
A previous reviewer described their '98 as the best lemon...
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by veronica_e
Jan 18 '00
Author's Product Rating:  Recommended: Yes
Pros: Very well-put-together. Excellent package for the money.
Cons: The price range -- too steep for me.
My sister owns this car, so I get to ride in her Passat now and again (yippee), so if you're considering this vehicle, let me tell you about the outsider's perspective.
I bring up Blaupunkt, because if you know anything of a German-make, you'd...
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by THRDSTG
May 13 '01
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: Beautiful Styling, Fantastic Looks, Powerful 4 cyl turbo, best highway car I have ever driven
Cons: High Idle (right around the resonance freq. of the car), possible expensive repairs
The Bottom Line: Overall, I love the Passat. I actually look forward to driving it around town. And it gets 32mpg on the Highway!
Hey, no kidding, VW has had a bumpy ride over the last 20 years. We have all ridden in those old, loud, and bumpy Bugs and Vans way too much!
I own a Jeep Wrangler, and as much as I loved it, I have been wanting something a little more practical,...
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by bluebutterfly1
Apr 21 '01
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: Roomy, heavy-feeling ride, easy to steer
Cons: Barely adequate air conditioning, limited cup holders
The Bottom Line: I can recommend the Passat as a quiet, comfortable, roomy, reliable car. Just test out that a/c first!
We like to keep our cars quite a long time, which is not hard, since they have been Volkswagens, and during the last couple of years we have them, we go and test drive *everything* that appeals to us at all, so that we are educated when we do finally...
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by mkemp3
Nov 29 '99
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: safety, stylish, V6 engine
Cons: 5-spd reverse, CD changer
My wife and I purchased the 1998 VW Passat for all of its safety features and the extra head and leg room it provides over and above the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Although it is obviously priced higher than these Japanese competitors, we felt the...
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by haulasshyena
Jul 10 '04
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: Roomy, Audi in VW clothing, build quality, fuel economy
Cons: mild acceleration, cupholders, trunk light tends to go out
The Bottom Line: Great car for road trips or daily driving. The car is both stylish and roomy, with a price tag that wont leave you broke.
The Volkswagen Passat shares the same platform/chassis with the more upscale Audi A4, but the VW version is a bit stretched out compared to the Audi. Volkswagen is to Audi as Nissan is to Infinity and Honda is to Acura, for those of you who were unaware. ...
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by Peter_J
Sep 16 '03
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: No
Pros: Nice handling, efficient cargo space.
Cons: Premium fuel, poor reliability, high cost of maintenance.
The Bottom Line: I would not buy another one of these.
Suffice it to say that this is not a shameless plug for Volkswagens. We purchased our Passat GLS wagon new in '98 for $25000. We thought the price was steep at the time (at least twice what we had paid for any previous car). We had been loyal Toyota d ...
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by johnbrod1
Nov 25 '02
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: No
Pros: Fun to drive ! Very well designed.
Cons: Terrible electrically. Turbo lag. cupholders.
The Bottom Line: If buying a 1998, get a warranty. Very, very fun to drive.
Fortunately, my wife is much smarter than me. She talked me into spending $1600 on a warranty on our 1998 Passat. Unfortunately, it's been worth every penny. Let me list the reasons:
2 doors had the electric windows fail.
3 doors have had...
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by spike
Jul 19 '99 - Updated Feb 28 '01
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: nearly all the drama of Audi A4 ownership with none of the monthly payment heartache
Cons: skinny stock tires & cheap wheels, too-small cupholders!
The Bottom Line: Excellent groundbreaking family sedan design. You're just plain boring if you choose a Camry or Accord over it. Unfortunately, vw dealership service quality has yet to catch up.
I've owned my '98 GLS (1.8T, manual, sunroof, and factory CD player) since January of that year and it's been quite simply the best all-around car I've ever owned. It really does feel like a $30K car for ~$22K. It has that impeccable carved-from-solid...
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by rockstar316
Jul 16 '08
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: Those who seek European handling will be happy with the car.
Cons: Since U.S. models will have all-season tires, it will be different from European models.
The Bottom Line: Volkswagen is a reputed company so go for it.
The redesigned 1998 model is a new breed of Volkswagen.- the most refined, best-driving vehicle it has ever sold in the United States. The new model shares 40 percent of its components, including the engine, with Audi's highly respected A4.The four-door ...
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by ben_bethel
Sep 14 '00
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: No
Pros: display, exterior & interior style
Cons: low bumper, easy to get door dings
The good and the bad about the Passat!
I love this car - I love the exterior, the interior, the dashboard, everything about it. That's why I bought it.
It's not too great on the power end, I have the Turbo 4 with Tiptronic...
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by lizziem
Jan 14 '00
Author's Product Rating: Recommended: Yes
Pros: Style, pep, warranty
Cons: None so far
We purchased a '98 Passat Wagon after researching all other new model wagons, from the high end Audis, Mercedes and Volvos to the economical Hondas and Subarus, the Subarus being the most like in price for 4 cylinders (the 6 cylinder Passat has lots of...
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