Common Problems With '51 Passat Estate TDI 130

Gaijin

Gaijin

Gaijin

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A colleague of mine is going to see one of these tonight. Its a lovely Spandau gold colour too.

Its a '51 reg Passat Estate TDI 130 with 88,000 miles on the clock.

Its going for £3500 - good price?

Just wanted to know if there are any major problems to keep an eye out for.

Is there a cam chain or belt on this engine?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated, except for ones posted by iBot.

All answers on a postcard by 5.30 if possible chaps as thats when he leaves the office.

As always, thanks for your help guys.
 
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Watch out for a fake sense of smugness often worn by Passat drivers in the mistaken belief they've bought into a prestige brand - VW means Peoples Car, it's a German Renault.

The engine is largely reliable if a tad unrefined but it should be fundamentally reliable.
 
my old man had a 51 plate Passat for 5 years as a company car. something went wrong with the turbo once and white smoke poured out but it was sorted under warranty. Appart from that it gave him no trouble.
 
Cam belt is due at 60k and 120k. Main Dealer Price is around the £400 mark.

Just had new disks and pads on the back of mine which was another £200

If the pollen filter seal isnt correctly fitted, the rear passenger footwell can fill up with water, so prob best to check that it is dry.

The false sense of smugness didnt come as standard on mine, i always thought that was fitted on BMW's normally.
 
The engines are pretty reliable, I would double check it is defo the 130TDI rather than the lower powered TDIs there is a build sticker on the boot floor that gives the power output in KW 130 should be around 95KW I think. Make sure it has a full service history with the right oil being used and its belt driven so depending where you go its 60k or 4 years for a belt change. So the one you are going to look at should have had the belt done either way. £3500 is not a bad price for the mileage.

Don't worry Merlin this is the old model so while it doesn't like to be flung round corners on the limit which I suspect very few ever are, I would say its considerably better overall car than the new one and has a proper handbrake which always helps.

Fox got to say don't think I have ever seen anyone look smug driving a Passat.
 
Oil usage...

Some use loads other use non, luck of the draw really and not something you can check during a 30 min drive.

Any idea if its a Sport or not?

Other than the oil usage its a well made big estate car, not sure what fox is banging on about never noticed that myself, engine pulls well enough and should return good mpg.
 
my dad had one for a few years (in bling bling gold also). brand new 54 reg and he did over 100k over till last may he got a new car.

never drank oil and he always got 45+mpg.

nothing went wrong with it other than he ordered new chrome strips as they went a bit 'dull'.

it was even stolen and recovered during that time, luckily with no damage!
 
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