Passat TDI

allllec

allllec

allllec

Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2006
Posts
4,261
Just a quick one.

Looking for a £1k barge to get me about for 6 months. I suspect I may be purchasing earlier than I expected (otherwise my budget would be higher and thus I'd probably pick up a rover 75 cdt) so we will call 1k the absolute limit, for now.

Looking at a Passat TDIs, seems a fairly comfortable place to be for pretty good economy (any real world figures?) and crucially there are usually quite a few to choose from around this price point.

Won't be a 130bhp version if I can avoid it. Anyway, general thoughts? What am I looking for when I buy one? I can stomach any costs it throws up but just want to be aware of the biggest ones. Do these have DMF/Injector/Pump issues or anything?

Before anyone suggests so, there is no way you are getting me in a mk2 Mondeo. Period. However I may be open to suggestion on anything else I've not thought of, all I really require is something readily available at short notice with as many miles to the gallon as possible, ideally a saloon.

Kind Regards

Alec
 
While I'm not totally adverse to the mk3, theres too much money to be saved by the leap in mpg if I go to a half decent oil burner. Otherwise yes, I'd consider one :)

Ta

Alec
 
Look for a 110Bhp Model, ideally AFN engine. I put 30K one one and it didn't miss a beat, it left me with 170K miles on it. Timing belt intervals are low, circa every 40K budget for this if needed.

Passats have a funky front suspension set up too, with 4 arms as opposed to wishbones, if your spanner handy, £200 will pick you up an ebay special kit which has every arm in it.
 
Waterpump and belt need doing, usually done at the same time, and isn't a cheap job so finding one with a recent, legit, receipt for that work should be on the checklist. Not fully awake (don't ask) so am suffering fluffy brain at the mo but the air flow meter is another, potentially, expensive part. Drives like an SDI with a duff one.
 
Cool thanks guys.

Re: 110bhp model, any particular reason? Reliability or just for the performance vs mpg? Because to be honest I am only really interested in MPG.

So ideally want something with a recent belt and pump and either good condition or recently done front arms yeah?

Any other input or thoughts are welcome.

Kind Regards
 
allllec said:
Cool thanks guys.

Re: 110bhp model, any particular reason? Reliability or just for the performance vs mpg? Because to be honest I am only really interested in MPG.

So ideally want something with a recent belt and pump and either good condition or recently done front arms yeah?

Any other input or thoughts are welcome.

Kind Regards
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I'd bet that most diesel passats at £1k or under have moon miles, or will be generally 10+ years old. Real world mpg should be at the very least high 40's low to mid 50's if you do much motorway miles.
 
Well you can consider a 90 if you want, the 110's extra 20hp does help. The AFN is a really solid engine, and it'll normally be something else that puts them out of action. Mine was on original clutch at 170K so don't be too scared by miles, they do have DMF so expect to have that changed if the clutch needs doing (Single conversions available).

I used to get 52mpg (Tank Full -> Empty -> Refil) on my Passat, driven down an A road every day.
 
Dogbreath said:
The 110bhp 1.9 is a mechanically injected diesel, no expensive common rail components to fail. They still have a turbo though, and a dual mass flywheel.
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What has having a turbo got to do with anything I said. Every other time that anyone suggests buying a £1k passat on here everyone says how crap the 1.9 is.
 
Blackhawk47 said:
What has having a turbo got to do with anything I said. Every other time that anyone suggests buying a £1k passat on here everyone says how crap the 1.9 is.
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I was taking about running costs and why the 110bhp version was a good idea*. Turbo's are expensive, dual mass flywheels are expensive and common rail components are astronomically expensive. The old 1.9 is as rough as a cement mixer full of nails, but it's a pretty reliable engine.

*When I say "good", I mean "better than the more powerful variants".
 
Those of us that have owned one of these "horrific nails" of an engine tend to not bite when someone slanders their reputation. No point arguing with someone who is already patently wrong, even more so when it's on t'internets ;)

It's a very easy engine to live with in daily usage and having "some" vibration at least lets you know it's there, and operating, when you have your music up louder than any tractor noises you might hear if your windows are down.
 
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