Would you....

MelonStrings

MelonStrings

MelonStrings

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18 Oct 2002
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Location
London, UK
....

OK... Still in the position of doing lots of looking for a car... and not actually commiting to anything yet...

I've found something that interests me quite a lot...

Its the W8 4 Motion Passat... From what I've read so far it's quite a machine...

275BHP... 0-60 6.5s... Fully loaded with Climate Control, Full leather, Sat Nav, Heated seats with memory, Cruise, Parking sensors, Sun roof, Electic everything.... a bunch of other features...

Apparantly the chassis has been strengthened to cope with the extra power... And the interior is of superior quality to a standard Passat...

What I like best is the price... I've found one in a local stealers on an 02 plate with 50k on it for £8.5k...

Found this quote on Yahoo! car reviews to back up the interior quality comment...

Boasting an eight-cylinder engine, four-wheel drive and a power output of 275bhp, the Passat W8 features interior quality so good that youd swear you were in an Audi were it not for that incongruous blue and white badge staring back at you from the steering wheel.
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I know running costs will be high... but we've been driving my Mum's L plate 525i for the last 2 months and that drinks fuel...

Would anyone be tempted for the money if they were looking for a family orientated saloon they could have fun with?
 
The interior is not of superior quality, it's the same interior just with nicer seats etc. The dashboard and plastic quality remains the same - that of a Passat - and is one of the reasons why this car never really took off.

And if you think a 525i drinks fuel you've not seen anything yet if you get one of these :p

To be honest it's a bit of a 'What could have been...'. It's too much of, well, a Passat to be a swift, comfortable cruiser but it's too much of, well, a Passat to be a genuine Sports Saloon. As a result it found itself stuck in No Mans Land and thus sold about 4 of them throughout its entire production run :p
 
[TW]Fox said:
The interior is not of superior quality, it's the same interior just with nicer seats etc. The dashboard and plastic quality remains the same - that of a Passat - and is one of the reasons why this car never really took off.

And if you think a 525i drinks fuel you've not seen anything yet if you get one of these :p

To be honest it's a bit of a 'What could have been...'. It's too much of, well, a Passat to be a swift, comfortable cruiser but it's too much of, well, a Passat to be a genuine Sports Saloon. As a result it found itself stuck in No Mans Land and thus sold about 4 of them throughout its entire production run :p
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So that's a "no" then! :D
 
Well it's failings are less of an issue at £8.5k than they were at the price they were new - at something like £40k, you just didn't want a car like that.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Well it's failings are less of an issue at £8.5k than they were at the price they were new - at something like £40k, you just didn't want a car like that.
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Are the failings worth accommodating at £8.5k?

What would you recommend in it's place, that has power, and comes as well equipped for the same money?

Cheers,
Melon.
 
heard parts can be very very expensive if its unique to the w8.

from memory one the gearboxes is pants, not sure if its the manual or auto though
 
I think for 8.5k you could do a lot worse. Seems to be fully loaded with reasonably low miles for the age of the car.
 
panthro said:
I think for 8.5k you could do a lot worse.
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I really hate it when people say this becuase it's so utterly meaningless.

It's like finding a low mileage Hyundia Sonata for £5k and saying 'For £5k you could do a lot worse' - well yes you could, you could spend £5k on 10 Yugo's for example, doesn't suddenly mean becuase you can buy worse it's a good buy does it?

'Well done for coming 25th in the race, you could have done worse - like, 26th!'
 
On behalf of Fox :P. You really cant go wrong with an E39, 530i Sports. Lovely quality interiour, the 'plastics' feel very unplastic, lots of wood, leather and toys to play with. Just dont buy one with anything less than lots of wood/leather and toys. Base models dont save enough pennys to be worth buying second hand.

If your really that scared of the fuel costs, and are planning high mileage, there is always the 530d. But you need to be planning quite a lot of miles to really notice the difference.

The E38's drink a fair bit less fuel than the older 'L' reg e34s though even when comparing what seem like similar models. So I would expect the E39 530i to drink less fuel than your mums 525, unless you thrash it constantly.
 
Surely you would be better off buying a more common cruiser with all the extras than one where fuel consumption and buying parts will cripple you, if you can get them.
 
Corasik said:
On behalf of Fox :P. You really cant go wrong with an E39, 530i Sports. Lovely quality interiour, the 'plastics' feel very unplastic, lots of wood, leather and toys to play with. Just dont buy one with anything less than lots of wood/leather and toys. Base models dont save enough pennys to be worth buying second hand.

If your really that scared of the fuel costs, and are planning high mileage, there is always the 530d. But you need to be planning quite a lot of miles to really notice the difference.

The E38's drink a fair bit less fuel than the older 'L' reg e34s though even when comparing what seem like similar models. So I would expect the E39 530i to drink less fuel than your mums 525, unless you thrash it constantly.
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I was more thinking a 3 Series as a Passat alternative, really.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I really hate it when people say this becuase it's so utterly meaningless.

It's like finding a low mileage Hyundia Sonata for £5k and saying 'For £5k you could do a lot worse' - well yes you could, you could spend £5k on 10 Yugo's for example, doesn't suddenly mean becuase you can buy worse it's a good buy does it?

'Well done for coming 25th in the race, you could have done worse - like, 26th!'
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Tough **** I said it, its a figure of speech, get over it. Its a good car for the money.

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/volkswagen-passat-w8-2004886.html
 
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[TW]Fox said:
You mean the review that says:
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Read it more carefully and you will notice that they are talking about the auto W8 gearbox compared to the manual V6 4motion gearbox. Then it goes on to say

A six-speed manual gearbox was fitted as standard, although the majority of the cars that made it to the UK featured a five-speed auto, a box of decidedly patchy talents. This long-legged box responds smoothly when part throttle is used, but kicks down way too slowly and is geared very high, negating the benefits of the W8s power.
A manual Passat V6 4Motion is a far more able companion. The manual-boxed W8, on the other hand, possesses a real punch. The strong self-centring action of the gearbox is something weve become used to with Volkswagens, but the effortless surge at higher speeds is a welcome novelty.
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[TW]Fox said:
I was more thinking a 3 Series as a Passat alternative, really.
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Hehe, I drove '7's for years, so I still consider the '5's to be their sport mid sized car, and the '3's as the babys :) (Baby's are cute though!)
 
I just don't see the point in spending huge prestige car running costs to drive... a VW Passat. If you want a Passat a newer V6 or 1.8T will be a far better ownership proposition.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I just don't see the point in spending huge prestige car running costs to drive... a VW Passat. If you want a Passat a newer V6 or 1.8T will be a far better ownership proposition.
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Its a very good car. A friend of mine ran one for a year and really enjoyed the ownership. The engine is superb, its not that much more expensive to run from a normal Passat apart from the fuel, very reliable, amazing spec and its all in all a enjoyable, comfortable drive.
 
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