As per title, looking at buying a Passat estate, we are finding the Sportage boot a bit small. With UK visits, weddings, my wife's parents house in Brittany to renovate I think the estate will serve us well. Diesel is still a decent bit cheaper here and typically tdi cars return superior mpg, a small trailer needs to be towed on occasion too. So a low miles, max 12 month old car, with warranty.. Any owners out there clocking the miles up? Ad blue problems…dsg..etc? I have a few cars to look at within the VW network here in France, all with warranty, which it seems can be extended. Looking for feedback before I jump in! The car will be Lounge, Elegance or R lime. Which basically means heated seats, leather trim but also the digital dash…read some mixed reviews about the digital dash tbh.
Probably one of the best value/money cars out there. I would also consider a Skoda Superb estate (this is Audi A6 size for a lot less ££) 2.0CR is one of the most reliable engines on the market. If planning to keep the car for long term, I would ignore the vw long-life oil change intervals and do it once a year. Also, do the dsg oil change every 40k.
Fits with what I have read, thanks. Had a 130tdi Passat highline many years back and did 100,000miles/5years trouble free motoring. I dont know why, but the Skoda Superb cars I have found for sale are just as expensive, sometimes more expensive than the VWs here. So I will go with badge snobbery!
Have a 2017 Tiguan 2.0 TDI SL, though with leather, DSG, heated seats, digital dash and panorama sunroof. I'd say it's pretty comparable to what you're looking for in terms of spec, albeit an SUV rather than estate. Very happy with mine, owned from new. Now on 56k miles. Serviced by local VW dealer, the service packages they offer are decent value. The only issue I've experienced is recent and as yet unreported to dealer is an occasional alert on the dash "Gearbox in Emergency Mode - you can drive on"... This is when turning on the ignition and maybe happens 1 in 10 starts. Reading up on this brings up some horror stories (albeit a very low number considering the number of these gearboxes out there) but I'm hanging on for the next service as it's not going into a mode where it's only operating on one side of the gearbox (odd or even gears only) and isn't coming up when driving, only on ignition on. I do have a Ross-Tech HEX-CAN lead but haven't tried to use this with the Tiguan yet. It was purchased and used on older VAG cars I previously owned, not sure if it'll work with my current car. Aside from the gearbox there is an occasional error related to the front radar. To do with dirty rain water usually and easily fixed with a wash. No problems with AdBlue and the particle filter re-gen. Advise some long drives to keep the filter clear. I purchased the extension to a 5 year warranty due to fears about the tech failing but that has since expired. Hoping to continue with it into the future.
Seems the main issue is the dsg, though keeping them up to date with oil changes seems to be key. Will look to extend the VW warranty to the maximum possible. Those dsg boxes and ad blue systems are expensive!
Not sure why you’d need AdBlue, my 2012 VAG 2 litre 190hp diesel didn’t use it. DSG box comes in several guises, the 2012 was every 40,000 miles religiously, my ‘19 2 litre petrol 190hp 7 speed DSG is sealed for life. Andy
The late version cars I have looked at all have adblue. Have the dsg gearboxes changed? Oil change was one of the service items at 80k from what I read.
I was advised by my authorised service agent, there are 3 versions of the VAG DSG gearbox used by VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda. The newest of the 7 speed DSG boxes in the IC engined cars, is a sealed for life unit. Its immediate predecessor had a service interval of 80,000 miles. I have no idea when the changeover occurred, the advice I got was based on my vehicle’s VIN. The later hybrid engines could be different yet again. Andy
VAG use 3 different DSG boxes in the range. The smallest one is for engines up to 250Nm torque and is dry clutch. Those may well be sealed. The next one is 250 - 500? Nm and the last one is above that torque. The last 2 are wet clutches so they aren't sealed and need oil changes.
Sealed for life is a fallacy with gearbox oil. I have done hundreds with shocking results of oil quality. Oil degrades in anything mechanical that has high shear values and temperature cyles. Change it at a minimum 60K miles.
After a lot of internet searching, it would appear that everything is a ticking time bomb. Oh well. Caveat emptor! Just going to find a car I like and get an extended warranty.
I've owned a 2020 Skoda Superb 4x4, dsg 7speed ,2.0 (190) from new, 135,000 miles on it now. Only issues I've had was electrically operated water pump fault at 70k, not a big deal just shot temp up and back down again , timing belt and new water pump fitted with no other engine damage. Other issue was passenger door latch failed, door would not open from inside, relatively cheap repair.I get the haldex and dsg serviced every 30k, £380 total for both at gearbox specialists. Car returns about 45-50 mpg. Car uses about 10 litres of adblue every 5k.
Forgot to mention that I had a change of gearbox oil from my local VW franchise at 40,000 miles. AdBlue results in my Tiguan 2.0TDI being ULEZ compliant under current emission levels. Something of a non issue apart from a couple of trips to Birmingham and one to Bath in the last few years. However, I can rest easy, for the time being, that should I enter such a zone I won't have to scurry around to arrange payment or risk a fine.
My 2012 diesel was 6+ compliant (according to TFL) and didn't required Ad Blue. Curious. I don't actually know what Ad Blue is or what it does. Andy
Tfl have problems identifying cars and bikes either way. Sometimes it's in your favour. Euro 6 didn't exist in 2012. Ad Blue is a synthetic urea product in liquid form. It's injected in small quantities into the exhaust and it reacts with nitrogen oxide, converting it into nitrogen, water and CO2. No Diesel is able to conform with new emissions legislation without it unless a car was very small and light perhaps. It's unfortunately quite a fragile system that relies on expensive sensors and parts to work properly. When a car runs out of ad blue or has a fault in the system it gives you a milage countdown after which the engine won't start. Ironically NO levels aren't measured during a MOT, just CO so you can happily delete the whole af blue system from the engine mapping and have no adverse effects other than higher NO emissions. It's not legal but lots of people do it when a repair is thousands and a delete is 300 with a higher HP map thrown in for free.
Just more bullshit. Reduce emissions by producing more products?? Ironic. Not sure what they test for here, or how obvious an adblue delete is. I can see why people do it though. My Sportage is an MHEV with adblue, quantity used over 58’000 kilometres has not been much. Topped up twice, way before any warning lights for low level. Typically the 136hp mhev Sportage does not have an improvement in mpg over the previous none mhev. Lower emissions, yes, at the expense of more parts to manufacture, a lithium battery included. Basically we just move the dirt to another part of the planet. I was laughing (in a smug way) when we visited the UK over Christmas, one of the big service stations had a near riot with folks trying to get connected up to the charging points. At a guess a 500 car capacity service area…with FOUR charging points.
you will never hear the good stories. and if your wise, never ask a mechanic for car purchase advice. we generally only ever see the bad ones. and sooner or latter they mostly become bad. as said all diesels have add blue now. pish for regular short journeys and i dont believe they have perfected the tech around it though there are additives for the add blue that can reduce failures of certain components. go petrol.
I have got used to near 50mpg with a good sized car with decent performance. No need for mega high performance, just something that is not gutless. Passat 1.5 tsi would work, but fuel consumption does not look good and suspect round the doors fuel consumption would be miles off what I am used to. Considered the 2.0 Toyota hybrid estate, not convinced it would work for me. Knowing my wife the dual climate will be cool on my side, hot on hers, with either heated seats or aircon running Typically doing 15 -17 k a year, so sort of between diesel and petrol territory. Prefer auto too, as I cant be arsed changing gear plus my knee aches from time to time..
