Hello,

I am a member over at VW Vortex but I wanted to pick some brains over here as well...

We have had our B6 Passat 4Motion since 2006 and honestly, it has been the worst car owning experience I have ever seen in my 30+ years of dealing with cars. It's not only the issues we've been having with our vehicle but also the issues we've been having with the dealer's service departments.

First off, the brakes on this car wore completely out in just over 20k miles (and by "wore out", I mean all four pairs of pads and all four rotors). The dealership said that this was "Normal" and to be thankful that I didn't own a Toureg because they wore out in as little as 15k miles! I was shocked, to say the least. Since aftermarket parts proved difficult to find for the B6 4Motion, I was forced to buy the same factory brakes that had previously wore out in record time, which was disappointing.

Then, an Airbag Warning started appearing on the dashboard, followed by a "steering wheel lock failure" indication. At first, the dealership said that they couldn't find the problem and suspected that the "battery was low". After replacing the battery, the warnings persisted. We went back to the dealership (this time with pictures and evidence from multiple forums) and told them to fix the vehicle properly, which they did (but only after we told them how to do their jobs).

Now, we're coming up on the end of our warranty and we still have a few problems with this vehicle that no dealership has been able to resolve. First off, the gas gauge has never read "full" after being refilled with fuel. It only goes up to about 7/8ths of a tank. All the techs have done is "run diagnostics" and they say that they have found nothing.

Also, there is an issue with the accelerator which makes the car very jerky. It's an electronic system (I think) and there seems to be a delay in the response from the throttle. When you push the gas, it seems like nothing happens, so you push a little more...

...then the tires squeel and you get whiplash!

Lastly, when coming onto an offramp from the freeway, the transmission will sometimes downshift violently, causing the whole car to cavitate from the forceful downshift. I know that this is not good and is bound to cause problems down the line.

To make matters worse, the dealerships won't help us!!! Everytime we bring it in, they conveniently forget to look into the fuel gauge issue (which Pacific VW and McKenna VW have both done now) and claim that they cannot duplicate our other issues with the down-shifting and throttle. We've written VW and all they have said is to work with the dealers in our area to resolve the problem, or contact the BBB and/or BAR.

I'm to a point where I pray for this thing to catch on fire, or be side-swiped by a big-rig while parked on the street. To make matters worse, this thing has plummeted in resale value and we're going to loose money if we sell it. I don't know what to do and any advice is greatly appreciated...

Thanks for reading... (and sorry to make my 1st post a rant )

 

Of course you know this. I would start checking your States Lemon Laws. I might also consider getting an attorney. I think you've been overly put upon and more patient with VW than necessary. I would be asking for a new vehichle.

 

Yeah, we found a local lawyer and might proceed with trying to get some representation...

We were busy this weekend! We filed three BBB complaints against three dealerships (Pacific, McKenna and Timmons) and one Bureau of Automotive Repair complaint against Timmons.

I'm really upset about this and honestly, we don't have the time to deal with a non-responsive car company. I can't believe VW would willfully alienate their customers, especially in these times. I just want to dump this thing and be done with it...

It's sad too, because if it wasn't for all these issues, it would be a great car! It's got good power, it looks nice, the brakes are responsive and it handles pretty well for a larger car...

...but with all these problems, I don't trust it!

I've also been hearing smatterings of an issue with the oil pump bolts coming loose on the 3.6 engine...

 

Had this car for 9 months and love it except for all the problems.

I am having the same issues. The transmission downshifts to 4th gear off the highway and it feels like someone rear ended me. I would like to know if anyone else has had this and what was done to fix it. It does not do it all the time.

I had a coil burn up and the car would not run at all, had to tow it 30 miles to a dealer.

Now it may start and may not. If I go to the store, it will not run when I come out. It starts and stalls right away. Dont know what this is, back to the dealer again.

If anyone has had these issues fix, please let me know what it was.

Thanks

 

May be Passat is not suitable to you. You should try Japanese car like Subaru Impreza, you will know what is different between City car and Sport car.

 

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