For the most part the car has been trouble free. It has a nice look and has aged well. It still looks modern. It is comfortable for the class that it is in. The room in it is more than what you would expect. The trunk has an amazing amount of room. It is a little noisy but nothing unexpected. It is a fun car to drive. It is very "torquey". The handling on the car is tight which makes it quick. The rear brakes have some kind of design flaw. I had to replace the rear calipers 2 times as they kept locking up. The other complaint I would have is that the electronics that control the windows, trunk release and gas flap in the driver side door isn't very reliable after 90000 miles. That has gone out 2 times and you have no way of opening the trunk or gas flap when that happens. The car is extremely safe. It has a total of 6 airbags which has made me feel very secure in the car. The gas mileage could have been a little better but that is more a function of my driving technique.

I own a 2001.5 (yes, that .5 is very important!) Volkswagen Passat Variant. That is a fancy word for "wagon". I went with the GLX 4motion V6 version. It came will all the bells and whistles. I love the heated, leather seats, the steering wheel controls, and the driver's seat memory! The last is a great feature when you have two people who drive the car and are significantly different in size. No more banged knees on the steering wheel. You just hit that number one button on the seat, and it moves before you have to get in!