The Passat W8 was a delightful experiment from Volkswagen. Taking an experimental engine (the W8) that would become the power plant for the Bugatti Veyron (when doubled in cylinders and capacity) adding all accessories, goodies, upgrades and options to a single model, producing it in limited numbers (less than 5,000 ever produced worldwide) and giving it a driver experience straight out of the Nurburgring, made this one of the finest cars ever offered in the US market. Beyond comfortable and way more than enough power for any driving situation (including some serious street racing against Porsches). This rocket was a delight to put 245,000 miles on in three years. The only serious maintenance items were tires, a battery, and headlights that were ridiculously expensive to replace (first generation HID). In fact, if I had not been forced by the police to submerge the car up to the beltline in a flooded street detour, I would be still driving the car today. It ran again after trying to fix it, but never the same.

Dark metallic blue Passat 4-door wagon. I had owned a Jetta sedan before and enjoyed it. This car was fine for a while but it seemed to start to have little problems in fairly short order. To begin with the interior didn't stay as attractive as I would like for very long. The passenger electric window button started to recede into the door panel and become a little bit loose. I try to take good care of my car and I don’t subject it to mistreatment so I feel that the fit and finish issues are not from normal wear and tear but from poor quality materials and assembly. The black plastic strip in the body seam that runs the length of the roof front to back became loose and would not stay in the groove no matter what I did. So it started immediately with little things and so when the larger issues came about I was not surprised. The automatic locks for the rear doors and the hatch quit working. Then the transmission began to “thunk” when putting it into gear or, alternately, not want to go into gear at all. That was fixed at the dealer for a large sum but it soon returned. Apart from that it has been a myriad of little things. Basically from the get-go it has been giving problems. I had owned a Jetta sedan before and enjoyed it. This car was fine for a while but it seemed to start to have little problems in fairly short order. To begin with the interior didn't stay as attractive as I would like for very long. The passenger electric window button started to recede into the door panel and become a little bit loose.