2004 Volkswagen Passat -
We bought our 2004 VW Passat in 2008. We had a truck before that and we were expecting a baby so a four-door car made the most sense. I had always been interested in the Jetta, but when we were able to test drive a Passat we fell in love. It had a ton of space, it was quiet and comfortable, and it drove like a dream. Of course that was a brand new one, we wanted one that was used to save on money, and my husband prefers used cars for their value. We looked around for quite some time before we found her. She is a Chestnut in color, has all leather interior, and is a manual. She has been a superb car, still running great, still looks great too! Our Passat is so comfortable, the heated seats help out in the winter time and just to cut a chill in the air without turning the heat on. We hav... (more)
We bought our 2004 VW Passat in 2008. We had a truck before that and we were expecting a baby so a four-door car made the most sense. I had always been interested in the Jetta, but when we were able to test drive a Passat we fell in love. It had a ton of space, it was quiet and comfortable, and it drove like a dream. Of course that was a brand new one, we wanted one that was used to save on money, and my husband prefers used cars for their value. We looked around for quite some time before we found her. She is a Chestnut in color, has all leather interior, and is a manual. She has been a superb car, still running great, still looks great too! Our Passat is so comfortable, the heated seats help out in the winter time and just to cut a chill in the air without turning the heat on. We have never had any major problems, we keep her maintained by a VW Dealership. There is plenty of leg room, head room, and kid room, for sure. We had two car seats in there at one time and someone could still sit in the middle of the backseat, that is something you don't expect from a VW. My favorite part about our car is she is still fun to drive, even after all these years. She has a turbo charged engine, so she has some power. She also has about 1000 airbags, well maybe only 17, but I have always felt safe when we drive her. We have never had to deploy them, thankfully, but I know if we did all would be fine.
We have taken our Passat all across the country in her ten years! We lived in the Midwest but she has been to the West Coast, the East Coast, the South, and everywhere in between! We have had so many fun vacations with her. Just recently we moved to the East Coast and she made the long haul packed down with our personal belongings. It wasn't her most important haul, however. That came on the d... (more)
We have taken our Passat all across the country in her ten years! We lived in the Midwest but she has been to the West Coast, the East Coast, the South, and everywhere in between! We have had so many fun vacations with her. Just recently we moved to the East Coast and she made the long haul packed down with our personal belongings. It wasn't her most important haul, however. That came on the day my son was born. She was there, waiting for us in the hospital drive to take him home. That is the best thing she has ever done!
I love the style of the late model VW, and I think our 2004 holds true to that. She is curvy, and colorful, and has just the right amount of chrome. I love the leather seats and the fact that they are heated, the stereo system is a Monsoon, and you can tell the difference in the speakers that they are a higher quality than some other car brands. I love how safe the car makes me feel, she has nearly twenty airbags, I have never been scared to let my children ride in that car with anyone driving it, I know she would keep us safe. We have never had any "big mechanical problems". We have kept ... (more)
I love the style of the late model VW, and I think our 2004 holds true to that. She is curvy, and colorful, and has just the right amount of chrome. I love the leather seats and the fact that they are heated, the stereo system is a Monsoon, and you can tell the difference in the speakers that they are a higher quality than some other car brands. I love how safe the car makes me feel, she has nearly twenty airbags, I have never been scared to let my children ride in that car with anyone driving it, I know she would keep us safe. We have never had any "big mechanical problems". We have kept her maintained, her oil good, her tires, etc. She runs on premium gas, which is a bit of a con, because of the price, but she gets about 28 miles to the gallon if she is on premium so more than makes up for the high gas prices. She has gotten as good as 33 mpg on long trips before. The most amount of compliments we have had on this car is in her color. They color is Chestnut, and is sort of hard to explain, some people see it and say I love that color brown, other people see it and ask if our car is purple, it is a pretty cool color, she came that was of course!
My biggest complaint about this vehicle is that we have to get her serviced and all her parts ordered from a VW Dealership. We have tried other more conventional routes and it seems like people really don't understand the VW compared to other cars. We once took her to a big box store to have her tires rotated and they put air in her tires rather than nitrogen, they don't offer nitrogen. We took her once to a mechanic we were referred to by a friend, they had a sign outside their shop that said they were VW certified. We were having trouble with our air conditioning. He gave us his opinion ... (more)
My biggest complaint about this vehicle is that we have to get her serviced and all her parts ordered from a VW Dealership. We have tried other more conventional routes and it seems like people really don't understand the VW compared to other cars. We once took her to a big box store to have her tires rotated and they put air in her tires rather than nitrogen, they don't offer nitrogen. We took her once to a mechanic we were referred to by a friend, they had a sign outside their shop that said they were VW certified. We were having trouble with our air conditioning. He gave us his opinion about what was wrong, my husband, who is not a mechanic, said it sounded odd so we got a second opinion from the local VW dealership and the mechanic had been wrong, it was a much simpler problem that my husband was able to fix on his own. After that we never took it to anywhere other than a VW dealership for tires, oil, and maintenance. That has kind of been a bummer though, because it is quite expensive every time we take the car in. She also runs best on premium gas, which can get a little expensive too, but her gas mileage usually makes up for it.
2004 Volkswagen Passat - Like, but also quirky
I really love this vehicle but there are definitely some factors that would keep me from purchasing another VW Passat. It handles very well, feels very comfortable and is a smooth ride. There are some electronic quirks when it comes to the features of the vehicle which can be annoying and everything on the vehicle has been quite expensive to fix. For someone that isn't as tight on money as I am, it might be a better fit.
I really love this vehicle but there are definitely some factors that would keep me from purchasing another VW Passat. It handles very well, feels very comfortable and is a smooth ride. There are some electronic quirks when it comes to the features of the vehicle which can be annoying and everything on the vehicle has been quite expensive to fix. For someone that isn't as tight on money as I am, it might be a better fit.
I remember driving it for the first time to work and back and feeling so comfortable on my way home. It felt luxurious but not to the point where it was more than I needed. I called it a "my-sized car" because it was the perfect size for me.
I remember driving it for the first time to work and back and feeling so comfortable on my way home. It felt luxurious but not to the point where it was more than I needed. I called it a "my-sized car" because it was the perfect size for me.
It has heated seats, a great stereo system (which is stock), has a 4-motion option if you would like to control shifting yourself. Parts of the car seem to be well made, and from what I understand it has a great engine in it. When in working order, all of the electronic features can be very helpful. I love that I can see how many miles I have left on each tank while driving, that I can set-up climate control to a certain temperature and not have to deal with it. The look of the car is very sleek which I really like.
It has heated seats, a great stereo system (which is stock), has a 4-motion option if you would like to control shifting yourself. Parts of the car seem to be well made, and from what I understand it has a great engine in it. When in working order, all of the electronic features can be very helpful. I love that I can see how many miles I have left on each tank while driving, that I can set-up climate control to a certain temperature and not have to deal with it. The look of the car is very sleek which I really like.
It is extremely expensive to fix and extremely difficult to fix yourself. Even replacing headlights is a challenge. Even if the parts for the vehicle are not expensive, the labor it takes to fix it tends to be higher because a lot of the problematic parts are not easily accessible. Also, the electronic features can be glitchy. Every now and then my car thinks my trunk is open (when it definitely is not) and will extremely loudly beep at me every couple of minutes until you stop, open and close the trunk or turn the car off and back on. There is no manual release for the fuel door so when t... (more)
It is extremely expensive to fix and extremely difficult to fix yourself. Even replacing headlights is a challenge. Even if the parts for the vehicle are not expensive, the labor it takes to fix it tends to be higher because a lot of the problematic parts are not easily accessible. Also, the electronic features can be glitchy. Every now and then my car thinks my trunk is open (when it definitely is not) and will extremely loudly beep at me every couple of minutes until you stop, open and close the trunk or turn the car off and back on. There is no manual release for the fuel door so when that electronic button in the door stopped working, it took me some time to figure out how to get to the fuel door actuator.
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