My understanding is that the 1.8t in the Passat is a decent motor - in the Jetta/Golf, due to the orientation of the engine, it suffered sludge issues. I haven't heard many complaints about the B5 - most of which were delivered with the slush-o-matic.
FWIW, the factory-fill for VW is synthetic - if it had anything other than synthetic, that'd be a concern. So much for those old claims of "Synthetic since X miles". With low miles and only 1-owner, you'd should have no worries to 150K. Normal maintenance is, well, normal maintenance for a VW which can be a bit comprehensive. However, so long as that's been done, you should be fine. I recently acquired a Passat myself - a B4. As much as I hate to admit, it's rather nice driving around in a German Camry... >________________________________ > From: Chad Rebuck <[email protected]> >To: a2-16v <[email protected]> >Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2012 12:38 PM >Subject: [a2-16v-list] 2003 passat 1.8t automatic > >I'm thinking of getting a 2003 passat 1.8t automatic which my wife >will likely drive most of the time, while I'll probably drive it on >occasion. Is there anything I need to be aware of as far as >reliability of major components on this car? The car has 70k miles. > >I don't have any experience with the 1.8t or any vw auto >transmissions. Should it last to 150k miles without any significant >concerns? I've been told the engine has been run with synthetic oil >from the start... single owner car. > >Thanks. >_______________________________________________ >a2-16v-list mailing list >[email protected] >http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list > > > _______________________________________________ a2-16v-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list
