Is the VW Passata good family car?

[Anonymous]

We need to get a new car ASAP. Our 2004 Hyundai sonata is no longer safe to drive and the repairs are more than the car is worth. Want to stay under 24k. We have a 1 year old. We MAY want another in the future.

Have been thinking about

VW Passat (asking 20k)
Mazda 6 ( 21k)
Hyundai Sonata 23k
Hyundai Tuscon 24k

It's really important to qualify for a zero percent loan. We do have really good credit and the sales people said it should be fine.
All of these cars are having this promotion this month.
I am leaning towards the vw passat but I'm worried about reliability. Will maintenance be more expensive later down the road?

[Anonymous]

Mazda 6 a million times over.

[Anonymous]

I loved our VW but I can't really say it was a good car. A fun car, yes.

[Anonymous]

We have a 12 year old Passat Diesel.

The engineering of the car lived up to its advertising/our expectations - how it drove, the mileage, the comfort and we have a station wagon which has been very useful (and more than adaquate) for our family of 4.

But the maintenance costs have been very expensive so I doubt we'd get another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved our VW but I can't really say it was a good car. A fun car, yes.

Lots of electrical issues.

[Anonymous]

We had a 2002 Passat. I love the comfort of the seats and how it drove, but it needed SO much more in maintenance than our Honda. Lots of little electrical things needed repair, which we were told is typical for vws.

[Anonymous]

The Passat I had was the biggest POS I've ever owned. It was fine until about 65-70K miles. Then fell apart. Engine coils failed, water pump, fuel pump the list goes on. Got rid of it around 80k. Second biggest POS was a Jetta. No, no, no to a VW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Passat I had was the biggest POS I've ever owned. It was fine until about 65-70K miles. Then fell apart. Engine coils failed, water pump, fuel pump the list goes on. Got rid of it around 80k. Second biggest POS was a Jetta. No, no, no to a VW.

You mean 8k?

[Anonymous]

Mazda 6 hands down

[Anonymous]

We had a Passat for about 14 years, only put about 60K miles on it, but in the last two years before we got rid of it it was costing us more than it was worth to fix every 6 months or so. Every repair seemed to run us between $1K and $3K.

But we had 12 good years.

[Anonymous]

We had two Passats because my husband loved them. The second one was a total lemon. The maintenance light would literally come back on while driving home from the repair shop. It had tons of electrical issues, shitty dim headlights and the A/C barely worked. We had a horrible last experience with Darcars service department who charged us thousands of dollars for a repair that didn't last 10 miles. We disputed the charges with our credit card and got it all back.

Now he drives a Honda accord that hasn't given him a minute's trouble in over five years.

[Anonymous]

Garbage car.

[Anonymous]

Steer clear of the VW. It’s a maintenance nightmare.

Out of that list I would pick the Sonata.