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So our B6 is 4 years old now, I thought I'd share with the forum members on our experience during this time and perhaps some people looking for a used passat may find this useful as well.
It's a June built '06 model, '07 model year 2.0TFSI wagon. It was optioned with 18" with sport springs and xenon. Upon delivery my mother also added 2 tone leather seats, oettinger remap, MFD2 and the Skoda 729B BT kit.
Recently my mother got a new (impractical) car, but still wanted access to a large car when she needed. So I gave my Caddy to my younger brother and bought this from her. The sport springs on normal shocks gave a very bad handling / ride package so I sourced the H&R kit from ECS Tuning for 800USD. Bargain
VCDS has been an invaluable tool for keeping this car on the road. We've had a few issues over the years, from memory:
- electric park brake button (replaced under warranty)
- front right wheel bearing; dealer tried to blame the tyres, so I swapped another set of wheels on and same noise (replaced under warranty)
- airbag light - side airbag ignitor resistance upper limit. Dealer eliminated both under seat plugs
- 2nd electric park brake button (paid $90 for the part and would probably buy one more for spare)
- April '09: replaced battery with aftermarket well-known battery. August '09, battery overheated or something stupid, leaked acid and destroyed starter motor. Left my mother stranded at the mall in 35C (yes it was 35C in August). Tow truck driver had no knowledge of park brake, took him 3 hours to load it on the tilt tray. Highway VW was very good and repaired the car the next day, at a cost of $1300. Still fighting with battery manufacturer to recover this repair cost
- the car somehow 'forgot' one of the remotes. I managed to resync both remotes with the car using VCDS
- one HID ballast died and took a bulb with it. Replacement of bulbs requires removal of bumper. Not fun.
Ongoing problems:
- Airbag light still comes on every few weeks. I have to disconnect seat-floor plug, clean it, plug it back in, with VCDS reset the code and it'll go away
- lots of rattles everywhere. With Maverick's advise I used cloth tape between plastic trim pieces and it has improved a lot.
- gearbox - this tiptronic gearbox is crap
- front control arm bushes - both gone and replaced with polyurethane ones by M weber
- aircon system: Our Caddy and Eos, both '06 cars, have had aircon systems replaced. Waiting for this one to go bang
It's done 84000km now and still going very strong. For those with B6s with this age, I highly recommend a VCDS - it has been invaluable for us. Next service is the big timing belt one... the car's now averaging around 8.5L/100km, it has very tall gearing but drinks a bit in stop-start traffic. It'd use considerably less if it had the DSG or manual box.
We're taking it to Tassie from Brisbane at the end of the year, it should be great!!
It's a June built '06 model, '07 model year 2.0TFSI wagon. It was optioned with 18" with sport springs and xenon. Upon delivery my mother also added 2 tone leather seats, oettinger remap, MFD2 and the Skoda 729B BT kit.
Recently my mother got a new (impractical) car, but still wanted access to a large car when she needed. So I gave my Caddy to my younger brother and bought this from her. The sport springs on normal shocks gave a very bad handling / ride package so I sourced the H&R kit from ECS Tuning for 800USD. Bargain
VCDS has been an invaluable tool for keeping this car on the road. We've had a few issues over the years, from memory:
- electric park brake button (replaced under warranty)
- front right wheel bearing; dealer tried to blame the tyres, so I swapped another set of wheels on and same noise (replaced under warranty)
- airbag light - side airbag ignitor resistance upper limit. Dealer eliminated both under seat plugs
- 2nd electric park brake button (paid $90 for the part and would probably buy one more for spare)
- April '09: replaced battery with aftermarket well-known battery. August '09, battery overheated or something stupid, leaked acid and destroyed starter motor. Left my mother stranded at the mall in 35C (yes it was 35C in August). Tow truck driver had no knowledge of park brake, took him 3 hours to load it on the tilt tray. Highway VW was very good and repaired the car the next day, at a cost of $1300. Still fighting with battery manufacturer to recover this repair cost
- the car somehow 'forgot' one of the remotes. I managed to resync both remotes with the car using VCDS
- one HID ballast died and took a bulb with it. Replacement of bulbs requires removal of bumper. Not fun.
Ongoing problems:
- Airbag light still comes on every few weeks. I have to disconnect seat-floor plug, clean it, plug it back in, with VCDS reset the code and it'll go away
- lots of rattles everywhere. With Maverick's advise I used cloth tape between plastic trim pieces and it has improved a lot.
- gearbox - this tiptronic gearbox is crap
- front control arm bushes - both gone and replaced with polyurethane ones by M weber
- aircon system: Our Caddy and Eos, both '06 cars, have had aircon systems replaced. Waiting for this one to go bang
It's done 84000km now and still going very strong. For those with B6s with this age, I highly recommend a VCDS - it has been invaluable for us. Next service is the big timing belt one... the car's now averaging around 8.5L/100km, it has very tall gearing but drinks a bit in stop-start traffic. It'd use considerably less if it had the DSG or manual box.
We're taking it to Tassie from Brisbane at the end of the year, it should be great!!
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