Interested in Passat tdi 130 s/h, and interested in readers experiences with both the Passat and the Rover. Do-able s/h for £8k ? - I am going to clock up a mega mileage, so 50k would be OK.
Somewhat concerned about running costs on the Rover - the VW can be serviced at my local Skoda dealer, and of course lots of parts are on the Superb, too (thinking more in terms of broken headlamps, mirrors or electrical bits). So interested in readers experience with the Rover. How reliable is the diesel Rover - BMW engine, of course, but is it expensive for parts (chain-cam engine, tho) ? . Needs to be VERY COMFORTABLE - now doing 250 miles per day ... :-((
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I have a Rover 75 CDT Connoisseur with the 131Ps chipped engine with 300Nm of torque. Had it a year now, faultlessly reliable, very, very comfortable to drive, very quiet in the cab, the ride is very highly rated only a Jag XJ is rated higher in some surveys. Servicing is reasonable and parts are readily available (I doubt you will need them). The engine is also very quiet for a diesel, it sounds like a slightly tappery petrol. I've owned noisier petrol engined cars before.
The 75 has been What Car's second hand family car of the year - twice. The diesel has won a few awards in its own right. Many motoring pundits rate it very highly. Some diesels are in the £8k bracket but they tend to be snapped up very quick. You should be able to get a 2000 V or W for that, probably Club spec. They were very generous with the spec on the earlier cars so you might get lucky and find one with full climate control or a pre-heater which is recommended. If you want it chipped, it's a factory part and cost £495 inc vat.
I do 90% of my miles on the motorway, at 30mph/1000rpm in top it'll sit at 2300rpm very happily right in the torque band for easy overtaking. 45mpg is easy to obtain and it burns a little oil typical of a BMW diesel.
My advice, try both if you can. I think you might be pleasantly surprised by the Rover.
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Thx. What are the service intervals on the 75 ?
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It's not fixed although the interval is 15,000, it depending on how you drive it (same as the BMW system). I drive mine fairly hard and it's currently around at 12,500 (it tells you at startup) but it's due in next week (12 months)
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Reliability on the Rover seems to be superior. Ain't much on the Passat that can be relied upon, it seems. Search for posts under my name for why I think so, from a couple of months or so back.
Ha, I had a call this evening from an independent market researcher asking about my "recent experience" of VW servicing. I hadn't been thinking about it at all today, but she did ask!
I told her I wouldn't consider buying a VW again, that I would do my best to discourage others from buying any VW product again, and that I'd been ripped off when buying a car at main dealer prices in order to benefit from an approved-used warranty that turned out to be useless when I needed it (suspension failure, when everywhere outside the UK has had a recall for this problem). I also told her that I'd been ripped off with the cost of servicing by paying full whack at the main dealer in order to maintain the useless warranty, that I'd been ripped off at servicing in any case (failure to change fuel filter at least twice even though I paid for it), that I don't consider any of this to be closed and am preparing to act against VW unless they offer me some form of compensation, and that she was free to share my feedback with both the servicing garage and VW Customer Services. So there.
Bet she was sorry she rang me ....
andymc
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I agree on the VW service bit - swear our New Beetle sometimes had a service consisting of a park in the sunshine round the back... mind you, my Toyota did too...
Trick wih VW's is to use your Skoda dealer - much nicer !
Didn't know VW weren't fixing the wishbone fault uder warranty... not good ...
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