2.0L TDi Estate BPK engine

LOve the ride. Reliability and cost toally abysmal.

My wife and I love this car for the functionality and drive quality the Passat gives. These cars are legendary for being hugely spacious inside. I have a dog transport system that caters for two large German Shepherds in the rear luggage compartment. I can still drive with the seat back a long way due to my height and tall adults are still comfortable behind me. The car has masses of head room also.

The down side. Reliability is a nightmare on these model TDi's. If I had researched more and seen the constant reliability issues costing thousands from other owners I would of avoided it like the plague. VW do not care, and dismiss any reliability issues that are widely broadcast across the net. I will detail the issues that I have currently dealt with.

Immobiliser error/engine fault. This was a faulty electronic steering locking module. These are inexpensive, however the module was remanufactured and it does not work with the older CCM's which control windows, seats, immobiliser and other things I think. Consequently this part is very expensive and the whole job with labour will set you back in the region of £900.

Airbag fault. First time this happened it was another dealer job. The passenger’s door pillar airbag was at fault and needed to replace. Labour and parts £600. Airbag fault again which I was able to repair myself by cutting out connectors on both front seats and hard wiring both ends together. Incidentally, I believe this was a recall due to this VERY common issue on Passats and many other VW's. Needless to say this was never carried out on mine.

Water pump/Oil drive shaft. Luckily I have not had these go yet. I have seen the hex shaft rounding off because it’s not a tight enough fit in its housing and cause the oil pump to stop working hence the 7K repairs costs you see talked about on the net. I also have the BPK engine which is prone to these oil pump issues and there were two different oil pumps fitted to these engine models. The original one was very unreliable and once again there are countless stories out there of these pumps failing (can’t remember the specifics) and costing owners new engines and a turbo. Mine is the later oil pump which I believe is gear driven internally and less like to fail. However the hex drive shaft is still the original problematic one fitted by VW. Water pump. These allegedly fail on an almost unprecedented amount.

That said, mine is due its cam belt replaced and during this procedure it’s vastly cheaper to replace the water pump and the hex oil pump drive shaft as it’s all more easily accessible. These parts are reasonably inexpensive also. However the labour involved racks the price up. Considering the amount of damage a worn hex drive oil pump shaft can cause it’s a worthy investment to have replaced during the cam belt.

Having owned many VW's and other German cars cars I was expecting the usual build quality and reliability from VW. Sadly this is completely lacking with this model Passat. And VW’s response. Similar to that of the issues that led them to recall Passat’s for fuel injectors failures when there was a mass claim against them. They claim to have checked the factory and dealer logs of incidents of these failures and not many have been reported. Hence they don’t care to do anything.

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