Passat wagon with 4 motion

I have a 2002 Passat wagon with 4 motion. It's basically a good car, but the new-car warranty certainly has saved me a lot of money in the first two years. If it hadn't been for that warranty, I'd now be a very unhappy VW customer. Bottom line: I don't think I'd buy one out of warranty.

My personal opinion -- not shared by some in this newsgroup -- is that the 4 motion feature is useless. I'd use it in city traffic if it supported neutral, but it doesn't. The lowest gear is First.

The automatic transmission works very well; you'd be hard-pressed to improve on it by shifting manually with 4 motion. Women are even less likely to fantasize they're stick shifting in the Indianapolis 500, so I doubt your wife would use the 4 motion. Mine doesn't. The only time I've ever used it is for engine breaking going downhill on a slippery road.

Richard Schulman (for email reply, remove the "-xyz" part)

2000 was the first year, at least in my part of the USA. That said the added traction is great if you live in a snowy part of the world. Most owners sell the Passat, or just about any car because it is in need repairs and they don't want to spend the $$$. 2002's come with a 4yr/50,000 warranty from VW, but if you buy older then VW has the "certified" which is for 2yr/24,000 from the day you purchase the car. It's a good warranty and cover a lot of important things like engine, driveline, electrical, and other stuff. The Passat is the most trouble free VW...

It sounds like you are describing "tiptronic", 4 Motion is Volkswagens all wheel drive system. And as far as using tiptronic for engine braking.... You don't even need tiptronic for this, for many years it has been possible to downshift an automatic transmission, manually, to a lower gear... simply slide the lever down ,after depressing the button. Using lower gears is recommended in the owners manual of my A4 Golf, and my fathers 11 year old Volvo (the wording is even similar on how to utilize the 3,2,1 or 3, "L" functions properly)

Gracias!

I might look into the certified stuff. I have a couple of friends, one owns a Jetta, one a Beetle, and both are on their second engines. That said, a third friend has a Passat wagon that he loves. And the VW interior is *really* nice.

I live in Northern Michigan, and my wife is a Ski Patroller. She does alot of late night driving in some nasty conditions, so I much prefer her to have the extra traction. Further, we are thinking of purchasing a house on a steep hill. I like the Subaru Legacy Outback for its mechanicals, but the Passat is nicer. And with a set of Nokians, its all good.

Ah yes. One more dumb question; Are VW engines interference engines?

Thanks again!

The new Outback/Legacy is a considerable improvement over the previous model, in case you havn't seen one yet. And it's avaliable with the 2.5T, making 250Hp and 250 Ft. Lbs. of torque, it's actually better (in more ways than 1) than Subaru's own H6. You'd need to buy a $40,000 W8 to get more than that from a Passat. I love my GTi, but where I'm at right now, I'd rather have a used Audi A4 or a new Legacy 2.5T than a Passat.

Yes the 1.8t & 2.8V6 will bend valves if the belts goes. The 250hp Subaru... more HP means more gas, and unless you have a use for that extra 50+ hp it's just a waste.