VW Passat W8 4Motion?

[Ronin Tactical]

Long story short....I found out that the GTO has been previously wrecked - there are obvious, and less obvious signs. More than likely, since I've bought 5 vehicles from Cochran (Pittsburgh), they'll realize the ins-and-outs of this scenario and just give me payoff for the car and let me pick something else.

I'm wanting to keep the purchase price and payments around the same as the GTO...and stumbled upon a 32,000-mile, 2003 VW Passat W8 4 Motion in their inventory. Looks like it's a 4.0 or 4.2 W8 with 270 hp and 293 ft lbs (healthy), autostick, and all-wheel drive. This could be fun, especially given the cool tuner stuff available from Oettinger and others.

Does anyone have any experience with these, or know of anyone?

The only real writeup I found on it was from Edmunds, and they said the car was "ridiculously overpowered". For me, that's not a bad thing, it's a great thing.

Ideas, suggestions? I could also look at a used WRX, Jeep Wrangler (always wanted one), or a Mustang (they have two GTs with manuals).

[S4toSTI]

That car is pretty cool i worry about vw's long term. But yeah def a cool car.

[Ronin Tactical]

I'm meticulous on maintenance and diag, but yeah, I've done quite a few lemon law cases on VWs in general...that's definitely in the back of my mind. The dealer group also has 3 A6 Quattros, one of which is a 2.7T.

[Evolved]

Why settle for a different car at the same price? You can pick any car you want and they should be more than happy to sell it to you at a deep discount. After all what they did is illegal and they potentially could lose their license.

[Ronin Tactical]

I don't feel it was intentional, only because I know some of the managers there - they don't do business that way, I think this one just slipped through the cracks.

Given my job, sure, I could sue the hell out of them, but a good friend is a finance director with the group, and I feel they'll step up and handle this.

Sure, I'd love to get an STI, but I don't think they'd sell me one for $20k, and that's all I want to spend (got payments on my wife's $44k truck..).

[Evolved]

I guy on Evolutionm.net bought a used Evo that turned out to have been in a previous accident. Long story short he got a brand new Evo IX SE for the same price of the used Evo that he had originally purchased ($27k).

[Ronin Tactical]

That's cool, and I'd love to get an '06 GTO for $17,500....best I could do before my purchase was $29k.

Rather have an STI for $17,500, of course - the group has a Subaru dealership, and the main sales guy that my finance manager flipped me to is the lead Subaru sales guru. I should know what they're planning with a day or two.

[Vypurr]

Maybe a new WRX TR for that kinda price?

[Ronin Tactical]

Sure, but one magazine just called the TR a "senior citizen" in an 8 car comparison...weird.

I'd love another Subaru, though. Miss that thump.

[MuddyREX]

Originally Posted by Ronin Tactical

I'm meticulous on maintenance and diag, but yeah, I've done quite a few lemon law cases on VWs in general...that's definitely in the back of my mind. The dealer group also has 3 A6 Quattros, one of which is a 2.7T.

Buy the 2.7t.

[dwl137]

The 2.7T is a great motor, and with Reflash and some minor upgrades they can be pretty quick. The thing you need to watch though on the 2.7T's are the turbos as some people had issues with them after 60k though that seemed to be mostly people with the S4 (B5)