Thinking a bit longer term.......

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Hey all,

 

Just thinking about maybe buying a second car for my daily driver. Have seen several Passat B5 1.8T Sport SE'sand Passat V6 4Motion's, FSH, fully loaded with leather etc. for around £3500-£4500 for V / W reg (Did VW put the 180BHP 1.8T from the later TT's in the later Passat's, if so even better !). Yes, they have higher mileage but motorway cars and full main dealer SH so well looked after etc.

 

Also considering Audi A3 / Audi A4 1.8T or A4 2.8 V6. What are people's opinions on these choices ?

 

Reckon that the Passat would look really nice decked sitting on big polished Merc or Audi rims and could be APR chipped or similar for not a lot to get it to 200-210BHP (if the 150BHP 20VT engine) or 230BHP ish with the 180BHP 20VT engine. But the V6 4Motion also sounds really nice with 204BHP as standard :D

 

Cheers

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Anyone ??

 

Cheers

[CazzaVR 0]

What about an Octavia vRS? You get the 180BHP 1.8 20v T engine, nice interior with plenty of toys. Especially good in Black Magic pearl.

 

Mine is arriving in around 6 weeks time :D - can't wait!

[Guest]

I'd second the Octavia - better than VW build quality and relaibility, better equipment than a comparable Passat, much better looks, more power - the list goes on

[Jim 2]

Pretty darn happy with my Golf GT TDI - would happily reccomend one of those. Its no G60 in terms of performance, but then i'd never have got 600 miles (and counting) on £52's worth of fuel from my G60 either ;)

[BigTartanJudge 0]

Yeah, wouldn't mind an Octavia vRS but can't afford even the lower priced early examples which are still making £7000 plus :( Mk4 Golf GT Tdi wouldn't be bad either but again £6000 at least.

 

Can't think of any other comparable VAG model that is as good value as B5 early 1.8T Passat etc. for the performance, build quality, reliability etc

 

Cheers

[Bally 0]

Im a big passat fan...

 

just a few pics to get you going.... :D

[Jim 2]

Ergh.. not feelin those Passat estates at all.

 

A regular saloon / non-estate version with a sensible (read as able to drive over pebbles in the road without grounding out) drop on BBS RC's looks superb.

 

The top one is so low, the wheel has tucked FORWARD into the arch for christs sake!!

[Bally 0]

another

[Louie Lungbubble 0]

Those crazy europeans and their kerrazeee alloys :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Of the list you've put forward, I'd go for the Audi A4 2.8 V6. It's a fantastic engine, really smooth and torquey. I always felt the 1.8T was overworked in the A4 but it can be chipped up easily enough as you say....but at the end of the day it's still VAG's 20V engine, which is unrefined by today's standards. 6 cyl VAG engines rock.

[bcstudent 0]

but at the end of the day it's still VAG's 20V engine, which is unrefined by today's standards

 

*yawn*

 

I completely disagree - I'm a huge fan of the 1.8T motor. It's these differences of opinion that keep the world interesting I guess.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yawn away and disagree all you like......doesn't bother me or sway my opinion in the slightest. Aren't you a hard man pulling an a wheeley in your avatar :roll:

[Walesy 0]

why does no-one think of the BORA in these situations then???.

 

i think if i was to go a more sensible route than a corrado BORA would be on my list of test drives!.

[g60_Pete 0]

v5 4motion please!

[Campaign 0]

Yawn away and disagree all you like......doesn't bother me or sway my opinion in the slightest. Aren't you a hard man pulling an a wheeley in your avatar :roll:

 

Bit harsh there Kev, everybody's entitled to their opinion. Personally I prefer my 1.8T Passat to the VR6 Vento that I had previously. It's a lot more economical, just as much power and "towability", it's probably going to be easier to maintain.

 

Having tried out an A4 1.8T, I plumped for the Passat as it was a "lighter"/"Airier" car, cheaper to buy too :)

[Jim 2]

Anyone got a little more information on the V5 engine actually? Is it an inline 5 cylinder or something?

 

They certainly sound quite nice and with a little bit of air filter / exhaust fiddling they sound pretty similar to a V6 engine but with a bit more of an edge.

 

But I had read in a lot of publications the V5 was a bit of a dog and worth avoiding. Anyone?

[Vmax 0]

Anyone got a little more information on the V5 engine actually? Is it an inline 5 cylinder or something?

 

The V5 is effectively the V6 minus a cylinder (according to evo 75 January 2005):

 

From a marketing point of view, VW decided they needed a 2.3 litre engine for versions of the Golf and Passat - to plug the gap between the 4 cylinder 2-litre and the narrow V6 2.8 litre. But the 4-cylinder wouldn't stretch, and Audi's smaller V6 wouldn't fit the Golf (which is why the narrow V6 was developed in the first place). It might have been possible to sleeve-down or shortstroke the V6 (although 2.8 down to 2.3 is an awfully big shrink) but VW decided instead to remove one cylinder and make it a V5.

 

This turns the 2792cc V6 into a 2342cc V5, retaining the same bore and stroke, therefore retaining many of the same components and creating an extremely compact, almost 'cubic' power unit that can be machined and assembled on the existing V6 line - a much cheaper solution than developing a whole new engine.

[Guest]

Having had two VAG cars with the 1.8T lump I'd have to say that they are not refined engines (even when compared against other 4 cylinder engines - I'd even say that four cylinder Ford engines are more refined) BUT they are very easily tunable - suppose it depends if you're looking for smoothness or out and out power.

 

I had an early 10 valve V5 Bora - nice engine note but crap economy - the Bora is a very underrated car and a V6 4Motion Bora makes a great used buy - offered an immaculate 2 year old one in black with leather, only 30,000 miles for silly money last week

[Jim 2]

Saw one for sale a few weeks back for £6000, very well specced.. almost made me wanna go sell my Golf and buy it at that price!!