I'm looking at buying another family car and have come to the conclusion that a R36 Passat wagon would be a good option.

Who owns one on here?
Are you happy with it ?
What are the bad points ?

What other feedback can you give ?

Cheers
Craig Torrens

Excellent choice. They are rocket ships!!
Have you done some research on vwwatercooled.org.au ?

no not yet.....thought I would ask here first.

Afetr seeing one at the nationals, they are a good car, it was so quite and quick.

that bloke over mascot way had one - Rob
Cant think of his stage name

The SS Commodore is cheaper, more powerful and roughly the same weight, so they're quicker in a straight line. Forget 4wd and fancy interior refinements, give me rear-wheel-drive and that V8 rumble! Parts and servicing for the Commodore are probably cheaper as well, especially as it advances in years. The Passat R36 is a very nice looking car, but a bit too serious and mature for me. Performance cars should be about fun.

yeah not really a holden man, I've had 3 and they ALL had problems !

The Commodore is what I'd get, but they're quite different cars. The Passat R36 costs a serious chunk of change though, your choices are pretty much wide open for that sort of money. WRXs and suchlike are a potential choice. If you want something luxurious and european-styled like the Passat it's a relative bargain though, as you won't get anything close to it from BMW, Merc or Audi for the same money. Maybe a Lexus?

Commodore is a crap car IMO no matter what size engine and price tag they come with
WRX can't be compared to a passat
The WRX is for kiddies, Craig is an old fart.
I think the passat is a good car although no Blue Tooth WTF ???

Has the R36 wagon been discontinued ? some other forums are saying you can no longer order them ??

cheaper the commodore mite be but as well built? hold its value? last as long? its cheaper for a reason. Not saying there a bad car but to compare to German build Quality is just a million miles of the mark.

Vw's R range are a fantasic buy which ever way you look at them. i have yet to drive one that didnt feel solid,well thought out and a real pleasrue to drive slow or fast. Oh how i wish they would import the Scirocco R !!!!!!

Personaly i would buy Vw over Bmw as i find the Bmw's wanting , sure they are fast and handle etc etc but its just a Bmw, every rep and there auntie drives one, very common place back in the uk. Nothing about them makes them special to me.... everyoen has different thoughtss..


Buy the passat and you will grin from ear to ear every time you get in it..........


steff..................

Correct Craig. There is a new model coming.

Yes, new model next year so maybe some deals coming up on stock already here or arriving shortly. I am also looking at a wagon version.

As for a dunnydore, I would prefer my cars to stay together. I have had several and they have all had DOZENS of problems from new. The last one broke the speedo cable on the drive home from the dealership (this was after having to return to the dealer so they could fix the auto gear box because it was stuck in 2nd). Will NEVER buy an Australian built car again.

Yogie

What's with all the Commodore hate around here? It's fine to prefer the VW, they're a really classy car, but Commodores aren't all bad you know. My dad has had every model of Commodore since the VT on lease, as well as a string of BA series 1 and 2 Falcons, and I can tell you for a fact that the Commodores have had far less issues than the Falcons. One of the Falcons had a dodgy computer and (fly-by-wire) throttle body. On some mornings it would give trouble and would only open to about 10% throttle, on a one-month-old car. One particular day it didn't have enough power to get up our street on full throttle, so he had to drive our 1990 Nissan Pintara TRX to work. Even when we took it back to the Ford dealers, they claimed to have 'fixed' it by re-flashing the computer, and called us in to pick it up. When we arrived, they tried to start the car up, but the throttle body was still playing up and it didn't have enough power to get out of the workshop. We had to wait in the service reception for a couple of hours while they finally swapped in a new throttle-body. In contrast the worst issue we've had with Commodores was on an early VT, which had slightly iffy door seals on the outer window scrapers, and the driver's doorlock would short-circuit when the car was left in the rain, so you had to get in through the passenger side and climb across. Quality has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years, and we haven't had any issues or even minor niggles with the VE models.

Back to topic..........feedback on the R36

I think the R36 would be a good buy, the Passats are a nice car to start with, and add a bit more power your on a winner. There was a bloke at the 2009 Nationals who had his family wagon on the track and it hammered down the straight and turned well too. So I spose if ever the Evo or one of your bugs isn't up for a run you can take the family wagon out for a blast!

Just on my experience with new VW so far they are still an awesome company to deal with, must say much better than the 3 years of owning a holden astra, that mind you blew a head gasket under factory warranty.... read into that what you will

You should also know that servicing a new VW is far from cheap (if you didn't already know that).
Although I doubt you care much about money if your buying a $75k wagon

Get serious Craig and get an Audi RS6

Quote:

Originally posted by vassy66T1 Get serious Craig and get an Audi RS6