Used Car of the Day: 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI
The year 2005 seems like yesterday but it's darn near two decades ago. Yikes. Let's put aside our existential angst to check out a car from that model year that's still rolling -- a 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI.
This third-owner car has 215,000 miles on it -- and the current owner has done some things like put in a new turbo, new mass airflow unit, new intake flap valve, new headlamps, new coolant reservoir, and new hood release latch.
The engine runs and the transmission shifts smoothly, says the seller, and the brakes work well.
Apparently the air conditioning, heater, windows, and sunroof work well, too.
It does need new front bumper clips and a new front lower valance. The rear speakers are not connected and there are some other minor electronic gremlins.
The ask is $5,500 and the car is for sale in Palm Springs, California.
[Images: Seller]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
More by Tim Healey
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- ToolGuy This thing here is interesting.For example, I can select "Historical" and "EV stock" and "Cars" and "USA" and see how many BEVs and PHEVs were on U.S. roads from 2010 to 2023."EV stock share" is also interesting. Or perhaps you prefer "EV sales share".If you are in the U.S., whatever you do, do not select "World" in the 'Region' dropdown. It might blow your small insular mind. 😉
- ToolGuy This podcast was pretty interesting. I listened to it this morning, and now I am commenting. Listened to the podcast, now commenting on the podcast. See how this works? LOL.
- VoGhost If you want this to succeed, enlarge the battery and make the vehicle in Spartanburg so you buyers get the $7,500 discount.
- Jeff Look at the the 65 and 66 Pontiacs some of the most beautiful and well made Pontiacs. 66 Olds Toronado and 67 Cadillac Eldorado were beautiful as well. Mercury had some really nice looking cars during the 60s as well. The 69 thru 72 Grand Prix were nice along with the first generation of Monte Carlo 70 thru 72. Midsize GM cars were nice as well.The 69s were still good but the cheapening started in 68. Even the 70s GMs were good but fit and finish took a dive especially the interiors with more plastics and more shared interiors.
- Proud2BUnion I typically recommend that no matter what make or model you purchase used, just assure that is HAS a prior salvage/rebuilt title. Best "Bang for your buck"!
Comments
Join the conversation
I had to be crazy to become the fourth owner of an
'02 B5.5 1.8t. But I really liked that car. It was comfortable and drove well. It took a big repair about once a year the six years I owned it. Youtube helped me out a lot and I had to rig a ring pull out of bailing wire since so many trips under the hood were needed.
My wife had to start making weekly trips to a doctor so I replaced it with a Corolla. No plans for another VW unless its a classic Beetle.
Did this vintage Passat suffer the MKIV problems that the Golf and Jetta experienced? Stuff like failed window regulators, broken glove box doors, bad brake light switches, and rubber peeling off the interior components? This era was not a good time for VW.