2001 VW Passat 70,000 miles and a 99 acord ex 100,000 miles i have just heard mixed reviews of VW and was wondering if it was a problem car or if its a safe choice?
All things being equal…the Accord…
BUT…there are just way too many variables to make this decision only on the car/year and miles…How about maintenance records?? City driving or highway driving?? Little Old lady or a 22yo racer wanna-be racer the previous owner?? How clean are the vehicles?? Any accidents?? Mechanic Inspection??
If it’s close to equal, the Accord by far…Mike’s right, you need to know what the history is for both. But if the Accord’s not good, I’d still pass on the Passat, regardless. It’s had a uniformly bad reliability history, 2001 included.
If the accord’s transmission is in good shape, then I vote for that. Otherwise I vote for another car. In today’s market you should come up with a better list honestly.
Which one do YOU like better. That’s it.
I would also favor the Accord. However, unless you know that each of these cars has had its timing belt replaced already, then each of them is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode on your wallet.
As we usually advise, any potential used car purchase should be inspected by a mechanic of your choice, prior to purchase. But, since visual inspection of a timing belt is not a reliable indicator of its age, I would not go near either of these cars unless you have legitimate records of their maintenance, including timing belt replacement and transmission fluid changes. Without assurances that those services have been done, the potential repair costs are in the thousands of dollars.
Without knowing the previous history of these cars it’s really hard to tell. All else being equal I vote for the Accord.
Having owned a 2002 passat or as I use to call it the money pit. I’ve since switched to Honda.
Agree with others; at 70,000 miles a VW Passat starts becoming a money pit. Not only do things fail more quiclkly than on a Japanese car, the cost to fix it is very high. Passat timing belts have been know to fail BEFORE the scheduled replacement, with about $3000 in repairs for such an event, VW has been reluctant to make good on this; ask my neighbour!
If the Accord is good and well maintained, I would buy it. Even if the Passat has been well maintained, avoid it; the owner knows EXACTLY what he is doing by dumping it before things start to break!