Used Car of the Day: 2005 Volkswagen Passat TDI

by Tim Healey

Published: January 31st, 2024

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]

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Tim Healey

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

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4 of 32 comments

Pianoboy57 on Feb 01, 2024

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.

2 Reply
- Redapple2 on Feb 01, 2024
  
  Mid 70 s super beetle- agreed.
  
  Like
Zerofoo on Feb 01, 2024

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.

1 Reply
- SCE to AUX on Feb 01, 2024
  
  My 02 had the electrics in the LR door fail a few times (window, lock, lights), A/C compressor switch failed, crankshaft position sensor left me stranded at 4 months, incorrect fuel gauge, dangerously unresponsive throttle, rusted brake rotors when new, and stuff I'm forgetting. It was in the shop every 3 months for something else.
  The last straw was when the oil light came on 3000 miles after changing the oil, and 3 quarts were gone - at 33k miles. The dealer made up a story about a leak (engine was dry), and so I traded it for a Scion xB.
  I didn't keep the Passat long enough to get into anything age-related.
  
  1

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