I have a 2004 Passat with 50,000K miles.
Since I've had the car I've had to replace:
- the battery,
- both fog lights (strangely they both went out at the same time)
- the A/C serviced twice (once the Freon needed to be replaced)
- one of the key fob no longer works
- and now I have a headlight that is out.

Do other Passat owners have to replace these items with such frequency?

Headlights on all my other cars lasted considerably longer.

Of course the Dealer says this is normal, but I'm starting to think either
I have a lemon, or VW's are a piece of crap.

I had a headlight go out on my 2003 German made Jetta. Both brake
lights went out. Bulbs failing and failing at the same time is sort of
logical. Battery might be rotten luck. Friend's 2002 Passat has the
original battery and he has never checked the water level. Freon never
needs to be replaced. It may need to be topped off if there was a leak
or loose hose. You can replace the key fob battery.

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:29:15 GMT, "Andrew Schumer" <axschumer (AT) aol (DOT) com>
wrote:

"Andrew Schumer" <axschumer (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

I've heard of the headlamps going out more frequently on late model VWs (i'm
sure the DRLs don't help).

For the fob, they sometimes go out of frequency if not used for a while
and/or are used too much outside the range of the car and just need to be
reprogrammed. there probably is a procedure in the manual for this (my '00
Eurovan has a DIY reprogramming procedure...see if your passat does).

battery going out...if yours is an early '04 (that you got in fall of '03)
that means 3 years on a battery which isn't great but isn't alarming either.
IMHO 3-5 years is normal for a battery everything else seems a bit
unrealistic though...I wouldn't call the car a lemon at this
point...remember that lemons are usually problems that happen over and over
repeatedly, not different problems.

not too abnormal other than the AC issue.

"Andrew Schumer" <axschumer (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:29:15 +0000, Andrew Schumer wrote:


My daughters 2003 Jetta goes through lightbulbs, both front and rear, more
than a car should.

In article <7KBSg.19$bJ7.15 (AT) newsfe08 (DOT) lga>,
Charlie <charlie (AT) smaptrap (DOT) net> wrote:
Get the long life bulbs that cost more. The cheap ones go fast. I had a
brand new rear/brake light combo go bad on me in one day. Of course this
was in my Jeep which can really shake those bulbs. The ones that are long
life have LL on the end of the part number.


--
Jeeps and dubs and everything's nice...

Its normal .Don't dwell too much about if its a piece of crap or not .I,m
pretty sure its not a lemon.. That argument has been here at least a
hundred times. If you do figure it out, let us know what you bought.
European cars are about Luxury. Japanese cars are about reliability.
American cars are about horsepower.
"Peter Parker" <nospam (AT) zero (DOT) com> wrote