Volkswagen Passat Problems

Until this week I would have said the Passat was fine but I've just run into a problem with a VW test car. I would now punt for the Liberty, which has just been updated and gets The Tick.

I would continue to use he same oil you've been using, I doubt that needs anything else and I wouldn't put a "thicker" oil in it. VW engines have a habit of using a little oil, enough to make it necessary to keep a constant watch on the oil level and keep it topped up, but it has only done 175,000km and is only using oil on the highway.

There are reports of problems with the ABS control module on Passats of your vintage, and that could certainly be the cause of your problem. Take the car to an experienced VW mechanic who should be aware of the issue and able to fix it at reasonable cost.

The Mazda6 is very good and great for the price but the Mercedes C-Class wagon is a couple of steps further up the ladder and an excellent car if you have the money.

By law carmakers are allowed to fit speedos that read up to 10 percent over the actual speed of the car, in other words they can read up to 110km/h when the real speed is 100km/h, but they cannot have a speedo that indicates a speed less than the actual speed of the car. They tend to err towards the plus 10 per cent error because that covers all of the possible errors that could affect the reading. You will find that virtually all cars are the same; it's not just VW. One way out is to refer to the app as your staff do, or use the speed readout on your sat-nav, which will be more accurate.

There have been a couple of recalls relating to the DSG gearbox, the latest being in November and affecting model year 2013 vehicles. The earlier one, in June this year, affected vehicles produced between 2008-2011. From that you would have to believe that most models with the DSG gearbox are afflicted with the problem. The current models have DSG gearboxes and there's no reason to think that VW will move away from the technology. It is brilliant technology if it works, and you can only assume that they will get the bugs ironed out and when they do it will be a very good gearbox. I couldn't advise you to change to another brand, that's a decision for you and you alone, but if you are concerned about the DSG technology then look around at other makes. But in doing that remember that many companies are going to DSG technology as well as VW, so check to see what gearboxes are being used by any alternative make you might choose to switch to.