RE: Volkswagen Passat W8: Spotted
Discussion
jas xjr said:
Maybe file this under ask a silly question. How hard would it be to extract a bit more power from that engine? Cheaply I might add.
If you set side bulls
t claims for air filters (yeah right sucking air through this paper filter is taking 6 horsepower) I'd say very hard to impossible without significant expense, like all NA tuning. You'd still have a lardy passat at the end of it too!I used to see a silver estate version in Finsbury Park - only me and my petrolhead friend used to know what it was, and we'd ogle over it as we walked past while our group of mates took the piss.
I am glad things like this exist. By modern standards one could argue a 20d would do the job and much more besides, but I'm a serial enthusiast of 90's / 2000's opulence for the sake of it, so this gets me going. Weirdo.
I am glad things like this exist. By modern standards one could argue a 20d would do the job and much more besides, but I'm a serial enthusiast of 90's / 2000's opulence for the sake of it, so this gets me going. Weirdo.
I could be wrong...Resolutionary said:
I used to see a silver estate version in Finsbury Park - only me and my petrolhead friend used to know what it was, and we'd ogle over it as we walked past while our group of mates took the piss.
I am glad things like this exist. By modern standards one could argue a 20d would do the job and much more besides, but I'm a serial enthusiast of 90's / 2000's opulence for the sake of it, so this gets me going. Weirdo.
Well that makes two of us.I am glad things like this exist. By modern standards one could argue a 20d would do the job and much more besides, but I'm a serial enthusiast of 90's / 2000's opulence for the sake of it, so this gets me going. Weirdo.
I had one of these for 6 years, in estate form. I've replaced it now with a 530BHP Brabus estate, yet despite the obvious gap in performance I still miss the Passat.
As far as running costs go, they're more than a TDI but nothing near as bad as some claim. Compared to all other 8-cylinder German cars I've had it's been the cheapest to run. Some parts are specific to the W8, rear light clusters for example have a chrome strip not found on other Passats, so its best not to smash one. But other than a few such oddities, parts are perfectly reasonable. I know you can't do statistics on one car, but it never let me down.
The W8 is also the best sounding car I've owned. It sings beautifully without needing to be loud and shouty. I don't know why it was like that, maybe it was the combination of a flat plane crank and unusual firing order.
Handling wise, well underneath (unlike other generation of Passat's) it's an Audi, and uses the proper Quattro system rebadged as 4motion. Made it a wonderful car to drive over here in winter, the grip in snowy conditions was impressive. I know it "only" has 275BHP, but with all 4 wheels pointing straight and winter tyres, I could floor it in the snow and the traction control would't even flash.
Its a difficult car to explain to those who don't get it, but I've found that it's way more than the sum of its parts. I suspect people expected a "performance" version of the Passat, a bit like an AMG or BMW M car, but the W8 is aimed at comfort rather than sport. Overall I've found it excellent at being a daily driver with a bit of a difference.
The biggest downside is that it attracts car nerds who always feel the need to talk to you about it.
As far as running costs go, they're more than a TDI but nothing near as bad as some claim. Compared to all other 8-cylinder German cars I've had it's been the cheapest to run. Some parts are specific to the W8, rear light clusters for example have a chrome strip not found on other Passats, so its best not to smash one. But other than a few such oddities, parts are perfectly reasonable. I know you can't do statistics on one car, but it never let me down.
The W8 is also the best sounding car I've owned. It sings beautifully without needing to be loud and shouty. I don't know why it was like that, maybe it was the combination of a flat plane crank and unusual firing order.
Handling wise, well underneath (unlike other generation of Passat's) it's an Audi, and uses the proper Quattro system rebadged as 4motion. Made it a wonderful car to drive over here in winter, the grip in snowy conditions was impressive. I know it "only" has 275BHP, but with all 4 wheels pointing straight and winter tyres, I could floor it in the snow and the traction control would't even flash.
Its a difficult car to explain to those who don't get it, but I've found that it's way more than the sum of its parts. I suspect people expected a "performance" version of the Passat, a bit like an AMG or BMW M car, but the W8 is aimed at comfort rather than sport. Overall I've found it excellent at being a daily driver with a bit of a difference.
The biggest downside is that it attracts car nerds who always feel the need to talk to you about it.
A friend of mine has one and he loves it. However, his is not standard and he has spent a few £ modifying it. A full custom titanium exhaust, ported and polished head(s?), Lamborghini Huracan (!) brakes and lowered a tad on split 19" rims. He is trying to source a manual box, as he has the auto, but these are apparently very rare. He reckons his is running at ~310-320bhp now and it feels pretty quick and certainly well planted, even if the slush 'box is a tad slow to react.Think it stands him at about £10k so far (including the cost of the car) and he says he will never part with it. Certainly looks nice, esp as it is de-badged so people not in the know, still think it's a souped-up diesel 
paulw76 said:
A friend of mine has one and he loves it. However, his is not standard and he has spent a few £ modifying it. A full custom titanium exhaust, ported and polished head(s?), Lamborghini Huracan (!) brakes and lowered a tad on split 19" rims. He is trying to source a manual box, as he has the auto, but these are apparently very rare. He reckons his is running at ~310-320bhp now and it feels pretty quick and certainly well planted, even if the slush 'box is a tad slow to react.Think it stands him at about £10k so far (including the cost of the car) and he says he will never part with it. Certainly looks nice, esp as it is de-badged so people not in the know, still think it's a souped-up diesel
You can't really sniff at £10k all in including the car! 
I would love to own one for a while, just to experience it and say that you owned one of the odd cars from the early 90s.
It's different, it's rare and rather cheap at just over £2.5k. Try finding a similarly rare car from other manufacturers and I think you will struggle at even 3x the money.
It's different, it's rare and rather cheap at just over £2.5k. Try finding a similarly rare car from other manufacturers and I think you will struggle at even 3x the money.
mrbarnett said:
I've always respected these because they just shouldn't have existed. Other manufacturers never entertained the idea of fitting such a large, lazy eight cylinder engine into a relatively small car.
People getting hung up by the performance should remember that not so long ago, high displacement, low output engines were considered luxurious (this was never sold as a sports car - look at the seats). The Mercedes 430 engines, as previously mentioned, produced the same power as this W8 and the Lexus 430 engine produced 290 bhp.
The closest rival I can think for this car would be the Rover 75 V8; another car that should be lauded for its ambition, even if it didn't help the ailing MG River one bit. The Volvo S80 was in the class above, but delivered a similarly niche product with the 310 bhp, 4.4 V8 variant.
People getting hung up by the performance should remember that not so long ago, high displacement, low output engines were considered luxurious (this was never sold as a sports car - look at the seats). The Mercedes 430 engines, as previously mentioned, produced the same power as this W8 and the Lexus 430 engine produced 290 bhp.
The closest rival I can think for this car would be the Rover 75 V8; another car that should be lauded for its ambition, even if it didn't help the ailing MG River one bit. The Volvo S80 was in the class above, but delivered a similarly niche product with the 310 bhp, 4.4 V8 variant.
mrbarnett said:
It's surprising that there are people here who don't believe that a car's appeal so often starts with its engine...
I think they're the same people suggesting a chipped diesel would be a better idea because of fuel economy or something. Which is entirely missing the point.
Chris944_S2 said:
I had one of these for 6 years, in estate form. I've replaced it now with a 530BHP Brabus estate, yet despite the obvious gap in performance I still miss the Passat.
As far as running costs go, they're more than a TDI but nothing near as bad as some claim. Compared to all other 8-cylinder German cars I've had it's been the cheapest to run. Some parts are specific to the W8, rear light clusters for example have a chrome strip not found on other Passats, so its best not to smash one. But other than a few such oddities, parts are perfectly reasonable. I know you can't do statistics on one car, but it never let me down.
The W8 is also the best sounding car I've owned. It sings beautifully without needing to be loud and shouty. I don't know why it was like that, maybe it was the combination of a flat plane crank and unusual firing order.
Handling wise, well underneath (unlike other generation of Passat's) it's an Audi, and uses the proper Quattro system rebadged as 4motion. Made it a wonderful car to drive over here in winter, the grip in snowy conditions was impressive. I know it "only" has 275BHP, but with all 4 wheels pointing straight and winter tyres, I could floor it in the snow and the traction control would't even flash.
Its a difficult car to explain to those who don't get it, but I've found that it's way more than the sum of its parts. I suspect people expected a "performance" version of the Passat, a bit like an AMG or BMW M car, but the W8 is aimed at comfort rather than sport. Overall I've found it excellent at being a daily driver with a bit of a difference.
The biggest downside is that it attracts car nerds who always feel the need to talk to you about it.
+1 As far as running costs go, they're more than a TDI but nothing near as bad as some claim. Compared to all other 8-cylinder German cars I've had it's been the cheapest to run. Some parts are specific to the W8, rear light clusters for example have a chrome strip not found on other Passats, so its best not to smash one. But other than a few such oddities, parts are perfectly reasonable. I know you can't do statistics on one car, but it never let me down.
The W8 is also the best sounding car I've owned. It sings beautifully without needing to be loud and shouty. I don't know why it was like that, maybe it was the combination of a flat plane crank and unusual firing order.
Handling wise, well underneath (unlike other generation of Passat's) it's an Audi, and uses the proper Quattro system rebadged as 4motion. Made it a wonderful car to drive over here in winter, the grip in snowy conditions was impressive. I know it "only" has 275BHP, but with all 4 wheels pointing straight and winter tyres, I could floor it in the snow and the traction control would't even flash.
Its a difficult car to explain to those who don't get it, but I've found that it's way more than the sum of its parts. I suspect people expected a "performance" version of the Passat, a bit like an AMG or BMW M car, but the W8 is aimed at comfort rather than sport. Overall I've found it excellent at being a daily driver with a bit of a difference.
The biggest downside is that it attracts car nerds who always feel the need to talk to you about it.
Finally, a previous owner who has taken the words out of my head.
I own an Inky Blue W8 Variant(wagon/estate/kombi) with the same leather seats as the advertised one(beige Nappa leather with front seats heated) with an Auto tip box and this is my daily.
Yes, it's thirsty, complicated, very easy to drive, handles well for what it is(mine is on 35mm H&R springs with standard dampers since i acquired it a 1.5 years ago) and sounds great.
A W8 wasn't intended to be a competitor for sporty models offered by Audi with their RS, Merc AMG, BMW M3/M4/M5 lineups.
VW just thought it'd be fun to plonk a massive engine with 8 cylinders into an ordinary family car. It was also the phase 1 of the productionized W engines in the VW-AG group.
I get mine serviced by QS Tuning(famous for working on UR Quattro, Audi RS, MTM etc) that is 75 miles away from my home.
Initially i had the joys of following great raving recommendations from all sorts who specialize with W8, W12 blocks and have left me disappointed, when they call back to say we can't fix your car as we don't have the tools or the knowledge.
Personally for me, i don't have the luxuries of servicing the W8 myself due to time, lack of tools and space. Therefore i have no objection with paying someone who knows how to troubleshoot a complicated car such as this.
I have spent a lot of money sourcing stock and refurbished parts, as most parts for this are unique to the B5.5 Passat W8 only.
It's not for everyone.
I still own a stock 306 Rallye with wind up windows and zero cup holders for the past 13 years to date. Yet, lately I've neglected the 4 pot and have been driving the unusual 8 pot since the end of summer.
The car feels even better when driven properly with the traction control switched off but the only trade off is, it can be wallet heavy for fuel but that's what big engined 8 cylinder cars does for us.
Baldchap said:
Supposedly it'll do 21.9pmg. 21.9mpg from a 4.0 w8 with a slushbox?
If this manages over 20 I'll eat my hair!
I'd easily believe that. My 4.2 V8 Phaeton a much heavier car with another 50 horses (and was in a previous "spotted" feature, actually) did 26mpg on a run from the North East to south coast last year. That was verified from actual fuel use against mileage, not the on-board system.If this manages over 20 I'll eat my hair!
MDMA . said:
Not many manuals. Quite rare. A garage near me has brought a few in recently from Japan has one for sale at the moment -
https://www.justgerman.co.uk/cars/volkswagen/passa...
Were the estate's ever sold in the UK originally?https://www.justgerman.co.uk/cars/volkswagen/passa...
406dogvan said:
Around this time, VW were having a laugh
I've worked on a few Phaetons and they are PACKED with unique parts they could have gotten from other cars - but didn't - things like window switches and boot struts (the boot struts on a Phaeton are pieces of art!)
Those parts are, of course, ruinously expensive and in some cases, not that easy to source but hey, that's what you get from this period of VW
I imagine this isn't quite as bad - it's a Passat with a one-off engine which will be a maintenance nightmare of course but it's a W8 - who else has one of those
Estate would be nicer but I seem to recall there aren't many and even fewer in manual form?
I've just had to have a rear caliper replaced on my W12 Phaeton with a new one which only VW supplies...."Yeah, should be fine, looks just like a Passat one"....it wasn't of course! Virtually identical but with some minor difference which meant that it didn't fit. Four hundred quid or something stupid, if I recall and VW the only place you can get it. The old caliper will be going for refurbishment.I've worked on a few Phaetons and they are PACKED with unique parts they could have gotten from other cars - but didn't - things like window switches and boot struts (the boot struts on a Phaeton are pieces of art!)
Those parts are, of course, ruinously expensive and in some cases, not that easy to source but hey, that's what you get from this period of VW
I imagine this isn't quite as bad - it's a Passat with a one-off engine which will be a maintenance nightmare of course but it's a W8 - who else has one of those
Estate would be nicer but I seem to recall there aren't many and even fewer in manual form?
The front brakes are even more insane; they are apparently a floating disc system made by Brembo and a set of front discs from VW (can't find them anywhere else and all the online retailers catalogues from the likes of Euro Car Parts and GSF are wrong) are £720....and that was with a guy I know at a VW garage trying his best to squeeze any discount he could! Not even Bentley carried this arrangement over when the Phaeton became the Conti GT. The ones on the car are getting skimmed, then!
Helicopter123 said:
Nik Gnashers said:
Helicopter123 said:
Nik Gnashers said:
It's not exactly a 'q'-car or sleeper is it ?
Almost 8 secs to 60, and almost 2 tons, I'm sure my E91 320d touring would run rings round it.
But yours is just another 4-pot diesel (no offence), whereby this is genuinely interesting and worth preserving.Almost 8 secs to 60, and almost 2 tons, I'm sure my E91 320d touring would run rings round it.
But it's just a Passatt, and the only thing that's 'interesting' about it, is the fact it has a V8, which is low powered for it's size. The rest of the car is not really any different to my 320d touring, mine has leather, and a few toys, and is probably a nicer place to sit.
If it (Passatt) was genuinely fast, then yes, I would see the attraction.
Is it interesting just because it has a V8 ?
Quirky cars like these, triumphs of engineering optimism over commercial reality should be applauded and preserved.
Volkswagen Passat W8: Spotted
Rare cars are often more expensive; this one is an exception. But why?
Why? WHY?!?!?!? I'll tell you why.
Because anyone foolish enough to buy a 16-year-old Passat made from the rarest pieces of unobtainium known to man during a time when VW's track record for unreliability was truly dismal is surely committing financial suicide, that's why!
The 2003 Passat estate I once owned was a moneypit of Grand Canyon proportions despite being powered by a much more humble 1.8 litre turbo petrol. I can only imagine the financial outlay required to hire the team of mechanics on 24-hour standby that will undoubtedly be necessary just to keep this car on the road. And for what? Just to drive something that looks identical to some spotty teenager's £300 shed?
Why, indeed!
Rare cars are often more expensive; this one is an exception. But why?
Why? WHY?!?!?!? I'll tell you why.
Because anyone foolish enough to buy a 16-year-old Passat made from the rarest pieces of unobtainium known to man during a time when VW's track record for unreliability was truly dismal is surely committing financial suicide, that's why!
The 2003 Passat estate I once owned was a moneypit of Grand Canyon proportions despite being powered by a much more humble 1.8 litre turbo petrol. I can only imagine the financial outlay required to hire the team of mechanics on 24-hour standby that will undoubtedly be necessary just to keep this car on the road. And for what? Just to drive something that looks identical to some spotty teenager's £300 shed?
Why, indeed!
AJL308 said:
MDMA . said:
Not many manuals. Quite rare. A garage near me has brought a few in recently from Japan has one for sale at the moment -
https://www.justgerman.co.uk/cars/volkswagen/passa...
Were the estate's ever sold in the UK originally?https://www.justgerman.co.uk/cars/volkswagen/passa...
https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-spottedyky...
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