2004 Volkswagen Passat GLS 1.8t Wagon | The Stylish Wagon With A MANUAL! | Full In-Depth Review

First off, a huge thanks and shoutout to the fine folks at Purcell Auto Sales, LLC, for allowing me to come out and film this amazing 2004 Volkswagen Passat Wagon! You can find them at www.purcellautosales.com, or visit them in Camby, Indiana! Their location and contact information is below;
Purcell Auto Sales
7120 Kentucky Ave. – Camby, IN 46113
www.purcellautosales.com | 219.576.6498
GPS Coordinates: 39.65913° N, 86.31447° W

Please understand that I DO NOT work for any dealerships and I cannot, nor will I attempt to answer questions regarding “how much”, “still available” or related. Please use the contact information provided to perform your own research! Thank you for your understanding!

I love a good wagon. I know they are becoming a thing of the past, but I like the fact that, instead of just another SUV/CUV on the road, you have an actual car (most SUV’s are usually car-based anyways…) that looks and drives like a car and gets fuel economy like a car, but has the utility of an SUV. Sadly, I don’t have a lot of wagons on this channel, since they are few and far between, but when the opportunity arises, I review them. Take this 2004 Volkswagen Passat. This is a GLS 1.8t wagon that is pretty simple in design and features, but presents a nice car to the driver, and, it’s a manual! The majority of Passat wagons sold in the US were equipped with the automatic transmission, so, finding a run-of-the-mill car that isn’t a 4Motion AWD or the W8 powered car, with a manual transmission, makes this car somewhat of a unicorn.
The Passat was available in four distinct trim levels; GL, GLS, GLX and the W8, and the majority were equipped with very nice standard features that were usually optional on other cars, such as the power sunroof, alloy wheels and leather seats shown in our car. This Passat represents the 5th Generation B5.5 as a mid-cycle refresh that ran from 2001 to 2005. The Passat is now in its 9th generation, running since 1973, and only available as an estate. Our Passat was built in Emden, Germany in December of 2003.

In addition, if you are in need of a digital brochure for your vehicle or are just interested in vehicle brochures, be sure to check out Dezo’s Garage! Jeff constantly maintains this site, adding brochures all the time! He currently holds over 11,000 brochures on his database in an easy-to-navigate website! You can visit his site here: https://www.xr793.com/

Base Price: $24,380
Total Options: $605
Destination Charge: $575
Total Price When NEW: $25,560
*Price does NOT reflect current local offers, incentives, rebates or any other deal or sale. Please contact the appropriate dealership if applicable that’s listed at the beginning of the video for more information.

Exterior Color: Shadow Blue Metallic
Interior Color: Anthracite Leatherette
Engine: 1.8L Turbocharged I4
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual

Optional Equipment Shown on Vehicle:
Shadow Blue Metallic Paint – NC
Anthracite Leatherette Interior – NC
5-Speed Overdrive Manual Transmission – NC
Cold Weather Package – $325
-Heated Front Seats
-Heated Washer Nozzles
Electronic Stabilization Program – $280

**Please note that I am not employed by any dealership NOR and I selling any vehicle depicted on this page! All dealer info is shown at the beginning of the video along with contact information. If you have questions regarding price or availability, please contact the appropriate dealership tagged in the video!**

Neighborhood Car Reviews gives you an alternative look at the already impressive list of car videos that are online. What we do is a first-person walk-around of the car. We show features and details that are on the particular model being shown. Performance data, safety equipment and the like are usually not shown due to the already enormous amount of videos that cover the aforementioned topics.
We like to cover everything from classics to high-end and everything in between.

I love a good wagon I know they are becoming a thing of the past but I like the fact that instead of just another SUV or CUV on the road you have an actual car now most SUVs are usually car-based anyways but it looks and drives like a car and gets fuel economy like a car and has utility of an SUV sadly I don’t have a lot of wagons on this channel since they’re a few and far between but when the opportunity arises I review them take this 2004 Volkswagen pade this is a GLS 1.8 Turbo wagon that is pretty simple in design and features but presents a nice card to the driver and it’s a manual the majority of Pat wagons sold in the US were equipped with automatic transmissions so finding a run-of-the-mill car that isn’t a four motion all-wheel drive or the W8 powered car with the manual transmission makes this car somewhat of a unicorn the Pat was available at four distinct trim levels GL GLS GLX and the W8 and the majority were equipped with very nice standard features that were usually optional on other cars such as power sunroof alloy wheels and leather seats shown in this car the pat represents the fifth generation b5.5 as a midcycle refresh that ran from 2001 to 2005 the Pat is now in its ninth generation running since 1973 and is only available in the estate form arpat was built in emden Germany in December of 2003 [Music] oh hey everyone in today’s in-depth review series we’re taking a look at this very nice and very well equipped 2004 Volkswagen Pat now this Pat is in the GLS trim and it is painted in Shadow blue metallic and it features the anthro site leatherette interior and that was an option on this veh [Music] vehicle I do have full pricing on screen and a full options list will be in the description box below so make sure you check that out and of course it’s a station wagon which makes it even all that much better now today’s review is going to be a full in-depth review we’re going to cover everything from the exterior to the interior we’re going to cover mechanical bits for performance and everything else in between because our car is not equipped with the four motion all-wheel drive system this Pat is front-wheel drive and power comes from the 1.8 L dual overhead cam 20 valve turbocharged and intercooled inline 4 cylinder engine this engine is a cast iron block in aluminum head construction and features 5 valves per cylinder three intake and two exhaust this engine is of the EA 113 am engine family and has electronic multi-point sequential indirect fuel injection a Borg Warner ko3 turbocharger with 8.7 max PSI of boost and a 9.5 to1 compression ratio this engine creates 170 horsepower at 5,900 RPM and 166 lbet of torque at 1,950 RPM since most Pat road tests were from the for motion cars or the W8 power cars acceleration figures are hard to find but we estimate 0 to 60 mph in around 8.2 seconds 0 to 100 miles per hour in around 21.8 seconds with a quarter mile estimated to be around 16.3 seconds at 88 and half miles per hour top speed is limited to around 125 mph the pad is equipped with a 16.4 us gon fuel capacity and consumes 4.3 gallons per 100 100 Mil driven with an estimated total driving range of 377 Mi current today EPA fuel economy figures are 19 m per G in the city 28 m on the highway in a combined average of 23 m per gallon while the majority of Pat wagons sold at North America worship with a $1,075 optional 5-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission a quick glance in the driver’s footwell shows three pedals hanging from the top to indicate this wagon is a bit more analog our car is equipped with a standard 5-speed manual transmission now as we walk along the rear of the vehicle we are going to cover it in more depth but as you can see it is a station wagon it is a rear hatchback design has a lot of cargo room and just absolutely love the uh the [Music] wagons all righty taking a look around the rear of the pat wagon as you can see it’s pretty much standard wagon but it does have that Pat look to it carries that same tail lamp designed as the stands do however in a more upright uh station wagon form now because it’s a station wagon is also very more upright and boxy but you do have this really nice Chrome uh trim line here across the windows and of course you have the large roof rack here as well which is an added convenience large rear window here AIDS in uh a tremendous amount of visibility all the way to the uh rear screen here and of course you have a rear wiper coming down here you do have the clear lens tail lamps here uh the red elements are for brake lights and tail lights and of course you have the Amber turn indicators and I think this side is burned out and reverse lights are back here more Chrome here you have your side marker light back here and moving around the back not much really to speak of back here pretty standard uh mid 2000 station wagon all right now let’s walk along the profile of the vehicle as you can see on screen I have the onscreen Dimensions not a very large car um pretty much midsize car not too much worse than the uh sedan however you do have tons more cargo room and a little bit longer wheelbase it does still carry the same design themes as the sedan does steering is variable rate vehicle speed sensitive hydraulically assisted rack and pinion with three turns lock to lock and a 37.4 ft turning Circle wheels are 15x 7 in silver painted cast aluminum eight Spokes and are shot in 19565 R15 allseason tires brakes on this vehicle are hydraulically Sy four- whe disc brakes with 4 channel abs and full speed electronic traction control and electronic stabilization control up front we have ventilated 11.3 in rotors with solid rear 9.6 in rotors these brakes en halt the Pat from 70 mph to zero and roughly 195 ft all right now as we come across the front of the vehicle we’re also fighting that sun pretty hard but we’re going to go cover the uh front end in a little bit more detail but as you can see it’s a little bit more upscale design than the previous p SS were kind of align it with the Audi line and of course that Volkswagen fettin all right looking up front in a little bit more detail as you can see here we have a relatively new face of Volkswagen here it’s kind of to an align itself with the uh upscale ftin large car has a very Audi look to it nice steeply steeply R uh wind wind screen folding side two mirrors and of course you have the uh side repeaters there and then coming down the hood line here it is a little bit dusty but we’ll get past that we would have clear lens H hallogen headlamps here uh Xenon projector beams are optional but the uh lenses are starting to Cloud over but you have the driving light here your uh headlamp here inside a projector housing it’s just a hallogen bulb though and of course your turn indicator front marker lights up here as you can see it’s a very uh chiseled front end but still very Volkswagen and down below you do have projector beam fog lamps now in the front and center a chrome grill with a large prominent Volkswagen logo actually these Pats are not bad looking Vehicles very nice proportions all right now before we get inside let’s take a look at the keys there’s a couple of them we have the valet key here could also be used as your spare key it is a laser etch key a little bit harder to duplicate and it does have the Volkswagen logo and we’ve also got the standard remote transmitter key you have the buttons here lock unlock and your trunk release here and it would have the Volkswagen logo here but I think it’s falling off over time it is a switchblade key and it has the same laser etch pattern here now there is no smart key access here you can unlock the vehicle by pressing the unlock button of course or you can also stick the key in the uh receiver there and turn it to unlock the vehicle but it’s already unlocked so let’s go ahead and open up the vehicle and check it out inside [Music] [Music] all righty let’s take a look at the door panels real quick it’s all anthy in here it’s a leatherette and vinyl so you have some vinyl touch materials here but the door panels are all basically one shade of color we do have chrome door poles here heated side view mirrors with a cold weather package power mirror controls on the doors we have your lock and unlock here window controls window lockout padded armrest here your door poles here some mat Pockets a little mat pocket storage down here these buttons here are your release buttons for your fuel filler door and your hatch release of course with the monsoon sound system we have our larger door speaker here and our a pillar mounted tweaker here come into the uh entryway we have a stainless steel brush tread plate here and of course we do have manual seat adjust here this is the height adjustment uh this right here would be your lumbar support here the upper wheel the lower wheel here is actually your seat back uh adjust and of course up here we have our for and a adjust now taking a look inside the uh footw you’ll see three pedals hanging from the dashboard indicates we have a manual transmission car which is fantastic it’s a station wagon and a manual of course we also have some storage here in our uh driver side instrument panel it’s a nice deep cubby we have our headlamp control here and our fog lamp control instrument panel brightness and dim tilt and telescoping steering wheel positional air vents let’s take a quick look at those seats the seats are heated and they have that perforated leatherette the head rest strains are height adjustable and tilt adjustable and of course you also have height adjustable seat belts the seats are actually very comfortable they’re very supportive you’ll note here it also has a side impact airbag but here’s a closer look at the perforations here they are not ventilated [Music] however all right now that we’re inside let’s Panther the interior show more details hydraulic assistant power assist steer for spoke steering wheel on a neoprene steering wheel it’s not leather wrapped at all that is the belt minder it will continue to chime until we fasten the seat belts on the uh control stocks here on the left hand side we have our cruise control so we have set reset on and off here and then of course we have our turn indicators here and our high beams flash to pass and all that kind of stuff over here on the right hand side we have our front and rear wiper washer controls taking a look in front of us is a uh pretty typical Volkswagen instrument cluster 7,500 RPM tachometer with a digital clock I don’t think this car has a trip computer we also have a coolant temperature gauge here fuel level and 160 mph speedometer over here 11,559 Mi we do have a uh little readout here that shows uh different uh readouts for warnings moving over the top of the dash as you can see the dash is still in pretty good shape it is that soft touch vinyl there that beeping is very annoying so we’re going to probably turn the car off to uh save us that trouble but we’ll go ahead and keep everything else on for now so right here we have more positional air vents they’re all controlled by these thumb Wheels here you can open and close them by using this wheel here and of course you can adjust your airflow Direction left and right just like that makes it for a clean uh clean look here here moving down the center stack it is very hard to see cuz I have this really bright sun behind me but as you can see here is the radio stack here over here we have our rear uh window defroster heated seat controls via these thumb Wheels here and they control all the way up to five for the driver and passenger electronic stability program uh on and off over here we have our four-way flashers and our passenger sighty to seat control and a blank switch now here we have an amfm CD player and cassette player it is the monsoon premium sound system and you also have six presets you can adjust base mid treble balance and fade Dolby noise reduction for your cassette uh tape A and B uh switch your sides all that kind of stuff uh other than that it’s nothing really special here there’s no um display screen or anything like that just the uh what you see here uh single zone air conditioner controls here very easy to operate fan speed there panel distribution here and of course your temperature controller here down here we have a ashtray and a 12vt power point because we don’t have the cigarette lighter installed the manual transmission here down in the center console we have dual cup holders we have our handbrake we have a padded armrest which opens up to reveal a small amount of storage an interesting feature here is the armrest is actually ratcheted so you can have it up at an angle for more comfort to reset that you just have to open it all the way to release that [Applause] latch a lot has come it has come a long way since 2004 in the way of uh seat height and the design all that kind of stuff but uh overall this car is still very very comfortable very nice place to be now overhead we do have a manually dimming rearview mirror on the driver side sun visor we have a three Channel home leak Universal grar opener we have overhead reading lights here we’ve also got our Dome override here and this button here controls our sunroof and you can actually open it in increments which is really cool all the way over to completely open here to the vent here and then here we have a sun visor does have illuminated vanity mirror with the light in the ceiling and of course the sun visors do swing out but they and they also slide out too which is really nice nice cloth has headliner here as stated previously we do have high adjustable seat belts and damp Bend overhead assist handles all right let’s take a look at the rear seat now [Music] the rear door panels carry the same theming as the front doors same color same padded uh stitch design Chrome door poles power windows your Tweeter here for the monsoon system or that uh the padding goes all the way through there is no mat pocket storage here larger door speakers here that same kind of uh brush to stainless steel tread plate there and a quick look at the seats reveal that the seats do seat three across in a 60/40 split folding seat design I do not believe these seats recline they do have high adjustable head restraints on all passenger seating areas and of course we’ve also got a fold down center console here nice padded armrest here which opens up to reveal a small amount of storage and some cup holders that can actually be removed and uh I don’t know if they could be repositioned elsewhere in the car but there you go and it pulls back in place and latches back into the seat back now the rear seats do have that same perforated leatherette but they are not heated back here we do have three-point belts for all passenger seating areas and at one time this car had 12vt PowerPoint here and I believe an ashtray here but those have been broken over time as to be expected um cabag map pockets for the uh backs of the seats and you’ll note the seats are cut out pretty uh extensively and that does allow for a better uh rear seat leg room now overhead we do have overhead assist handles coat hooks and lights as well now folding the seats is actually very easy Loca in the lever here at the top of the seat and you can basically pull that seat forward don’t even have to remove the head restraint which is really nice it does not fold flat with the cargo but it does fold relatively flat um and you see you access to the uh rear cargo area and of course the seat belts are actually stayed out of the way so they don’t get smashed which is really [Music] nice and you want to make sure that’s locked in place [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right there are several ways to open the luggage area you can use the uh switch here lift up on that that will release the uh luggage area from the door panel there is also a membrane switch right underneath the Volkswagen logo there’s a little membrane switch here you can press that it’ll actually unlatch it you can also take your key there’s actually a release key fob here or a keyhole here you can actually turn it that way to the uh left of the car and that will actually unlatch it as well or you can also use the uh key fob here and either way that’ll unlatch it but the latch is kind of sticking right now so we’ll just open it the old school way and the hatch is uh supported by dual dual gas struts it ises not automatic opening or anything like that and as as you can see here we do have a nice wide open cargo area nice load flat floor have a drop in mat here with these rib sections to help protect it underneath spare tire tie down hooks got some right back here got tie down hook there tie down hook there tie down hook here and over here as well we’ve also got our emergency kit here this is the jack and tools right in here and of course the sound system amplifier and all that kind of stuff it is provisioned for a privacy cover but it’s not in place in this car these little hooks in the backs of the seats are actually grocery bag hooks I think another nice convenient feature is two 12vt PowerPoints back here that’s pretty convenient and here would be where your first aid kit would be but it’s not in this car anymore first a kits probably expired by now anyway now if you want to fold the seats you can actually do that with relative ease back here however you’d have to climb into the car and all that kind of stuff but you can just lift up the seats there push them down as you can see do the same over here I don’t think this one’s locked in place anymore so you just push that down but there you go there’s the seats folded and there is the cargo room with the uh seats in the folder position to close the lift gate just do it like that all right that does about conclude our in-depth review of the 2004 Volkswagen Pat 1.8T GLS wagon we hope you found the review informative and if you did please comment down below also don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/ neighborhood carreviews and our Instagram Channel at brino J1 and of course as always thanks for watching