Passat or Freelander

Stigy

andystephens wrote: »

I was thinking about a diesel, well it looks like I know what wins this one.......

How old will it be?

andystephens

51/52 plate I am looking at

alleycat`

1.9Tdi i had was 130bhp and it felt rapid enough.
No silly DPF nonsense either.
i think the diff between the 52 and the 53 was a bit of chrome stripping (which i'm sure you'd miss).

KillerWatt

andystephens wrote: »

Would a passat be capable of towing a small caravan?

Depends on the weight of the "small" caravan, and the engine in the Passat.

LandyAndy

andystephens wrote: »

51/52 plate I am looking at

At that age the Passat is likely to have moderate reliabilty, the Freelander is likely to be a crock of you know what.

Pont

My Freelander gave me nothing but trouble.

sw67

My old freelander td4 03 with 70k gave up the ghost about 6 months after i traded it in. It was starting to fall apart with injector / loom problems as well as clutch and gearbox issues

I was advised to get rid when it was 5 years old and it has been sorned with no insurance for the last 2 so i think it went bang and was too expensive to fix

It was faultless for the 1st 4years and then lots of problems so i would avoid

JQ.

What about a Mondeo Estate Diesel. I realise it does not have the badge quality of the 2 you've mentioned but will be cheaper to buy, more reliable, a better drive and cheaper to service. After all this is a money saving site.

skysky69

We had a freelander, and towed a small caravan. I have to say, it was a hairy experience - everytime we came to a hill, I thought we were going to have to get out and push and they are actually surprisingly small. I struggled to get my two dogs in the boot space so don't know how you would get on getting a pushchair in and out. We traded the freelander in against a new shape passat. Towing is a dream, you wouldn't really know the van was on the back and the boot space is huge (plenty big enough for my 2 labs).

Freelander also the servicing costs were really high, the one and only service I had done cost me nearly £500.00 :eek: It also had starting problems where it sometimes struggled in the cold winter mornings but numerous investigations into why couldn't find a problem with it.

The only thing I did like, was that I like the height of a 4x4, in traffic, on the motorway, you could see quite far ahead.

Comfort wise, VW wins hands down every time

Hammyman

A Freelander will:

Not corner as well as the Passat and is more likely to end up on 2 wheels with a sudden left/right swerve.
Take far longer to stop.
Have a higher chance of passenger cell integrity failure in an accident and you'd end up more injured than if you'd had the same accident in a Yaris. (in nCap tests you'd need to have the doors opened with a hydraulic press and there would be driver leg injuries in the 40MPH block test whereas if you were in the Yaris, you'd just open the door and get out)

In short, anyone who buys a 4x4 because they think it'll be safer for their kids is a moron.