2003 Volkswagen Passat

I loved my 1.8 Turbo Passat. It was fun to drive, rode like a much heavier car than it actually was, and just felt well-built overall.

Unfortunately, after turning only 30,000 miles everything began to fall apart.

The ignition coils, supposedly replaced during a factory recall, stopped functioning. I had to replace the heater core twice-- a fix that was covered by warranty but would have cost thousands of dollars on my own time, requires tearing out the entire dash assembly, and left my hitherto silent Passat with innumerable rattles and squeaks. VW is also quite stingy with allowing its dealers/service centers to provide loaner cars-- VW always provided transportation for me while my car was in the shop, but it was always a $24/day rental from Enterprise, which meant driving a beaten-up old Buick Century for days on end.

I enjoyed my VW greatly, but got rid of it while it was still under warranty and did not have to be pushed to the used car lot.