Retro Review: 1995 VW Passat GLX

Dear VW, Please bring back factory BBS! Thanks, MW.

[@RoamingRomig]

Drove my 1997 VW Passat GLX earlier today... VR6 with 3 pedals. Still as fun to drive as the day I test drove it in February 1997. 22 years and counting in about a month, great car!

[@fernandorocha901]

I love VW Passat, Passat Variant is my favorite. Is sold imported here in Brazil from1995-1997. Passat GL 2.0 and Passat GLX VR6, Passat Variant GL 2.0 Passat GLX VR6 Variant is versions sold in Brazil. Great and confortable car

[@a.person7825]

Still got that Passat? Just curious.

[@RoamingRomig]

@a.person7825 I do indeed. Though it's been in the garage for about a year now. Needs a new fuel pump, hope to get that done in about a month.

[@Porsche996driver]

Great car. The VR6 is amazing. These cars would blast through anything, very popular in Colorado for snow and high speed mountains driving.

[@delewan]

I had a 1993 GLX with a 5-speed and it was an amazingly fun car to chuck around, considering its bulk. It was classic early 90's metallic dark green with tan leather - was a really great car if a bit of a maintenance headache!

[@TheCatholicRemedy]

Sea Dragon Green!

[@Doobie1975]

I know the 5 speed manual would've really woke this car up.

[@yavin99]

I had one with a 5 speed and it had an aftermarket borla exhaust when I bought it and a couple other mods like lightwieght flywheel and throttle body but I never really thought it was that fast but my friends said they thought it seemed fast but thier not very reliable I was always working on it.

[@highlandbroot4301]

I had a 1997 GLX with the 5 speed. It was a blast to drive. Zero to sixty in the 7 second range if a recall correctly. Very solid car the engine was great. The problem was with the electronics. Random strange things would happen like my lights going out for no reason. It had a gremlin or something in it. I loved the car but when the warranty ran out I bought a Honda.

[@krzysztofchrostowski5698]

You made the right choice. Vw is German junk. No wonder that nobody is buying it in usa

[@denali6935]

@@krzysztofchrostowski5698 much more better in crash test than flimsy Toyota or Honda

[@brentaudi9354]

I had a 95 GLX for many years. Such a fun car to drive. Fantastic engine and transmission. The Hardware on this car is the reason you don't see them around any longer. Everything on the car fell apart.

[@MattPankey]

Yay, retro!

[@charleskiel4155]

The TDI diesel was outstanding and would do 0-60 in about 11 seconds.

[@JCNDCIII]

Loved this version. Great little car.

[@ScaryGhost1]

The front bumper-mounted lights would fall off on these after like 4 years, I remember seeing that ALL the time.

[@7kunac486]

Haha, true... And door handles would not work too

[@HellenicVanagonTheSyncroHeresy]

One reason, among others, the b3 is better. The Syncro Heresy

[@icylime3607]

My dad had a 1996 b4 dolphin for 11 years and those lights never fell off. I only remember him changing the headlights. But one door handle didnt work tho normaly tho.

[@j.arthurlearned7696]

Got the best of both worlds...GLX wagon converted to the 1.9L TDI with 5 speed manual and 26 gallon tank. Easily get, when keeping RPM's below 2000, 50 plus mpg. That's a range of over 1200 miles. Not bad when we are about to see fuel prices hit the stratosphere come 2023.

[@bestmillimeter1858]

Them BBS 😍

[@bid84]

Mel Laknanurak Boobs?

[@Porsche996driver]

15” baby whoohoo!

[@damariuseaton6678]

@AlanB He’s talking about the rims lol

[@delewan]

My '93 had the earlier style BBS - and ran a 215/50-15 tire. Even then it was a nightmare trying to get rubber for that damn thing. Haha!

[@juliusjones1154]

This car sales for the exact same price today what a value

[@weedmastersr]

Man, I really miss these old school cars. Sure, the autos were crap (manuals are better anyway) and safety wasn't the best, but at least these were cars with real styling, real interiors (not just screens everywhere), steering feel and real driving dynamics, not computers driving you around. I miss those good old days!

[@kt81776]

Protector of the Republic those days are all gone now unfortunately

[@nessuno5403]

Until one day in the future someone realises retro is cool and profitable... always happens

[@7kunac486]

True that, i own b4 manual 1.9 tdi and 2015 passat cc, new cars appear to be so sterile and too comfortable without feel of integrity with road. Driving a new car is like watching a movie, older cars feel like acting in same movie

[@philliplyn2692]

Had one the 94 version vr6 five speed man I really miss it my regret is selling mine would definitely love to get my hands on one of these 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲

[@borninhk1]

The next generation was the one that made me love German cars, especially its interior! Too bad that VR6 was SLOW! A Toyota Camry V6 of similar vintage did 0-60 in only 7.8 seconds! That's BMW 3-series territory!

[@steveespinola7652]

My Cousin had a 1990 VW Passat and he like it, he told me once that it was a fun car to drive.

[@filippacher9075]

Retro review is best for me .I love this .Thank you for this and greeting from Czech republic

[@bendavis9733]

Filip Pacher, thanks for watching

[@nessuno5403]

Ditto! Nothing comparable exists from the native Europe of so many cars. This channel is a functioning time machine!

[@Tanirogalarn]

@@nessuno5403 For European cars, you mean? Yet, I've seen many amateur and semi-professional videos on old models coming from lots of European countries for cars like the Citroën CX, the Ford Granada, the Fiat Croma...

[@nessuno5403]

@@Tanirogalarn not professional shows though

[@kingsnake545]

I've been waiting for this 😆

[@trisv1974]

I have a 2006 passat, a 2006 audi, and a 1996 passat, and by far the oldest has the best mechanincs, and motor. Build as a Panzer, the interior is to 80s, but still.

[@EDHBlvd]

Factory BBS for the win!

[@hardcorehardo]

Best looking passat

[@overtaxed3628]

In EU market VR6 engine is top of the line but for you americans big fuel consumption is unknown issue so even this engine is not good enough for you.Vw should just make 7.0 V8 gasoline engine specially for US market.

[@mudpuppy318]

I have a 97 tdi diesel. It’s very slow and bland but gets stellar fuel economy with the manual cog swapper.

[@Windows-uz5lv]

Nice car!

[@LaytonKnightt]

The paint color is depressing but I actually like the conservative styling.

[@OrangeCrusader]

Eh, it's not great but I still like it more than the mandatory white/gray/black on every new car today.

[@hunterfisher1294]

I have a wagon 96 tdi I love it .

[@f181234]

"Winning over American buyers is a daunting task for Volkswagen for the last decade" it still is to this day lol vw is the worlds biggest automaker and still can get the American market right.

[@robcohen7678]

well the latest GTI is pretty well liked by everyone and they are selling quite well

[@MaestroTJS]

+Rob Cohen Quite well compared to what? Certainly not a Civic or Corolla.

[@robcohen7678]

certainly because most people want boring and reliable, not fun and interesting

[@MaestroTJS]

Why can't someone build fun and reliable?

[@f181234]

Maestro_T for a sport compact car it's doing quite well same with the golf R those sell decently well vw is showing some potential now that there introducing two SUVs the Atlas and the Tiguan

[@franciscos.3671]

Cool BBS wheels

[@evandrocaetanomaciel8832]

I have one and is very comfortable. 😻

[@mustanlab302]

I had one of these fun car

[@NolzHB]

Can you please post the 2004 VW Phaeton review? Thanks so much!

[@yellowhammer3]

These did not sell well in the US until the new 1998 model came out

[@vlajster]

omg the auto gearbox killed it,i had a 92 passat vr6 and my manual gearbox broke completely

[@vfbaby2011]

😍😍😍

[@corradokid79]

Gimme that glass sunroof for my Corrado!

[@RoadCone411]

"Analog gauge cluster, while very clear, is still very sparse." What did JD expect to see? This is more comprehensive than most cars today and probably back then too! I liked this Passat a lot, it looked great, was roomy for four and had a lot of features for the money. It certainly was a more interesting car than your run of the mill Accord or Camry, but the +10sec 0-60 time was a bit of a disappointing surprise. I would expect the manual shift would be about 9.0 seconds, which is more reasonable.

[@ZeronXL]

I have the 2.9 4x4 wagon, it goes to 60 in about 8.5 seconds. The automatic shift really kills it.

[@x-man4702]

I always wanted one of these...

[@nessuno5403]

Variant (wagon) was better!

[@charliecox479]

I just traded a gun for this exact same car very nice but has power but won't start getting ready to work on it soon thinking it's the ignition excited to drive it

[@charliecox479]

It almost looks brand-new that's how nice it is I couldn't believe it when I seen it

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

English please.

[@brandonruhl4525]

i wish you had one for mk3 jetta

[@1vw4me]

Amazing to think that the 1.8T in the Passat today, is putting out more HP and torque than the VR6 of 20 years ago with better gas mileage. lol Also, today's Jetta is larger than the old Passat. How far we've come!

[@juliusjones1154]

1vw4me gngsmeul

[@1vw4me]

Umm.....that's gibberish. Try using English.

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

@@1vw4me not at all!

[@Daniel28021991]

Was there also the wagon for the US- market?

[@koke311]

yep there was , dont see them much anymore though

[@abrahamg4005]

Yes, I currently own a wagon VR6 5 speed

[@andersonfirmino8925]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@eugeniomanillapina5415]

Yo tengo un carro igual a este y funciona excelente, tiene 120,000 millas y sigue funcionando como nuevo.

[@steveespinola7652]

They did make VW Passat wagons but now you hardly see them around.

[@ZeronXL]

That is because they are all here in Bulgaria. At some point that was the most driven car around. Almost every second car was a Passat B3 or B4 wagon. (I currently have both of them)

[@m.h.s.c99]

Um sonho de consumo

[@landyachtfan79]

Even more Fahrvergnügen than ever before!!!!!! Oh, & also..........PLEASE bring back the La Cucaracha chime, VW!!!!!!!

[@davidcameron2366]

landyachtfan79 YES yes! Please @VW bring back la cucaracha! You can make it an option in the MFI, as it's an acquired taste, or maybe some people are just prudes.

[@herrgolf]

I love this generation Passat; too bad about that awful transmission.

[@crewboy23]

Yep my family loves them so much we actually have 3 of them. All of them are the TDI versions with manuals though. The TDI version are by far the more reliable of them all from this generation.

[@krzysztofchrostowski5698]

To bad that too many of Vw got terrible reliability.

[@ryanurukalo4347]

When will they run out of retro reviews?

[@bendavis9733]

Ryan Urukalo, I still have a few years worth

[@ryanurukalo4347]

Wait, are you the real Ben Davis, the one that did this review?

[@bendavis9733]

Ryan Urukalo, I feel fake most days, but yeahhhh. this is my jam

[@steveespinola7652]

I'm big car fan so I hope they never run out of Motorweek reviews.

[@MaestroTJS]

I remember driving the 2.0L version of this generation. I didn't think it was anything special, and the 2.0L had an awful, wheezy sound to id. The first version of it, with the Infiniti Q45-esque solid grille, always looked weird and I think put off a lot of people (just as the Infiniti did), though once they toned it down with a regular grille, I thought it looked boring.

[@fernandorocha8459]

I love is generation of VW Passat

[@marshalmagooo3899]

VR6.......nothing else needs to be said.

[@Rudis_Garage]

i got one......timing chain....

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

The automatic literally robs about 3 seconds from 0-60. Whoa.

[@diamondtree8623]

0-60 in 10 seconds? What had happened to american VW's?

[@Noah_E]

Succeeding in the US auto market isn't that hard. A vehicle has to be reasonably attractive, fit our wide bottoms, not cost a fortune to keep on the road after 50k miles and be sold at a price that reflects it's quality. VW still hasn't figured that equation out

[@REPOMAN24722]

Yes they have, 580,000km VW golf mk6 1.2 tsi no problems yet.

[@go86go]

you're talking about the pickup truck market

[@Tanirogalarn]

And yet it's too bad because the Passat is praised by motoring journalists.

[@user-es7cx5qo3p]

В 1995 году он был КРУТ !

[@kippaseo8027]

These were mechanical garbage and extremely expensive to work on. Within a couple years you could find these things lined up on many salvage yards looking like a used dealership lot but each one was missing an automatic transmission, a clutch or an engine because those were the biggest failing points. The cars weren't worth anything resale value y to fix with new parts so people try to grab them used. And I'm speaking about the late 90s not 10 or 20 years later.

[@henrywilliams1576]

0-60 in 10.8 seconds?

[@ZeronXL]

The manual does it in about 8.5

[@McBeamer94]

'GLX'? Really? This is the most Japanese name plate ever! Couldn't they just name it the 'Passat VR6'?

[@hardcorehardo]

As everywhere else

[@McBeamer94]

@@hardcorehardo Exactly!

[@alfamonk]

weedy engine..a number of 3l V6s were churning out 220+hp from this era.

[@tomasnokechtesledger1786]

Taurus sho, I think since 1989 had 220 hp

[@JackBandicootsBunker]

Love the B4 Passat. Looked boring, but for me this and the B5 were the best designs.

[@schlomoubermann]

Opel Omega would be a great choice instead.

[@steveespinola7652]

My neighbour has a 2005 VW Passat wagon that he doesn't drive anymore, it's just sitting in his driveway now and it a manual which begs the question. Why would you want a manual transmission staionwagon? LoL 😁.

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

Y??? I could not get the point.

[@steveespinola7652]

The point is Why would you want a manual transmission station wagon?

[@TheMailmanOfSteel]

VRSex

[@EDHBlvd]

Jaybee truth

[@radofjc8242]

I gotta say that the 5 speed manual ABF engine which was also in the Golf GTI outperformed the VR6 and was way more fun to drive xd edit: 0-60 is around 7 secs, not 10.8 lmao

[@David-cy5zu]

At the same time in germany people would get steel wheels, 90 hp engines, no electric windows, no electric seats, no AC etc. and probobly still more expensive, just like now. vw is cancer.

[@Tanirogalarn]

All carmakers in Europe did the same, unfortunately. Midlevel cars started having a decent equipment with the 1998 overhaul (Citroën Xantia, Volkswagen Passat, Renault Laguna...)

[@diablomix]

Sad that 20 year old VW's look better than brand new VW's. I don't know who's in charge of exterior design over there but they should be fired.

[@REPOMAN24722]

Same goes for all brands.

[@alfamonk]

may i suggest lasic eye surgery?

[@REPOMAN24722]

Mk4 Supra, Mitsubishi GTO, Lancer evolutions, all the other ones, Celica gt4, FD RX7, All look better than today's cars.

[@REPOMAN24722]

HF Daydreamer lol my autocorrect on my phone is annoying af. I dont mind one newer cars like the mk6 golf or The new Octavia, not the facelift, seats look alright.

[@AE86ofMtAkina]

I disagree. The 90's sucked for VW imo

[@algernonilfracombe]

Is this the least interesting performance car of all time?

[@LooseCannons1]

probably not since no one called it a performance car, its simply a somewhat sporty midsize sedan

[@algernonilfracombe]

VW played their cards pretty well over that one... but honestly given that nowadays you can buy so-called 'sports SUVs' we could probably do far worse.

[@bobratu9029]

das auto,bitches.

[@MH-fb5kr]

Such poor build quality… no excuses.

[@fernandoadrianvalenciaarro8932]

vr6..... slowwwww....

[@EDHBlvd]

Fernando Adrian Valencia Arroyo the auto is to blame. Manual transmission Jetta VR6's did 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. Faster than Hondas.

[@trebors386]

Did the Passat of this era offer a manual? Never seen one of these from that time...seen plenty of Jettas, Golf and GTI's from the mid 90s but not Passat

[@crewboy23]

My family has 3 97 passats but the diesel version. All 3 are manual. They are great cars and can take a lickin. Of course since they are diesels, they all have superb MPGs

[@davidcameron2366]

Trebor S yeah, they had a manual standard...whatever tragic automatic they were using added about 3 or 4 seconds to the 0-60 times! They should have just bought an Aisin transmission from Toyota, as they were really good for their day (and generally speaking still are).

[@cameronlovesevolve]

sounds nice doe

[@Foxbat1155]

Most pointless v6 ever...

[@brentaudi9354]

It is not a V6 Einstein.

[@palebeachbum]

I always liked these, but from what I understand reliability stunk. Can still stay that about VW to this day. Overrated and overpriced.

[@ReadyRock215]

That looked like a hunk of shit when it was new.

[@EDHBlvd]

PussyCrusher sorta like your mom.