[winrid]

Heh, yeah people complain about that generation of cars from VAG quite a bit.

I had a MK4 Golf with the 1.8T that I raced every month for a few years and also drove to work. It broke a couple times, but wasn't unreliable. I think this was partly because I did preventative maintenance.

I think - the motors were fine for the MK4s, but everything around them had one problem or another.

The motor is going into my next car... :)

[tibbydudeza]

Had a B5 Passat 1.8T

Two coil packs A/C evaporator unit packed up Some vacuum pipe broke

The worst probably was the 1.4 Twincharger engine (one with a turbo supercharger) and wisely they discontinued it after one generation.

Total engine replacements before 30,000 km was not uncommon.

[winrid]

That was a different 1.8T. But yes it seems every manufacturer has had a misadventure with coil packs. Not sure why.

The 1.8Ts in the Passats gave the transverse 1.8T a bad name. The one in the Passat is mounted lontudinally, like your classic American v8. To do that with the Passat (for the AWD system) they had to move the engine down and a crossmember was in the way.

So they wisely made the oil pan smaller. On a turbocharged engine. Doh! To add insult to injury lots of dealers used cheap oil. So engine failures happened.

Fun fact - you can take the engine from the Passat - turn it 90 degress - and bolt it in pretty much any VW from 1979-~1999. Even the waterpump housing was unchanged for like 20 years. These engines are commonly used as power upgrades for older cars (which is what I am doing with mine).

The 1.8T that was in the GTIs was a complete redesign and had less problems. Forged internals etc. But VW decided to use a timing belt instead of a chain and when owners forgot to replace the belt at 80k miles and the engines went kablooey it didn't exactly help customer relations. A great engine destroyed by one consumable component. Luckily VW isn't using belts anymore.