Which generation TDI passat or similar VAG estate

[OctaneV8]

Hi all, am considering a few options, one is getting an estate vag tdi for infrequent use but long drives and trips to b&q etc.

have driven the B5.5 B6 passat before and liked it, let's say if I were to spend up to £4-5k would you recommend these older gens or is the newer B7 any better, I know road tax is only £35 on these, which seems appealing on the face of it, as it would be a second car (I like BMWs) but reliability maintenance wise I'm reading up on forums, would that tip the scales back to the older model. Mileage doesn't bother me.

cheers

[SteBrown91]

B7 Passat is just a heavily facelifted b6 with the more modern engines.

They are pretty reliable on the whole with only your normal diesel issues of DPFs EGRs etc potentially being an issue.

[Belle427]

I owned a Passt B5 and a work colleague has recently sold a B6, both great cars in my opinion. I had the PD 130 which was Dpf free and bomb proof but his had a Dpf but a previous owner had gutted it out.
Both great reliable cars though.
The later common rail engines are a lot smoother but do have some more issues in my opinion, Dpf, Egr, Egr cooler etc but a lot of modern diesels if not used for the intended mileage suffer too.
A bit harder to work on too access wise.
Id have a B6 Passat personally if i needed an estate, can be tricky to find a good one though.

[missing the VR6]

I'd always suggest a Skoda Octavia or Superb, my 12 years experience of selling Skoda, VW and SEAT tells me there more reliable. Octavia is very practical and the Superb even more so.

[RizzoTheRat]

I have the Common Rail 170bhp 2.0 in my Octavia. 160k miles on the clock and the only engine issue I've had was due to a Skoda dealer not putting the fuel filter housing back together properly after a service. It does a lot more short journeys than long these days and I do occasionally find the fans going nuts when I stop after a shortish drive presumably as it was trying to do a regen cycle, but I've never had the DPF warning come on.

[OctaneV8]

Thanks for your replies, I do quite like skoda, have driven the gen1 octavia estate in 1.9 tdi form for a trip to Wales, brilliant car 65+mpg. Feel like the fabia might be on the verge of being big enough having a look on autotrader and have noticed a 1.2 and 1.4 tsi petrol version to throw into the mix! but octavia I'm sure will have no trouble fitting most things incl. a bike in the back.

Edited by OctaneV8 on Monday 1st July 16:42

[missing the VR6]

Fabia Estate could do a job in that case, Fabia size front with a big boot.