VW Passat 5speed vs 6speed

eire-kp

My brother is looking for a passat and hes found a 03 tdi 130 sport which is 6 speed,and a 04 tdi 130 highline which is 5 speed but has full leather interior. Does any body have any opinions on these he cant decide..does the 6 speed have much difference on the mpg? Also is there any way of knowing what bhp the car is apart from the badges? Thanks

Anan1

6 speed is 20% more work, if you ask me.

tred

eire-kp wrote: »

My brother is looking for a passat and hes found a 03 tdi 130 sport which is 6 speed,and a 04 tdi 130 highline which is 5 speed but has full leather interior. Does any body have any opinions on these he cant decide..does the 6 speed have much difference on the mpg? Also is there any way of knowing what bhp the car is apart from the badges? Thanks

I drive a Mondeo TDCI 6 speed. If your cruising...on some long journeys u cant compare 5 to 6 speed for example. I find mine is running in 6th gear at lower revs than a toledo i drove from dubling to galway on 5 speed recently and much more economical. If your doing lots of city driving, 5 speed probably better!
Not sure on the passat...on verifying the BHP...

the drifter

ive had both...6 speed all the way if your doing high crusing miles..if you tipping down the shop in one your not going to see much benifit

BlackWizard

Are the 1st-5th ratios not the same on both the 6 speed and 5 speed Passat gear boxes?

I was in the same situation as your brother eire-kp. I was looking at a Sport Passat with 6 gears and a High Line leather with 5 gears. I took them for a drive and I found I didn't like the ride of the sport. It wasn't as comforable as the highline. Although the highline drives like a boat I love it though! Bought the highline.

BUt when Im driving fast(130kph) I wish I had a 6th gear. The car has so much power, it can easily pull it. At 130kph the revs are right on the sweet spot. I really feel like its a waste of diesel.

sundodger5

I know vw have got more confusing with the badges etc of late. but i thought the 5 speeds were 105Bhp and the 130s were 6 speed.

Delta Kilo

sundodger5 wrote: »

I know vw have got more confusing with the badges etc of late. but i thought the 5 speeds were 105Bhp and the 130s were 6 speed.

No. The indicator is the colour of the badge. Red "I" is 110bhp, red "D" and red "I" is 130 and all red is 140bhp. However, I have found these badges for sale on ebay, even though they are hard found. Do a cartell search on it and it will tell you. The engine cover also has the red colour letters on it aswell but I think the only way of proving it is too get the engine code and verify it with VW!

L-M

Delta Kilo wrote: »

No. The indicator is the colour of the badge. Red "I" is 110bhp, red "D" and red "I" is 130 and all red is 140bhp. However, I have found these badges for sale on ebay, even though they are hard found. Do a cartell search on it and it will tell you. The engine cover also has the red colour letters on it aswell but I think the only way of proving it is too get the engine code and verify it with VW!

+1 on the engine code.

The badges can be bought from Halfords as well IIRC

colm_mcm

sundodger5 wrote: »

I know vw have got more confusing with the badges etc of late. but i thought the 5 speeds were 105Bhp and the 130s were 6 speed.

+1

more or less.

Stevie Dakota

I also found the ride in the sport unacceptably hard, its not a sports car, why have a sports suspension? Highline was a good deal more comfy and handled just fine.

bazz26

Unless your brother does alot of motor way or long haul journeys then the 6th gear will probably get very little use. I would rather have the higher spec car.

L-M

OT Just on a TDI badge note. Was just behind an Avensis TDI D4D something something something lol!

EPM

Those badges are nearly as popular as RS4 badges!

colm_mcm

what colour was the car LM, regularly see an Avensis TDI LX D-4D Luna around. also has the horrid spoiler, parking sensors, chrome boot door garnish, and towbar, in total there's 7 badges on the boot.

It looks so funny!

DaMonk

Limerick man wrote: »

OT Just on a TDI badge note. Was just behind an Avensis TDI D4D something something something lol!

oh jeeze, that is just awful!

L-M

colm_mcm wrote: »

what colour was the car LM, regularly see an Avensis TDI LX D-4D Luna around. also has the horrid spoiler, parking sensors, chrome boot door garnish, and towbar, in total there's 7 badges on the boot.

It looks so funny!

Yes! Sin e! Grey/Silver colour? Chrome tow bar thingy with the spoiler that wraps around the badge?

HJL

I was never a fan of 6 speeds until i recently got my 320d 136bhp so is only 5 speed, and compared to my last car it is geared much different.

My last car was a 1.9d 63bhp, and i could put it into 5th gear at 40mph, my car now needs to be nearly doing over 55mph before its the right rpm for 5th.
Another problem is you have to leave it in the gears longer, example, crawling in slow moving traffic, in my last car [and in a 6 speed] you could put it in second, where as i have to hold it in 1st longer in my new car.

In saying that my Ibiza was probably close geared to make the non turbo engine more drivable and its wasnt built for top end speed!

colm_mcm

Limerick man wrote: »

Yes! Sin e! Grey/Silver colour? Chrome tow bar thingy with the spoiler that wraps around the badge?

Yup, that's the one. have a photo of it somehwhere

DaMonk

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yup, that's the one. have a photo of it somehwhere

OH I have to see it. in limerick ya?

Just a question, does anyone know if the gearing is in fact any different from gears 1-5 on the two gearbox's? They could have just lobbed in an extra gear.I doubt it but anyway. Is the 6 speed notchy in the newer passats like the old one's?

tossy

Delta Kilo wrote: »

No. The indicator is the colour of the badge. Red "I" is 110bhp, red "D" and red "I" is 130 and all red is 140bhp. However, I have found these badges for sale on ebay, even though they are hard found. Do a cartell search on it and it will tell you. The engine cover also has the red colour letters on it aswell but I think the only way of proving it is too get the engine code and verify it with VW!

Badges mean SFA even the bages on the engine cover i've seen numerous VW's badged wrong from the factory and from the dealers.ALso the badges are not hard got,the are all over Ebay!

The easiest way to check the BHP is the data sticker in the boot,under the carpet on the left,or in the log book - inside cover,a 130PD passat should have a power rating of 96KW

BlackWizard

And what ever anyone does. DO NOT trust the dealerships. They either are lieing or completely do not know this themselves. I don't know how many dealerships had to apologise to me for getting the power output wrong. Actually there were 4 garages in total.

Look for the KW on the boot sticker and multiply it by 1.3 to get a rough idea. Or just look for the 96KW as Tossy said.

I even seen the red D+I on the engine and still it ended up being a 115 BHP engine.

DaMonk

BlackWizard wrote: »

And what ever anyone does. DO NOT trust the dealerships. They either are lieing or completely do not know this themselves. I don't know how many dealerships had to apologise to me for getting the power output wrong. Actually there were 4 garages in total.

Look for the KW on the boot sticker and multiply it by 1.3 to get a rough idea. Or just look for the 96KW as Tossy said.

I even seen the red D+I on the engine and still it ended up being a 115 BHP engine.

That was funnily enough a correct rating. PD engines of 115hp and 130hp were given the red D+I.

Neilw

bazz26 wrote: »

Unless your brother does alot of motor way or long haul journeys then the 6th gear will probably get very little use. I would rather have the higher spec car.

I drive a 6 speed car and 6th gets used on every journey above 40mph, you have to remember it's a diesel with loads of low end torque so will be happy to potter along in 6th at low revs.

DaMonk

i'm the same. Maybe not 40mph, more like 60 but gets used oftern. Same as any gear. Think there's a 'its only a motorway gear' stigma that people think the engine hits 'super cruising speed' in 6th or something.

HJL

Neilw wrote: »

I drive a 6 speed car and 6th gets used on every journey above 40mph, you have to remember it's a diesel with loads of low end torque so will be happy to potter along in 6th at low revs.

I dont think you would get a very good MPG figure driving in 6th gear at 40mph.

DaMonk

HJL wrote: »

I dont think you would get a very good MPG figure driving in 6th gear at 40mph.

I find that the best mpg is around the rev range of 1600-1800rpm. Anything below this and it drops conseiderably. Drove to galway keeping to 100kph for a change once and managed 62mpg average, that includes goignthrough gort in traffic! was in 6th gear and drifting along at 1600rpm.

Owen

HJL wrote: »

I dont think you would get a very good MPG figure driving in 6th gear at 40mph.

You probably would. A lot of the newer BMW's have a shift point indicator, which tells you when to shift, and what gear to be in to get the best fuel economy. 40mph is around the speed point for ideal economy in 6th according to it.

HJL

Thats interesting, i have the older 320d 136bhp and its only 5 speed, but if i was at say 1600-1700 rpm in 5th it would almost feel like it was labouring, and fuel needle [not sure how accurate those things are] would only read 30mpg, compared to having it in 4th at 2000rpm i get 50mpg on the needle.

Ive done about 3k miles in it so far so im still getting used to it, but i find the gears very long, example would be slowing for a junction coming off a main road and turning right, 2nd gear turn if there is nothing coming. But in this car its almost labouring in 2nd, and 1st is only if your stopped!

I feel 6 speed would narrow the gears and make it better, i think all face-lifted e46 320d had a 6 speed.

DaMonk

HJL wrote: »

Thats interesting, i have the older 320d 136bhp and its only 5 speed, but if i was at say 1600-1700 rpm in 5th it would almost feel like it was labouring, and fuel needle [not sure how accurate those things are] would only read 30mpg, compared to having it in 4th at 2000rpm i get 50mpg on the needle.

Ive done about 3k miles in it so far so im still getting used to it, but i find the gears very long, example would be slowing for a junction coming off a main road and turning right, 2nd gear turn if there is nothing coming. But in this car its almost labouring in 2nd, and 1st is only if your stopped!

I feel 6 speed would narrow the gears and make it better, i think all face-lifted e46 320d had a 6 speed.

My engine is remapped so the turbo comes in lower down the rev range which might help prevent against labouring as more air is being delivered and allow it to tip away at 1600-1800rpm without a problem. A complete guess though, could be just the differences between the VAG and BMW engine...probably is.

HJL

DaMonk wrote: »

My engine is remapped so the turbo comes in lower down the rev range which might help prevent against labouring as more air is being delivered and allow it to tip away at 1600-1800rpm without a problem. A complete guess though, could be just the differences between the VAG and BMW engine...probably is.

Could be, every car is different. My last car was a VAG, [1.9d non turbo, the one before the SDi] it was no rocket but you could put it into 5th [which was top] from about 30mph and it would pull along fine, and could get 53mpg out of it too and 167k on the clock!
320d only returns about 43mpg, but going by the forums that doesnt seem to be too far off the mark for my type of car.