Pros? - Cons? of an early '90s Passat

This morning, while driving around the "seedier" parts of this (new to me) city, I ran across a car I almost never see anymore...an early '90s VW Passat. It was one of those grille-less front Passat sedans, in a boring shade of non-white. But because I always dig the unusual, I wondered if those who know them best could steer me to a very good source for general info, more informed technical info, and parts? I guess there are better places/cars in this area I could buy, but this car was so unusual when new....I know I won't get much sleep until someone gives me a better reason than "it's a Volkswagon....that's enough" for NOT buying it.

First off it is VOLKSWAGEN not wagon

I love the looks of the B3 passats. My dream VW is a B3 GLX station wagon equipped with a 5spd.

Unlike most B chassis VW's the motor is laid out transverse instead of longitudinally. That makes the cheap and unloved B3 the most common source for VR swaps in golfs and jettas. I predict they will all but dissapear soon. The 4cyl is the nice 2 liter 16V. Good motor but too much car to haul around with it.

I like the 16V 2L in my '80's vintage Rabbit.

That's all I got.

If it was a cream puff it could sure be worth owning. If it's been neglected at all then I'd pass. There's some carry over from other volkswagens when it comes to finding parts, which helps a little. Unless you need a steering rack, or a radiator, etc...

belteshazzar....funny you should mention the radiator, as my previous experience with a VW/Audi made me put the cooling system front and center of the possible troublespots of this particular model VW. I once owned an Audi Fox and that car went through the thermo switch for a the cooling fan pretty much every 10,000 miles.

To the others, so far, I went back and looked at the curb weight listed for a Passat versus a Jetta.....not great at 3,000 lbs. vs 2300 lbs. The Passat is heavier than the E30 BMW another poster here is looking at, but at least the Passat's engine makes more than the 101 horsepower of the 318i.

My parents had a last model-year (1997, I think) silver over black VR6/5-speed GLX. Had a lot more character and was far less troublesome than the 2002 and 2005 models that replaced it.

I like them. If had with a VR6 and 5speed, they were great cruisers.

It's either a GLX VR6 or a 2.0 16v.

I had a 16v Jetta and I really liked the motor which was still very strong after 190k hard miles. Unfortunately, the rest of the car reflected its age and was completely falling apart.

If I were looking for a Passat of that vintage I'd look for a wagon. Decent gas mileage, lots of space, easy to work on and still pretty fun to drive.

Had a 1991 2.0l 16v 5speed wagon. Not slow at all. Converted it digifant fuel injection for no starting problems. Lost a little in the mid-range, but it was a great car. Passat has regularly been the best car VW sold. Made in Germany. The B3 was a cross of parts between the second gen Golf and Jetta and the 4th gen cars. And they share many common parts with the Corrado. I have many spares to rid myself of since I moved onto the Jetta Wagon 1.8t.

Sadly, as has been stated, many a Passat has been the donor for other projects.

Passat--German for parts car!

I've had a few of them. If it's an automatic, the transmissions are junk. If it's not an auto, I'd go for it. They are plagued with little issues, but nothing serious or expensive. The sunroof tracks commonly break. If it opens, but clicks or pops while doing so, there's a $2 fix, but if you don't get to it in time it will be destroyed. The ignition switches can go out, but they're $10 new. The heater cores also commonly go out. They're less than $20 new, but they totally suck to change. I would think that most of them are old enough to have been changed out by now. The power windows only work one at a time. It's weird and it's just the way it is. If the distributor leaks (common on the 16v) a new one is about $130 last I checked, but they're easy to rebuild. Change the timing belt every 60k (if it's a 16v car). I've got a VR6 5 speed Passat that needs a heater core that I'd sell!