computer codes

I am thinking about purchasing a 98-2001 passat soon. I am on a limited budget for the price of the car ($7000) and am curious if getting a passat is a good idea. When I search the forums all I hear is costly repair after costly repair; which scares me. I am generally handy with cars and can do some mechanical upkeep, but have heard that error codes from VWs can't be read by the readers at the local auto repair places (AutoZone, etc.), is this true?

Only the basic OBD-II codes can be read with a generic scanner. ABS, air bags, body control, transmission, etc... are proprietary & require a VW or VAG-COM scanner. It's true with many makes of cars, particularly European.

VAG-COM? Whats that mean?

does anyone out there know what VAG-COM means?

You shouldn't buy a VW. I have a 00' Passat and its nothing but trouble. I am a GM auto mechanic and i have to take my own car to get fixed. It would not be a problem, but there is constantly something going wrong with it. The mech at the VW service shop know whats going on about 20% of the time which doesnt help at all. Do yourself a favor and buy something not German. Just an idea

You arent going to find a GOOD passat under 10,000 unless u buy one off ebay. Simple... dont buy a passat older than 2002 unless you want to spend alot of money fixing it.

thanks for the help that you guys have given me. I think that we might wait on our purchase of the Passat. While they really do look cool and are seemingly nice cars, the expense of fixing it periodically is too much.