Sometimes a car is pampered for decades from day one, every item of maintenance done on point and every night spent sheltered from the elements in a garage. Typically, things go downhill for such a vehicle once it reaches its second or third owner, and it ends up suffering abuse and/or neglect in its final years before showing up in its last parking space. That’s not what happened to today’s Junkyard Gem, which seems to have been brought to a self-service car graveyard in the Denver area while remaining in near-perfect cosmetic condition.
There are no significant dents or rust spots on this Passat bodywork, and the interior looks like it left the showroom last month (not counting the damage from junk shoppers, of course).
I assume this is a one-owner car that hasn’t been driven much and developed a mechanical problem that would have cost a lot more repair than the resale value of a three-decade-old Passat. It is also possible that it is a long-distance car exchange (presumably on a new VW) and would not sell to auction because a 30-year-old European sedan is scaring used-car buyers (who mostly want trucks these days, anyway).
volkswagen early adopted electronic odometers, so we can’t know the final mileage without turning on the ECU and wake up gauges.
In 1993, the GL was the least expensive Passat trim level. The MSRP for this car was $17,610, or about $36,945 in 2023 dollars.
That price was for a Passat GL with five-speed manual transmission, though. This car has the optional four-speed automatic, which added $875 to the cost ($1,836 today).
The 1993 Passat GL featured this 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder gasoline engine, rated at 134 horsepower. GLX models had 172 horsepower VR6 engines that year. No diesel the option was available on the US market Passat for 1993 (lots of older Dashers were sold here with oil burners installed), but the diesel Passat returned here for 1997. Later the diesel scandal scandal hammered Passat sales in a big way.
Power windows and that cassette deck with an input jack for a portable CD player were standard equipment. Some Mitsubishi vehicles also had AUX sockets at this time.
The Passat received a facelift for the 1994 model year, so this is the last year for the B3 version (sold in North America starting with the 1989 model year).
Continental Volkswagen in Littleton (which is now McDonald’s Volkswagen) was located only six kilometers from the current location of this car. It was sold new in the suburbs just south of Denver, and it will be ground in the same neighborhood. Maybe he never left Colorado in his life.
In 1993, American Volkswagen buyers could get a new Passat in wagon or sedan form. volkswagen stopped building the North American market Passat Last year. It’s a sad step, because the 1974 Passat (with Dasher badge) was the first water-cooled Volkswagen model sold new in the United States, beating the Golf (with Rabbit crest) to one-year showrooms. You can still buy new Passats in Europe, China, Japan And somewhere elseOf course.
There’s nothing quite like a domestic promotional film for a German car.
Maybe it’s better for a blind date driving a Passat to identify as something other that “the guy with the Volkswagen.”
Volkswagen had gone far beyond the air-cooled Beetle in the 1990s, but VWoA marketers must have thought the Passat needed a “you won’t believe it’s a Volkswagen” pitch.
It was the time of the incomprehensible of VW (for English speakers) Fahrvergnügen advertisement campaign. Those rock points did remind us The voice of Udo Dirkschneiderat least.
During a bitter election yearPassat’s ability to carry a wide riding was crucial.
