Vehicle report
1998 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT
This model year
What the record shows
The 1998 Volkswagen Passat is a midsize car, and the 9th model year of a nameplate NHTSA records from 1990 to 2025.
The EPA rated six configurations: engines from 1.8-litre four-cylinder to 2.8-litre six-cylinder, front-wheel drive only, three transmissions and running on diesel and premium gasoline.
Combined fuel economy ranges from 19 to 37 mpg depending on which one you have.
The federal record holds 331 owner complaints and 98 service bulletins for it.
Counts are reports, not rates. A complaint is something an owner chose to file; it is unverified and unadjusted for how many of these cars were sold, so the useful comparison is against other model years of the same car. Recalls and investigations carry more weight because a manufacturer or regulator acted on them.
Reading this report
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.