6-Speed Manual W8 Passat

[W8 MAN]

Hi everyone,

Thought I would turn to the forums to try suss out some information on manual Passat W8s.

I bought an NZ New, 2003 VW Passat W8 6-Speed Manual earlier this year, and so far I have become rather fond of my whacky VW. I have its original sales receipt for $100,500 from early 2003, and the car seems to be largely original aside from some smaller rear mufflers which make the car sound great. There is a thread on the car on Bimmersport if anyone is interested as it details a few things I've done to it during my ownership.
I think my car may be the only factory manual in silver?

Anyway,

Have a few questions;

Does anyone know how many W8s in general, and then more specifically, MANUAL W8s originally came to New Zealand in 2002/2003?

Have been reading old forum posts and Facebook posts. Some claim less than 5 Manual W8s came to New Zealand, whereas a Facebook post claims someone has seen 5+ manual W8s go through Turners salvage over the years.... Also heard rumours Giltrap's son had one, and that one W8 Manual got exported overseas somewhat recently.
I've only ever been able to trace 3-4 manual sedans, and 1 manual wagon, I'm guessing there might be a couple more sedans and maybe another wagon?

Also would be interested to hear how the spec procedure worked for NZ W8s?
From my understanding all NZ New 6-Speed cars had factory Recaro bucket seats and maybe sports package? Not sure if mine has sports package, suspension does feel a bit boaty.
I bought an NZ New Tip Sedan also in silver to swap its far better condition factory BBS wheels, and that had leather and alcantara sports seats which I'm guessing must be very rare for an auto? Would the presence of the Recaros be an indicator of sports seats?

Last of all, anyone have experience dealing with W8 fuel gauges?
My one doesn't work. May seem like a simple task until you realise VW, in their wisdom, decided because the W8 had a bigger engine than a regular 4 cylinder/6 cylinder Passat, it would need a bigger fuel capacity. Instead of just making the original tank bigger, they put a second tank where the full size spare was, and then had an additional fuel pump, pump fuel from the small tank to the big tank where required. This means no less than 4 fuel level senders AND an entire module for the car to calculate how much fuel it has. I believe if any of the senders are faulty or the module itself, the gauge doesn't work. Any ideas where to start?
Having owned the car since March this year, its only taken me 6 months to finally run out of fuel, which happened 2 days ago....


Any help much appreciated.

[Mike1410]

No idea how you can get an accurate number for NZ new W8's unless you can get hold of someone helpful at EMD. Whatever the number, you're talking an extremely rare VW. Approx 11,000 W8 Passat in total were built over 4 years. Other sites say that 4931 of these went to the USA, of which only 424 were manuals. I would guess the bulk of the remaining 6,000 examples were sold in Europe, with minimal numbers of the total built being RHD. I only ever saw 1 W8 in the UK, on a VW dealer forecourt when it was about 18 months old. I understand just 246 W8 were sold in the UK, and only 20 of these were manual. So a roughly 1 to 10 ratio of manuals to autos across the board.

The Nappa leather Recaros (not the same as the optional leather and Alcantara sports seats for lesser models, like I have in my V5) were an option that was only available on the W8. Those, a factory sat nav option and an electric sunroof option were just about the lot for available extras. The 17" 'Madras' pattern wheels were standard & unique to the W8, and it could be had in three colours which were not found on lesser models - Petrol, Deep Blue and Blue Spirit. Judging by the fact that the ones that do pop up on TradeMe are invariably ex-Japan, I would assume that Japan was VW's biggest RHD W8 market? but even then the sales numbers must have been small. Likely the 5 manual cars you have so far traced were the only manuals to make it here from new.   

[W8 MAN]

Thanks for the reply, I would definitely agree with you that Japan must be the largest RHD for the W8. Majority I have seen on the market are ex-Japan.
I've noticed Japan spec W8s have their indicators on the mirrors which I thought was interesting.
One of my friends recently managed to do a VIN decode for me of the build sheet of my car. I'm guessing spec was probably almost identical between the vast majority of the few W8s brought new to NZ (aside from interior/exterior colour, auto/manual etc.)
However, one thing I've noticed (and I'm grateful for) is my car got spec'd with body coloured protective strips & side-mouldings. Almost every W8 (including my auto NZ New one I had) (and frankly B5 Passat in general) I've ever seen does not have colour matched lower bumper and lower door trim. Makes the car look a bit more modern imo.
It's a shame Passats and specifically the B5s aren't loved as much as VW models, I think they are quite underrated.

Cheeky exhaust video of my car if anyone is interested:
https://youtu.be/nu8JETCzqYI

Also here is the Bimmersport thread of my W8:
https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/66851-franklin-the-6-speed-manual-w8-passat/

[Mike1410]

I think they tend to get overlooked in favour of their A4 cousins, which appear sportier. In much the same way as people bought A8's rather than the Phaeton.

In the UK, all Passat got mirror mounted indicator repeaters for the 2004 model year ie from Sept 2003 onwards and thee were a couple of other little tweaks to the spec for that final 18 months or so of production. My V5 is a 2001 model so they're still in the wings, although it does have plenty of chrome to offset against the Indigo Blue Pearl paint, incl in the body side mouldings, roof rails and mirror caps. But yes, the sill covers and lowest section of the bumpers are black plastic.

You can download a pdf of the build sheet of your car direct from VW's online site for a small fee. It lists all the spec that those little 3 digit codes on the sticker relate to. It also shows the paint and interior codes, and the build date and date of delivery to the supplying dealer. I have done it for all my cars.   https://erwin.volkswagen.de/erwin/showHome.do

[RS ZWEI]

Hi everyone,

Thought I would turn to the forums to try suss out some information on manual Passat W8s.

I bought an NZ New, 2003 VW Passat W8 6-Speed Manual earlier this year, and so far I have become rather fond of my whacky VW. I have its original sales receipt for $100,500 from early 2003, and the car seems to be largely original aside from some smaller rear mufflers which make the car sound great. There is a thread on the car on Bimmersport if anyone is interested as it details a few things I've done to it during my ownership.
I think my car may be the only factory manual in silver?

Anyway,

Have a few questions;

Does anyone know how many W8s in general, and then more specifically, MANUAL W8s originally came to New Zealand in 2002/2003?

Have been reading old forum posts and Facebook posts. Some claim less than 5 Manual W8s came to New Zealand, whereas a Facebook post claims someone has seen 5+ manual W8s go through Turners salvage over the years.... Also heard rumours Giltrap's son had one, and that one W8 Manual got exported overseas somewhat recently.
I've only ever been able to trace 3-4 manual sedans, and 1 manual wagon, I'm guessing there might be a couple more sedans and maybe another wagon?

Also would be interested to hear how the spec procedure worked for NZ W8s?
From my understanding all NZ New 6-Speed cars had factory Recaro bucket seats and maybe sports package? Not sure if mine has sports package, suspension does feel a bit boaty.
I bought an NZ New Tip Sedan also in silver to swap its far better condition factory BBS wheels, and that had leather and alcantara sports seats which I'm guessing must be very rare for an auto? Would the presence of the Recaros be an indicator of sports seats?

Last of all, anyone have experience dealing with W8 fuel gauges?
My one doesn't work. May seem like a simple task until you realise VW, in their wisdom, decided because the W8 had a bigger engine than a regular 4 cylinder/6 cylinder Passat, it would need a bigger fuel capacity. Instead of just making the original tank bigger, they put a second tank where the full size spare was, and then had an additional fuel pump, pump fuel from the small tank to the big tank where required. This means no less than 4 fuel level senders AND an entire module for the car to calculate how much fuel it has. I believe if any of the senders are faulty or the module itself, the gauge doesn't work. Any ideas where to start?
Having owned the car since March this year, its only taken me 6 months to finally run out of fuel, which happened 2 days ago....


Any help much appreciated.

Currently there are 4 manual sedans registered in NZ -1 silver and 3 black.

[W8 MAN]

Currently there are 4 manual sedans registered in NZ -1 silver and 3 black.

Interesting, thank you for the info - I am wondering if these are the cars:

BDC848 (silver)
VUUUU8 (black)
BKT437 (black) - seems to have been exported?
And finally; https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/listing/2586812600?bof=4zafxliU - Plate number unknown.

I think they tend to get overlooked in favour of their A4 cousins, which appear sportier. In much the same way as people bought A8's rather than the Phaeton.

In the UK, all Passat got mirror mounted indicator repeaters for the 2004 model year ie from Sept 2003 onwards and thee were a couple of other little tweaks to the spec for that final 18 months or so of production. My V5 is a 2001 model so they're still in the wings, although it does have plenty of chrome to offset against the Indigo Blue Pearl paint, incl in the body side mouldings, roof rails and mirror caps. But yes, the sill covers and lowest section of the bumpers are black plastic.

You can download a pdf of the build sheet of your car direct from VW's online site for a small fee. It lists all the spec that those little 3 digit codes on the sticker relate to. It also shows the paint and interior codes, and the build date and date of delivery to the supplying dealer. I have done it for all my cars.   https://erwin.volkswagen.de/erwin/showHome.do

Apologies for the untimely reply, I did not see this. Interesting about the mirrors. Indigo Blue Pearl is a lovely colour on the B5 - there was a W8 Automatic up for sale recently in that colour I believe.

I have since done a PDF build sheet on my car. Among the interesting spec is; Nappa Leather, Sports Seats, Sports Suspension, Ski Package and 6 Speed Manual. Everything else seems relatively standard.

You are right, these cars definitely fly under the radar. I took mine to the VW Spring Jamboree in late October/early November and although it did get a special mention, it was largely overlooked. I am now on the hunt for a manual B5 wagon with either a V5 or 1.9TDI, I'm not sure such a thing exists in NZ but am keeping an eye out just in case.

[rambo_005]

There's also FWR266 (black), though I'm not sure what the current status of this car is.

[W8 MAN]

There's also FWR266 (black), though I'm not sure what the current status of this car is.

Interesting, looks to be super low ks, and was getting WOFs up until 2019 with less than 1000km travelled annually. Maybe its part of a collection? Currently rego is on hold. Maybe an overseas owner? Or maybe its just broken.

Have just come across ATF122 - although its now de-registered.

Updated List:
BDC848 (silver)
VUUUU8 (black)
BKT437 (black) - seems to have been exported?
ATF122 (black) - deregistered
FWR266 (black) - registration on hold.

And finally; https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/listing/2586812600?bof=4zafxliU - Plate number unknown (potentially: ATP122)

[rambo_005]

Interesting, looks to be super low ks, and was getting WOFs up until 2019 with less than 1000km travelled annually. Maybe its part of a collection? Currently rego is on hold. Maybe an overseas owner? Or maybe its just broken.

Here's some history for that car: http://www.vask.org.nz/index.php/topic,21507.0.html

[W8 MAN]

Here's some history for that car: http://www.vask.org.nz/index.php/topic,21507.0.html

Interesting, I think maybe FWR266 is this car here: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/listing/2586812600?bof=4zafxliU

Trademe listing quotes a "$10,000 rebuild" for weaknesses in cam adjusters. Real bugger with what happened to FWR266 back in 2011, looks like the guy barely drove it... very highly spec'd with the sunroof, parking sensors and rain sensing wipers. A shame those images don't load, would love to see how it looked!

Also interesting it had the leather & alcantara interior - I bought an Auto NZ New W8 to swap its nicer factory wheels with my manual one, that too had the leather and alcantara recaro seats in it. Thought about keeping them but the alcantara had gone a bit gross so sold them with the car.

[W8 MAN]

Just a small update. I ended up purchasing ATF122 as an insurance write-off. Will unfortunately most likely part it out.

It has a Remus exhaust and its been tuned - Remus exhaust will most likely end up on my silver car.

It has a suspect blown head-gasket, however its ultimate nail in the coffin is it seems to have been rear-ended at some point in its life and the rear of the car is mildly mangled and its fairly obvious where its been repaired, plus its done 266,000km... Bit of a shame.

If anyone needs any bits, let me know!