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i'm in love with a 2000 volkswagen passat, but people say the maintenance of volkswagens is ridiculous. what's the deal? thanks.  

I can see why you're in love with the Passat.  From a drivers point of view, it's a great car.  It's got good power, is fairly economical with the turbo 4 cylinder, handles well (though not sporting), and is a fantastic long-distance cruiser.  It drives like an Audi, which is no surprise since every important mechanical part is shared with the Audi A4 (and the A6 for the most part).  

What you've heard about VWs is both true and false.  If you were to add up all of the problems VWs have suffered since 1998, when the Passat and Jetta were redesigned with VW's new trendy image, you'd have a multi-thousand page list of horror stories.  

But about 90% of that would be problems with Mexican-built Jettas, Golfs, and Beetles.  Part of the problem with those cars lies in VW's failure to properly control quality in the Mexican plants, and the other is the fact that only the Jetta/Golf/Beetle are all mechanically similar, and use Siemens electronics that were poorly designed from the start.  It should be mentioned, however, that Siemens is a respected company with enormous technical expertise.  For whatever reason, the parts they designed and built for use in the Jetta/Golf/Beetle cars were junk.  

Passats have always been built in Germany, and their electronics are...well they're not Siemens and they're better.  That's all I know.  

The net result, however, is that Passats have excellent reliability, IF THEY ARE MAINTAINED properly.  

Thus, buying a 2000 Passat is a risky proposition, in part because any car that's 8 years old will likely have a lot of miles on it, and more than one owner.  Keep in mind that ANY car that's 8 years old and has 100,000 or so miles will need various parts replaced more frequently than when it was new.  Shocks, suspension bushings, belts, electrics, interior bits (storage doors and such), and emissions sensors are all likely candidates for failure in any car with a lot of miles.  The problem is not so much that Passats experience failures more often, but rather, such failures cost more to fix than American and Japanese cars.  You could get lucky and rarely have to fix parts that wear out, or you could get unlucky and have to pay big bucks for seemingly minor repairs here and there.  

The other problem is the engine.  It was a masterpiece for its time (the 4 Cylinder turbo), with a small, quick-spooling turbo charger for big torque and surprisingly swift acceleration.  But the engine abuses oil thanks in part to the extreme heat it endures when running through the turbo charger's bearings.  Religiously consistent oil changes should be sufficient, but by 2004 (or so, can't remember), VW issued a service bulletin to owners that directed them to use nothing but synthetic oil.  This was due to numerous problems with the oiling system in the 1.8T engines.  The engine demanded too much of regular petroleum oil, and the resulting sludge would cause oil circulation blockages that would destroy parts of the engine and turbo.  Synthetic oil is the cure, but only when used preventatively.  Buying a 2000 Passat with little or no oil change records is risky.  But if it's been cared for, especialy with synthetic oil, it'll live for ever.  

Despite all the scares that so many have reported about VWs, here's a synopsis of my own parent's 2002 Passat ownership.  

My parents are bad about maintaining cars.  They let oilchanges go 500-1000 miles beyond the recommended interval a bit too often.  They refuse to pay for those expensive dealer "checkups" at 30, 50, 80K miles, and they usually wait for something to grind, bang, or squeal before taking it in for a checkup.  

Whenever I visit them, I try to keep them on track with maintenance, but I can't be in town all the time.  Still, their 2002 has 93,000 miles, and has suffered very few problems.  For the first 70K, it was utterly trouble free.   At about 75K, the CV joints (the joints that connect the drive shafts to the wheels in the front) began to fail because the boots that seal crucial lubricants in the joint had deteriorated and not been checked by a mechanic.   Luckily, the extended warranty they bought covered it.  that's the only mechanical problem they've experienced, and really, it's their own fault for not keeping track of regular maintenance.  Otherwise, the turn signal went haywire at 75K, the little door that opens up the cigarett lighter in the back seat broke (they don't smoke), the glove box stopped opening in that smooth-damped fashion that makes VWs feel so high-end, and the seat heaters stopped working.  All of that happened bewteen 75 and 90K miles, and all were replaced quickly under warrantee.  Nothing important has failed, and the car is still squeek/rattle free, powerful, fuel efficient, and solid.  No important interior bits (window switches, radio/climate control switches, etc) show any sign of wear, and I still like driving it when I get a chance.  

So is a 2000 passat a good buy?  That depends entirely on how it's been cared for, how many miles it has, and how comfortable you are paying more than you expect for the occasional glitch.  

Post some numbers, and maybe we can figure this out.