After the accident my first Santana was not exactly in the shape to be easily restored. Being on university now, I had hardly any time left to go looking for a proper Santana, but I had to have a substitute car.

But if I could not get a Santana, at least it should be a Passat Mk. II (Type 32b) - after all, I got to know the technical base of the car quite well after two years of Santana-driving, I knew the pros and cons of the construction. As a Passat, I wanted to have one of the Facelift-Type (that is, built after 1985, the ones with the big bumpers) - the older ones are too likely to rust. I wanted to have at least the "GL"-model - Passats are less equipped than Santanas, and, after all, who wants to change for the worse?The only thing I did not like about the Passat are the big, black plastic bumpers - they looked cheaply. In Germany, the only models with partly painted bumpers were the "Trophy"-models, so I liked them best.

I remembered a nice Passat Trophy standing at a used-car lot near Hildesheim. This car I bought, and afterwards I have to admit I was cheated by the dealer - I paid to much, the car did not have the right catalytic converter to save money on the car tax...

As I said, it took a long time to get to like this car. The disappointment after the Santana´s loss was just too great. But now - 35.000km later - I like it, espacially after upgrading the equipment to a near-Santana level.