"B5" symbolizes the platform code for the 5th generation Volkswagen Passat. The "B" simply stands for VW's Passat line, and the "5" stands for the 5th generation of production (5th body style/platform). The B5 Passat was introduced to Europe in 1997, and later on to the rest of the world in 1998. In March of 2001, the B5 received what we call a "facelift," meaning it received a few cosmetic changes but the platform nonetheless remained the same. In 2001, both the original style Passat B5 and the new "facelifted" Passat B5 were sold, so this is usually differentiated in our community by referring to the new "facelifted" Passat as a B5.5 or a 3BG. Volkswagen plans to produce the B5 through the model year 2004, and should be releasing the B6 Passat sometime in 2005. Two other cars also shared the B5 platform, the Audi A4 (1997-2002) and the Audi A6 (1998-2003). In our community, we tend to focus on the Passat, although Audi A4 and A6 members are more than welcome to join in on our discussions since all of our cars are pretty much the same anyways.

Club B5 Mission Statement

The Club B5 Community was founded in August of 1999 in the interest of promoting knowledge about the B5 Passat, and cooperation and camaraderie amongst its members. It is our goal to continue to grow this knowledge base, to make it more easily accessible, and foster a comfortable, productive, and friendly atmosphere for our members.

Code of Conduct

It is a labor of love for a few people who devote time, effort and financial resources to its maintenance and upkeep. Club B5 is not a democracy, it is a community. As such, we reserve the right to define and, if necessary, enforce, our shared values. We recognize that our shared knowledge is a great asset to our membership.

Over the course of Club B5’s existence, there have been many statements made about how “different” we are from many other enthusiast sites. We have been characterized as “intelligent”, “civilized”, “mature”, and “very technical”, just to name a few. More importantly, we value the fact that our membership knows that they can find truthful, well researched factual knowledge about our beloved B5s here.

Our Ground Rules for the continued success and growth of our community:

1. Every member will publish a working email account. Email accounts will be verified periodically by the staff. Inability to contact individual members by representatives of Club B5 will be grounds for suspension of membership privileges.

2. Club B5 members will refrain from “flaming” other members. This amounts to personal attacks, vulgarity, or inappropriate language or behavior. Club B5’s response to actions of this sort is entirely up to the discretion of the Club B5 staff. Members wishing to comment on actions or issues that arise on the forums should contact the moderators by email.

3. Any member who is found to be “masquerading” as another member for purposes of fomenting discord or irrelevant debate will be immediately and permanently banned from ever participating in this community.

4. We have an extremely diverse membership that spans the entire globe. We request that our members be sensitive to this fact when posting.

5. We reserve the right to determine the relevance and appropriateness of any discussion or debate that takes place on the Club B5 web site. In the event that a discussion is deemed unworthy of the disk space that it occupies, it will be deleted.

To summarize, we are here primarily to determine and share knowledge about our cars. We invite and appreciate genuine debate that leads to a better understanding of our cars. We insist upon civility and mutual respect. Provided we understand this fact and keep it central to our participation here, Club B5 will continue to be a comfortable oasis that is distinct from many Internet web sites. As the stewards of these principles, the Club B5 staff makes no apologies about how we maintain this site. Participation is voluntary.   

Club B5 Discussion Forum Disclaimer

Given the Real-Time nature of the discussion forums, the Club B5 Staff cannot be held responsible for every post. All content is posted by the forum user's free will, and the Club B5 staff does not necessrily agree with every post in the forum. All controversial content will be dealt with when brought to the Club B5 Staff's attention.