Sorry to hear you won't be getting the H3 ... I'm hoping to get one early next year as the second car primarily for the Wife to drive
... but I'll get it on the weekends!
My daily driver is an 2001.5 (same body style as the '05) Passat 1.8T. If you haven't already check out
http://www.passatworld.com. Used to be clubB5 and it's a great forum with TONS of information on the Passat. There aren't many TDI guys around there but you'll still be able to get a lot of info from there.
http://www.vwvortex.com also has a lot of information but I've found the discussions more friendly on passatworld.
Cheers and good luck.
Karl