Had a visit at the weekend from some lovely old friends from where we used to live. They have recently retired and have bought a 'new' car. I think they have broken nearly all the rules of best advice we are given now:
It was three years old 1st September 2014 and has only done 14,000 miles, so it wasn't cheap, and is now out of warranty.
Volkswagen no longer does well in reliability surveys.
It's diesel and will be mainly used for short journeys.
It has the 1.6 TDi engine that HJ says he never recommends.
It has the DSG gearbox.
I sincerely hope it will be absolutely fine and I told them that I hope they are very happy with the car. What do you think the chances are?
|
It will probably be reliable; most cars are these days. You don't say how cheap it wasn't, but I suspect the worst of their problems is now behind them: that they paid too much for a 'low mileage' car.
Did they buy privately or 'approved used'? If the latter they should have a year's warranty cover, as I did with the LEC, bought at similar age but with a more normal mileage.
Incidentally, on paper at least a Golf like that would be a near-perfect solo commute car for me. What did they pay for a 2011 one?
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 17 Nov 14 at 14:00
|
|
It was bought from a car supermarket without any extra warranty. There was a px, they said the garage played around with the figures a bit, but they paid about £11k.
|
|
Crikey! That's not far short of what I paid for my Approved E220 estate. OK, it's £5,000 less - but it does seem a lot for a basic Golf with no support. New it would have been, what, £17,000?
|
>New it would have been, what, £17,000?
>>
Into the low £20's of K, I think, with the DSG box. Especially if it's the Match trim level.
We've got a similar age 1.4 Twist - it was special edition VW did to get rid of the old (non-TSi) 1.4 petrol engines - and I still can't quite believe we got it (new, 5dr, met paint) for £13K. You see them for sale at VW dealer (3.5-4yrs yrs old now) for £10K.
|
The price paid isn't wildly out of line looking at Autotrader. Have one myself in the Match trim and have done about 20,000 mile in the last 18 months since I bought it as a one year old car.
Really nice car which fulfills my needs nicely. Really like the engine which delivers all the power I need and is equally at home in town or on the motorway. Time will tell of course but no problems so far. Don't think I would have bought the diesel if I did't do most of my driving on long trips.
|
|
Looks like they have hit the jackpot with this car.It has the most unreliable combination of the 1.6 diesel engine which seems to be continuous trouble (injectors and egr systems) and the doesn't shift gears transmission.Do hope it lasts a little longer.
|
Bet they end up having many happy years with it.
They didn't break the rule of not buying a Renault so that's in their favour
|
Or a Vauxhall.
I followed a pristine-looking white Cavalier 1.8 L the other day, one of the last (J plate) before it was facelifted and (for me) ruined. Sweet car - had several from Hertz in the early 90s. Should have bought a late one used instead of the new Astra I did. It was one of the few cars I've ever driven that had both a sunroof and adequate headroom. Quiet, quick and smooth too, for the time, if a little sloppy in places. 2.0 GL in white was the really sweet one but an L would have done me.
|
>> I followed a pristine-looking white Cavalier 1.8 L the other day, one of the last
>> (J plate) before it was facelifted and (for me) ruined. Sweet car - had several
>> from Hertz in the early 90s. Should have bought a late one used instead of
>> the new Astra I did. It was one of the few cars I've ever driven
>> that had both a sunroof and adequate headroom. Quiet, quick and smooth too, for the
>> time, if a little sloppy in places. 2.0 GL in white was the really sweet
>> one but an L would have done me.
You are going up in my estimation (admittedly from a pretty low starting point) as I have a good pre-facelift 1989 Mk3 Cavalier tucked up in the garage which I've owned from new.
|
I'm having a little Gilbert and Sullivan moment.
How sweet to earn a Vauxophile's praise...
How's the battery?
|
>> You are going up in my estimation (admittedly from a pretty low starting point) as
>> I have a good pre-facelift 1989 Mk3 Cavalier tucked up in the garage which I've
>> owned from new.
So why is your handle not Cavalierbox?
|
>> Or a Vauxhall.
>>
>> I followed a pristine-looking white Cavalier 1.8 L the other day, one of the last
>> (J plate) before it was facelifted and (for me) ruined.
>>
I think the pre facelift was a much tidier looking car; we had a 1.8GL on a H plate which I pensioned off at 196K, nice car.
|
Some relatives of ours have had Golfs for as long as I can remember. Started out with a 1.6 petrol from around 1999. This gave way to a 2005 1.6 FSI. Neither of these gave any trouble, in spite of some commentary in the motoring press about the FSI engines being tempremental.
The relatives deal with a small garage that specialises in Golfs and when they fancy a change, they drop by and see what the owner has available. About 3 years ago when we visited them, I was surprised to find a '57 plate 2.0 SDI Golf on the drive. They do almost exclusively short journeys, so I figured they'd be travelling everywhere very, very slowly, but without any DPF issues. I recall saying to them at the time that they'd better not got a newer diesel, as their pattern of journeys wouldn't suit anything with a DPF.
Lo and behold when they came to visit a few months back, the SDI had morphed into a 2010 1.6 TDI. I feared they'd hit problems and sure enough they did. I'm not sure their friend at the garage enquired too much about the use of the car, but must have realised from the mileage of the trade ins that their annual mileage was low. To be fair, once the DPF warning light became a regular fixture on the dashboard, he sorted them out with a petrol one again. I've a feeling it's a 1.4, but not the TSI version. Curious spec, with climate control and front for lights, but a very meek stereo and no cruise control and a five speed 'box.
At least it should be better suited to lots of short journeys. Turning back to the original post, I suspect the Golf will be fine with a low annual mileage, providing it gets a decent run every couple of weeks. If not, I suspect the DPF will get blocked, or the oil will start to get rather diluted with diesel from lots of active regens.
It amazes me how many garages will sell a diesel to people who don't need one and might well encounter problems as a direct result!
|
I assume these folks bought the Golf as they wanted and believed in it. If so, and as long as they keep away from car forums, it should be fine.
There are hundreds of thousands of folks running cars "we" wouldn't advise and getting on just fine.
|
|
I think it will depend how they accumulate their low miles. If it is daily short runs, I expect they will have problems, but if it is all longer week-end runs, they should be fine. There are millions of DSG boxes out there, and they are not the trouble that some make them out to be.
|
Volkswagen Golf VI - Breaking the rules? - WillDeBeest
