Looking at this picture do you think this car was clocked?

johnplayerblue · 05-06-2008 8:13pm #1

Hey!
I'm on the market for a mkiII gti golf and found a 1990 model in mint condition but something about the display says its not what it seems, the digits do look a little out of line to me. Your advice please, also what are the pit falls with mk2 8V gtis that you would look out for if you were buying?

Anan1 · 05-06-2008 8:21pm

TBH, there's no way you can know from that. Does the car have any history? At that age i'd be looking at condition ahead of mileage, in any case.

CyberGhost · 05-06-2008 8:21pm

An 18 year old car with only 90k? not very believable.

kmart6 · 05-06-2008 8:25pm

johnplayerblue · 05-06-2008 8:29pm

kmart6 wrote: »

+1

I think so...!

WHITE_P · 05-06-2008 8:30pm

I wouldn't be put off by the low milage and how the digits look on that clock, Is the car in good condition, does it have any service history / receipts.

What condition are things like the seats, steering wheel, pedal rubbers, and gear stick gaiter in.

The seats on MKII Golfs tended to wear badly, especially on the drivers seat side bolesters.

Has the car been in continuous use, or has it been stored for some lenght of time.

One of my brothers has an 1989 1.9 205 GTI with a little over 100k on the clock, its immaculate, but it has not been used for several years now as he had the use of company cars from the late 90's and has since gone back to driving motor bikes.

peasant · 05-06-2008 8:32pm

You're talking about the slightly lifted 9 ?

On old VW instruments that does happen. The 9 seems to anticipate the switchover to zero quite a while ahead.

I've driven a previous van of mine (with very similar instruments) at 199.000 kms with the first 9 only half visible and the second one one quarter up the display until it finally changed over to zero.

But as the others said ...condition is more important.

kmart6 · 05-06-2008 8:33pm

johnplayerblue wrote: »

I think so...!

But realistically it seems very hard to be true due to the type of car,like somewhere along the line that car would have to of had an owner who drove it around a lot to be 'seen' and that obviously pushes the mileage up,add in the fact it's 18 years old and it should be more than 90000!

Run_to_da_hills · 05-06-2008 8:45pm

Look carefully for tell tail signs in and around the clocks, i.e. thumb prints, dust, screwdriver marks, grease, missaligned numbers etc that would give indication that it has been tampered with. Also a young appendix might have been given the job to strip down the dash and remove the clock face from the car by his boss and might have missed laid a couple of screws. Look out for the obvious. I was vouching a car for my brother last year and the idiot dealer forgot to reconnect the Speedo. We just walked away from it..

Type 17 · 05-06-2008 8:51pm

johnplayerblue wrote: »

Hey!
I'm on the market for a mkiII gti golf and found a 1990 model in mint condition but something about the display says its not what it seems, the digits do look a little out of line to me. Your advice please, also what are the pit falls with mk2 8V gtis that you would look out for if you were buying?

As mentioned, condition is more important than mileage, at this age.
90k is entirely possible on this car (although unusual).

Also as mentioned, the digits on VAG speedos do rise a bit before flicking over, so this one doesn't look too strange.

I'd look at the service history* and the condition of the whole car, and base any decision on that...

*As with ANY car, if it doesn't have (at least a recent) service history, walk away.

JHMEG · 05-06-2008 9:08pm

I don't think I've ever seen an odometer with perfectly aligned digits.

BostonB · 05-06-2008 9:09pm

johnplayerblue wrote: »

Hey!
I'm on the market for a mkiII gti golf and found a 1990 model in mint condition but something about the display says its not what it seems, the digits do look a little out of line to me. Your advice please, also what are the pit falls with mk2 8V gtis that you would look out for if you were buying?

Just judge on condition. If its done 200k but is perfect wheres the problem. Though if a car has been clocked theres a bigger risk that theres other stuff they are hiding from you aswell.

I would say a 90k on a GTI is unlikely but not impossible. It would need to have a very good history and get someone to check its not been crashed, or anything else going on with it.

I had a 8V about 8 yrs ago and I looked for ages to get mine. Most had been trashed and had a hard life even then. Most had some damage somewhere and most had higher than average mileage on them. The one I got had 105k on the clock and I ran it to 140k. I got rid of it because it has hard on fuel (earlier fuel injection) and it was a bit of a money pit tbh. Heater matrix, suspension, fuel pump, new discs, exhaust. Seemed like I was always doing something to it. Was easy to parts back then, especially from scrappers as there still loads of non GTI golfs around with similar trim. Apparently after I sold it the new owner told me the head gasket went on it a few months later.

Probably one of my favorite cars, though it was never that quick tbh.

alpina · 05-06-2008 9:19pm

There are lots of tell tell signs you can check out;

Check state of rubber on the pedals, either worn well down or new ones?
Steering wheel/gear knob/window winder/inner door handle, any signs of over & beyond wear? Seats, worn, dipped etc, Seat belts again check for wear, condition of shocks. Coolant bottle/engine block, state of... It's hard to guage as there is '90, 000 already done but is possible & these tell tell signs should at least help you out or piece of mind of somewhat, have an '81 with 98, 000 original miles so they are out there albeit bloody hard to come across.

Eoin · 05-06-2008 10:09pm

90,000 miles over 18 years is an average of 5000 a year, which is an average of 13 - 14 miles a day.

That's really not all that low, as it could have been a weekend car for a while as well.

Run_to_da_hills · 05-06-2008 10:16pm

There is absolutly nothing illegal about changing the complete clock unit if the previous one had been "damaged". You are technically not docking anything, It is a well known loop hole in the motor trade. With a car that age there would be plenty of low mikeage scrappers about.

BostonB · 05-06-2008 11:25pm

alpina wrote: »

...have an '81 with 98, 000 original miles so they are out there albeit bloody hard to come across.

This thread is wasted without pics.

These guys seem to find nice ones from time to time.
http://www.futureclassiccars.com/stocklist/index.php

alpina · 05-06-2008 11:41pm

Another one to keep a close eye on;

www.oldcolonelcars.co.uk

quarryman · 05-06-2008 11:52pm

WHITE_P wrote: »

One of my brothers has an 1989 1.9 205 GTI with a little over 100k on the clock, its immaculate, but it has not been used for several years now as he had the use of company cars from the late 90's and has since gone back to driving motor bikes.

is he selling?

klaus23 · 06-06-2008 1:44am

WHITE_P wrote: »

The seats on MKII Golfs tended to wear badly, especially on the drivers seat side bolesters.

They 'generally' don't go until 100k. Mine is intact and the car is approaching 134k.[/QUOTE]

bostonB wrote:

I got rid of it because it has hard on fuel (earlier fuel injection) and it was a bit of a money pit tbh. Heater matrix, suspension, fuel pump, new discs, exhaust. Seemed like I was always doing something to it

I don't know what you're complaining about, suspension, brake discs and exhaust components are consumables and go on any car. Most imported cars don't last 10k miles on Irish roads before needing new shocks which may have been fine in the UK. The heater matrix should have been fixed/bypassed under recall during the car's life (listed in every single buyers guide for the car I've ever seen) and the problem with the fuel pump is a known one as well, the exterior one fails and then the one in the tank goes - which is expensive. Someone with model knowledge would have known by sound alone.

A healthy 8v will return 33-35mpg, and I've seen up to 42mpg on my 16v on long drives.

Good Mk2s occasionally pop up on VAGdrivers.net with just about every moving part replaced for under €5000, which is well worth the money, considering mine is going to exceed that by quite a bit when it's finished.

BostonB · 06-06-2008 2:45am

klaus23 wrote: »

....I don't know what you're complaining about, suspension, brake discs and exhaust components are consumables and go on any car. Most imported cars don't last 10k miles on Irish roads before needing new shocks which may have been fine in the UK. The heater matrix should have been fixed/bypassed under recall during the car's life (listed in every single buyers guide for the car I've ever seen) and the problem with the fuel pump is a known one as well, the exterior one fails and then the one in the tank goes - which is expensive. Someone with model knowledge would have known by sound alone.

A healthy 8v will return 33-35mpg, and I've seen up to 42mpg on my 16v on long drives.

Well they certainly seem to go on VW's anyway. Especially at this kinda mileage. So its something to bear in mind if you are buying one. The one I had Bosch K-Jetronic, (heavier on juice I believe) and at that time leaded got expensive. Also I was mainly doing city driving. Can't assume people are just doing long runs all the time. Over the years we've had a bunch of VW's and while we all liked them, you definately had to do more to them than any Jap cars we've ever had. Like I said, the Golf was still one of my favorites, despite my moaning about it. When looking at a car though you need to take a pessimists view and look at the potential costs.

Ye might be interested in this thread...
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17689394

WHITE_P · 06-06-2008 6:23pm

quarryman wrote: »

is he selling?

He's not trying, but for the right price he might.

Looking at this picture do you think this car was clocked?

Comments