Advice please

hawker

I only know a small bit about cars and I was looking for advice from someone on this baord.

For the last couple of months I have been looking for a big sized family car. I have just about decided that I want to go for a Passat 1.9tdi 100bhp base model. It is a 03 with 17k on the clock and they are looking for e20,000. I am considering travelling to look at this car tommorrow.

Has anybody any experience of driving the above? Am i right in saying that it does around 45mpg? Do I get aircon and cd player on this model?

Any help please?

Hawker

Kermitt

My father has a 04 base passat tdi with the 100bhp engine which i drive anytime i'm trailer towing (My golf has no towbar). I've found it a lovely car to drive, though if buying 2nd hand get a comfortline if possible. Seats in base are not the best and equipment is sparse (front e/w, cd, climatronic and thats it). Great power in the engine though and a fantastc motorway muncher. Ours regularly gets 45-50mpg (depending on driving) Watch out for back box wear (its a fault on these) and make sure it has a full service history. Otherwise the passat is hard to beat.

unkel

Sound car, can't really go wrong

Having said that, that price for the old model base is very steep unless you can get if for a lot cheaper than €20k. A brand new model '06 105BHP TDI lists for €29,660, so yours for about €28k cash. After 3 years you'll get about €18k back, so €10k depreciation. The other one will not get you €10k after another 3 years so depreciation on the new model is less!

Who wouldn't want to drive a brand new car for the price of a 3 year old*

*Put a bit simplisticly. You'd need to be able to find the additional €8k and perhaps pay interest over it. Then again, it's under 2 year full warranty

caesar

Yeah €20000 seems a bit much even if the mileage is low. My father just bought one about 3 weeks ago for €13900. It's a 2002 TDI 100bhp base model with 51k on the clock, fvwsh, serviced every 9k mls and tyres put on recently enough. The base model has't got much but my father wouldn't use a cd player and no rear electric windows isn't really a big deal for him. The seats seem fine and the car was a bargain tbh. He bought it private, got a mechanic to check it, haggled and got it down from €14875 to €14000. He payed by cheque and left the car to the seller for a week incase he needed it and so the guy could make sure the cheque cleared. The guy dropped the car down to us with the spare key,the service history and €100 in an envelope in the car for good luck. There are still decent people left in this country and good bargains to be had

bazz26

hawker wrote:

I only know a small bit about cars and I was looking for advice from someone on this baord.

For the last couple of months I have been looking for a big sized family car. I have just about decided that I want to go for a Passat 1.9tdi 100bhp base model. It is a 03 with 17k on the clock and they are looking for e20,000. I am considering travelling to look at this car tommorrow.

Has anybody any experience of driving the above? Am i right in saying that it does around 45mpg? Do I get aircon and cd player on this model?

Any help please?

Hawker

Only 17k miles on a 03 Passat Tdi seems very unusual to me. Usually because diesels command a premium over the petrol version these cars are bought to be used. I would have that mileage checked. €20k is also very expensive for the baseline 100bhp, would expect to be paying close to €18,500 for that car if the mileage is genuine. I have seen a nice 2004 Comfortline Tdi going for €22k.

colm_mcm

20 grand is a bit steep, old type Passats aren't as sought after as they were 3 to 4 years ago

hawker

Thanks for all the help guys. I thought it was a reasonable enough deal so it shows how much I know. Would the fact that it's a VW dealer not mean the mileage is genuine?

The fact that I'll be trading in means I'll get less of a deal. I am trying to sell my own privately but alas no one seems to want it. I'm not inclined to go over 20k as I can't really afford it at the moment. BTW I'm driving an 04 Mits Lancer with 35k on the clock.

I have been checking out websites for 03 Passats and they all seem to be round the 20k mark and with the small mileage on the one I was looking at it seemed like a fair enough deal. That depends on what i'll get for my own too. I reckon the most I'll get is 12.5k. Am I being realistic?

unkel

hawker wrote:

I have been checking out websites for 03 Passats and they all seem to be round the 20k mark and with the small mileage on the one I was looking at it seemed like a fair enough deal

They might "seem to be round the 20k mark". Don't be a fool ready to be ripped off. That's just the asking price and in La-La-Land they are too. Did you contemplate my suggestion at all?

bazz26 wrote:

Only 17k miles on a 03 Passat Tdi seems very unusual to me

Yeah very unusual is right, but it's probably genuine. Needs checking out though, I agree

hawker

unkel wrote:

They might "seem to be round the 20k mark". Don't be a fool ready to be ripped off. That's just the asking price and in La-La-Land they are too. Did you contemplate my suggestion at all?



Yeah very unusual is right, but it's probably genuine. Needs checking out though, I agree

Sorry Unkel but I was away all weekend. TBH I can't really afford to buy new at the moment. Well I would probably contemplate buying new however her indoors is not keen on that idea. I'm going to keep looking and I'm not going to rush into anything

ninty9er

Have you tried Carzone.ie, you could find a way better deal than that. Even if the mileage is genuine on that one you saw, going up to 70-80k miles wouldn't hurt,those things go forever, (that's only running the engine in) maybe not as long as a Toyota, but a VW is certainly sturdy option, a Skoda Octavia would be another option or a Seat Toledo, They're practically the same car.

The Toledo is the fun option, but have you considered an Avensis, Mazda 6, Mondeo, or Volvo S40/V40( SE Spec gives leather etc) and they.re a steal second- hand.