Golf GTI

sparrow3

Hi All,

Really need some advice and would appreciate anyone's input.

I am going to try sell my car which is a 2000 Volkswagon GTI 1.8 petrol.

From looking on carzone and autotrader, it appears others are trying to sell 2000 GTI's for approx €2000. However, these cars are in good condition.

My problem is that it needs some work and i do not know whether i should invest the money in getting it done up or just try and sell it for less as is.

In particular, the work needed include:

• The car's NCT is out of date
• The passanger door will not open from the inside
• It has not been serviced in 2 years
• The windscreen washer tubes need to be replaced
• There is a little bit of rust under the right passanger window
• There is some scratch marks on the roof and along the side above the rear right wheel

My worry is that by the time i get the car fixed, the cost will almost equal the value of the car and then i might not be able to even sell the car

Would love people's opinion and thanks to all those who reply

sparrow3

sparrow3 wrote: »

.........
I am going to try sell my car which is a 2000 Volkswagon GTI 1.8 petrol.

..........It has not been serviced in 2 years..........

Please do not hide that detail from any potential buyer as those 1.8 turbo engines are prone to catastrophic failure when not treated to very regular oil changes. Best to sell as is and be honest, hope to see €1200/€1000 ish.

andyseadog

thats the car game.

cars in poor condition are worth less than cars in good condition, and when the times comes to sell your losing out on all that money you saved on not maintaining it.

as James says, your best bet is to stick it up at around 1250 and see what happens.

Matt Simis

Change the Oil, Oil filter and Air Intake filter now.

bazz26

Hope you take no offence OP but that car would not appeal to me at any price. Best of luck selling it though.

C4Kid

Just wondering, what kind of MPG do You get out of it ?

I get about 40 in the 1.4, it's unfortunate that petrol is going so high while You are selling it, that won't help with attracting buyers either:(

I'd sell it as is even if it means less then You'd hoped for. Hopefully You won't be too long shifting it, as I read last night on Parkers you'll always find a buyer for any Golf, no matter how knackered or untidy.

tweedledee

spend a few quid on the basics and wash it.Make sure its spotless clean.Most people buy on what they see so spend a few hrs polishing it and clean the visable engine parts,U'd be surprised how little people know about cars.

MetzgerMeister

tweedledee wrote: »

spend a few quid on the basics and wash it.Make sure its spotless clean.Most people buy on what they see so spend a few hrs polishing it and clean the visable engine parts,U'd be surprised how little people know about cars.

I agree with the polishing part of this post. I don't agree on the "how little people know" part. I feel the OP is doing his/her best to be honest about the car and doesn't want to have the buyer end up in a money pit.

OP - With regard to the items you mentioned, here's what I think you should do if you are willing:

Passenger door - this problem could be due to the release cable having become disconnected from the handle. You could fix this yourself by taking off the door card and having a look at it.

Service - buy a set of plugs, oil filter, air filter and oil and DIY. It's not a hard task Also, check all the levels i.e. coolant, brake fluid etc. Check the brake pads too to see if they're ok. I'm not too educated on turbo servicing but I'm sure there's someone on here might be!

Washer tubes - order these from a VW dealer or search www.partfinder.ie. When you get them, just following the original ones and replace them yourself.

Rust - This is something you might be better off just leaving. It requires professional attention and even then it might not be the end of it.

Scratch marks - If the scratches are not so bad that you can run your nail (gently) across them and not have it catch, you can use TurtleWax SafeCut or something similar and get them out.

Apart from that, as was said already, make sure the car is spotless inside and out. A wash, wax and little elbow grease go a long way!

nogoodnamesleft

+1 on servicing the car now. Its well overdue at this stage. Im assuming the service interval on this particular car is around 6000 miles?


Plenty of DIY fourms for self servicing for GTI golfs:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?1835863-***-The-MKIV-How-To-FAQ-and-Do-It-Yourself-Guide-Please-consult-before-posting***

As for the windscreen washers I used have an older (2001) VW with 144,000 miles on it with a similar problem. There should have been a plastic gauze filter on the water reservoir.Without this fine debris can enter the system. What I did was disconnect the tubing at a few locations and used an air hose to blow through the system to clear it. It worked a charm and it didnt cost me a cent!