Second hand VW Golf

mullercorner

Hi all,

Basically, I'm looking to buy a MK5 VW Golf preferably a 1.4 petrol (moving up from a 1 litre Polo). I've been looking a lot on adverts and donedeal and have seen a few decent looking cars which all claim to be perfect.

I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on what to look out for when viewing one? Most of the cars i've seen all have over 100'000 miles and i've heard from friends that Golfs tend to have trouble with the gearbox after 100'000 miles?

Any advice on what to look for or known problems with this model would be much appreciated!

Cheers, mullercorner

JohnBoy26

mullercorner wrote: »

Hi all,

Basically, I'm looking to buy a MK5 VW Golf preferably a 1.4 petrol (moving up from a 1 litre Polo). I've been looking a lot on adverts and donedeal and have seen a few decent looking cars which all claim to be perfect.

I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on what to look out for when viewing one? Most of the cars i've seen all have over 100'000 miles and i've heard from friends that Golfs tend to have trouble with the gearbox after 100'000 miles?

Any advice on what to look for or known problems with this model would be much appreciated!

Cheers, mullercorner

id avoid them tbh as they have a soft and underpowered engine.

gooner99

mullercorner wrote: »

Hi all,

Basically, I'm looking to buy a MK5 VW Golf preferably a 1.4 petrol (moving up from a 1 litre Polo). I've been looking a lot on adverts and donedeal and have seen a few decent looking cars which all claim to be perfect.

I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on what to look out for when viewing one? Most of the cars i've seen all have over 100'000 miles and i've heard from friends that Golfs tend to have trouble with the gearbox after 100'000 miles?

Any advice on what to look for or known problems with this model would be much appreciated!

Cheers, mullercorner

Hi can't give you advice on what to look for, as I'm not much good at that myself. But I have a 2004 mk5 1.4L from new. 133k miles on it now and no engine/gearbox bother at all, only other wear and tear items. timing belt changed on time at 60 + 120k. serviced at the recommended 10k mile intervals using the recommended 5w/30 fully synth. Keep a wee eye on the oil in between services as it does tend to burn a bit, but this is pretty normal I believe with smaller petrol engines. Could have a bit more poke, but I find it grand for what I do. Just started to monitor the fuel using an app and am getting slightly over 40mpg on mostly local runs.

mullercorner

I take it that's it's just a hefty thing then? I like the look of the golf, but would definitely like something with a little bit of poke in it.. Kinda wanna keep the engine size to a 1.4 for tax and insurance reasons.. Any recommendations?

JohnBoy26

mullercorner wrote: »

I take it that's it's just a hefty thing then? I like the look of the golf, but would definitely like something with a little bit of poke in it.. Kinda wanna keep the engine size to a 1.4 for tax and insurance reasons.. Any recommendations?

A Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla are far more reliable and have much better performance than a Golf. A Mazda 3 should also be considered, though in 1.4 form are a small bit sluggish but are still a good bit better than a 1.4 Golf and like the other cars I mentioned are highly reliable.

BGozIE

The golf is very slow in 1.4, and tbh its also over priced. What kind of money are you looking to spend?

Other cars in the same class as the golf, with that engine size (Focus, Astra etc) are all fairly slow, I think the Astra is the quickest of those 3 but also very slow in a 1.4 (I recently drove the 1.6 Astra and its no world-beater but its decent). So the cars you might be interested in (based on that class) are all fairly slow in a 1.4.

Anyway, what kind of money do you want to spend? I'm thinking you could get something alot better then a golf with 100k mils on it...

mullercorner

Was hoping to spend up to a MAX of €4000. I'm sure that should definitely pick up something pretty decent? Ideally around €3000, but a good bit of wiggle to the €4000!

I've driven the 1.4 Astra myself and its really slow I must admit, ridiculously heavy! I suppose there's no harm in looking at some 1.6 cars, I'm definitely open to the idea as I want to make this a relatively long term investment until I can afford something new (many years down the line).

Only reason I was looking at the Golf was because my little Polo has been pretty reliable the last few years, but I'm definitely willing to consider something different!

bazz26

I'd definitely look at the likes of the Mazda 3. If I was looking at this one and it was genuine I'd push the seller to NCT it:


http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/5035808

BGozIE

Very good price for the car above (presuming it passes the NCT), the only thing is I know the mazda 3 isn't every ones cup of tea look-wise.

If you do consider the 1.6 then I would suggest the Astra or the Focus. Widely I think the focus is better regarded, but I prefer the Astra's looks and its far from an unreliable car. Im sure a quick look on done deal will find a nice 1.6 in either for your money

mullercorner

Thanks BGozIE! Appreciate the input! I'll definitely have a look at some different models now! and I personally I dont think the mazda is that bad looks wise! Seems like a good deal on the above!

djPSB

Thinking of buying a 1.4 golf myself.

Have a budget of about €10,000.

I was hoping to a 1.9 diesel but they are way overpriced compared to the 1.4 petrol. The 1.9 would drive my insurance alot higher too which makes the 1.4 a more economical choice.

Views on the cars below appreciated.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/1.4-COMF/35813686310167890/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/COMFORT/36313691284389150/advert?channel=CARS

djPSB

OSI wrote: »

I wouldn't pay half the asking for either of them.

what would you recommend?

veetwin

The 122bhp TSI is nice. Low tax and better on fuel than the standard 1.4. Check with the insurance co first though.


http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/5121500

This one might be good if it got a proper clean.

sebastianlieken

djPSB wrote: »

Thinking of buying a 1.4 golf myself.

Have a budget of about €10,000.

I was hoping to a 1.9 diesel but they are way overpriced compared to the 1.4 petrol. The 1.9 would drive my insurance alot higher too which makes the 1.4 a more economical choice.

Views on the cars below appreciated.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/1.4-COMF/35813686310167890/advert?channel=CARS

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/COMFORT/36313691284389150/advert?channel=CARS

I recently (sept. last year) bought my 2008 1.6fsi with 64000 miles for £4900

Issue's I've had were:
both front spring coils, the pigtail ends had corroded and broke - (grinding noise when turning at slow speeds)
front wheel bearing went - (noticable vibration and noise above ~55mph)
rear top mount LED brake light went - simple DIY fix involving a calculator cover to remove it, and a piece of wire to fix it

coolisin

Depending on your age insurance won't matter as much as you might think coming up in engine size.

Since I own a Mazda 3 1.4 as a gutless car it's fine. Very reliable.
The middle spec one is better think its called the comfort, the seats will be black not grey, and will have air con.

Have you thought about a seat Leon either?