Want to buy a Golf GTi mkv. Any advise?

LittleLebowski

Looking for a Nice GTi. No DSG as I hear they are very expensive to fix if you have problems. I have a max of €6000 and am hoping to get something in the 60k miles/100k km mileage but would consider higher. There is alot out the with about 150000 km on the clock. Anyone think this is too high or is it still a good buy at that mileage? Is it still worth looking in the UK as I hear thats not as cheap as it used to be.
Any advise appreciated!

bazz26

Do a search of this forum, there are plenty of similar threads that pop up around here frequently.

ION08

Good luck getting a mk5 GTI with max 60k miles for 6 grand.

My advise is be more realistic with expectation or increase your budget!

bazz26

I never understood this magical maximum mileage limitation that some people have in their head when buying a car. It really doesn't make any sense. Each car should be judged on condition and service history as well as mileage.

€6k will probably get you a 05 GTi which is now nearly 9 years old, even with only average driving it would have probably 90k/100k miles on it at this stage. Either the OP needs a more realistic mileage expectation or needs to up the budget imo.

veetwin

OP cannot afford a GTI. Either up your budget or buy something else. Unless there is a 6k GTI out there that's been clocked...

LittleLebowski

Well I did say I would consider 150000km which is about90k miles or so. I have seen a few GTI's for €6kwiththat mileage so it is possible. What i was wondering is if you could still expect to get a decent car with some life left in it and does anyone know how much life?

OREGATO

LittleLebowski wrote: »

Well I did say I would consider 150000km which is about90k miles or so. I have seen a few GTI's for €6kwiththat mileage so it is possible. What i was wondering is if you could still expect to get a decent car with some life left in it and does anyone know how much life?

Every car will be different as it will depend on the previous owners. Some may be cared for, others may be rough around the edges.

I was looking for the same car a few months back, though a dsg and with a much larger budget but I didn't find any that ticked my box.

A lot of these are badly specced. Not even air con or climate control. They tend to be reliable enough from the research I did, just look out for usual rust.

I'd say up your budget a little and give yourself more choice.

bazz26

bazz26 wrote: »

I never understood this magical maximum mileage limitation that some people have in their head when buying a car. It really doesn't make any sense. Each car should be judged on condition and service history as well as mileage.

Regardless of what some people say a good lower mileage car is always going to be better than a good higher mileage car there is no doubt about that.

The car I had previous to my current one I bought with nearly 100k miles, it was in good condition and gave no trouble for a while but it was never as "tight" as a lower mileage car and body condition or interior were never as good. Then it started getting loads of niggly problem and then some major ones in the end with 140k miles I needed up getting almost nothing for it having paid well for it a few years previously.

I made a decision then to never buy a high mileage car again so I held out when buying my current car (a mk5 GTI as it happens) and found a really tidy one with only 71k kms/42k miles. It's a 2006 one and after almost two years it's just reaching 100k kms/60k miles now. It's so tight and you just know it doesn't have miles on it from the seats to the switch gear etc. it's also worth very near to what I paid for it still.

My advise to the op would be try to find a reasonably low miles example, personally 100k kms/60k miles is as high as I will go when buying a car in future, though you would have to up the budget a fair bit for a low mile GTI.

The main things to watch for on the GTI would be the cam follower which if it hasn't been changed, get it changed (mine was showing some wear at my low mileage and has been changed), the diverter valve goes in all the early mk5's and will result in a loss of power so if it hasn't been done it will probably have to be. Both of these are not expensive to get done.

Also the timing belt should be done on one now regardless of mileage so watch for this as if it hasn't been done you should really do it straight away also for peace of mind. Over all they are a fantastic car and very reliable if you look after it.

LittleLebowski

Well it looks like I'm goin to have to play the long game and be patient. At least that will give me time to up my budget a bit. Thanks for all the advise.

Homer

I currently have a 08 MkV with 78,000km on it for sale and was looking for 12k which was pretty much the cheapest based on carzone prices! Have seen one online for a shade under 10k with 160,000km on it but even that is a long way off your budgeted price.

Supergurrier

They still go for mad money tbh and a rough one looks very very ordinary.

The dsg transmission is very impressive however so I wouldn't rule it out by any means if you are set on one.

LittleLebowski

You can pick them up for between 6-7k. 2005 with 150 000km. Just think the mileage is a bit high. Need to keep saving.

Today I saw one with 82k miles goin for €4550. Looked to good to be true.
It was. Did a motor history check online. Odometer readings all over the place. Clearly clocked. With 4 owners in a year all selling on the car within 3 months. Was nearly goin out the door to view it. Dodged a bullet there!

ION08

Red one on donedeal?

To be fair, you didnt need a motor history check to set alarm bells ringing. I mean come on, its a mk5 gti with 82k miles for €4550 :rolleyes: and it has been up for the past 5 days.

A bit if common sense goes a long way

LittleLebowski

ION08 wrote: »

Red one on donedeal?

To be fair, you didnt need a motor history check to set alarm bells ringing. I mean come on, its a mk5 gti with 82k miles for €4550 :rolleyes: and it has been up for the past 5 days.

A bit if common sense goes a long way

I rang him and he said his bro went away and needed the car gone. It would have drove me mad if I didnt at least check it out.:o

LittleLebowski

Plus I seen it striaght away and thought it would be gone fast. Better safe than sorry.