Looking to buy a Mk6 GTI

[MA1694]

Hello, as the title says I’m currently searching for a Mk6 GTI. I was after a Mk7 not too long ago but I have downgraded my budget to around £7500. So if anybody here is selling up please let me know!

Anyway, I have seen many 2009, 2010 cars for sale but I have read all about the timing chain issues and surprised to see how many owners haven’t even heard of the problem. So not willing to take the risk on them unless the price is low. Are 2011 cars also affected?

Apart from the chain, are there any other problems and common faults I should be aware of? Couple of other questions I have;
- What is MPG around town like?
- I don’t mind DSG but leaning towards manual. Is the manual gearbox easy to live with as a daily driver?
- My current car A3 Sport has crashy suspension, is the GTI a hard ride?
- What’s the factory sound system like? My A3 isn’t Bose but has a sub in the boot and it isn’t a bad system at all.
- Did most cars not come with parking sensors? Seems to be the case..

Many thanks!

[Borbus]

Read the sticky in this forum about timing chain tensioner. Loads of info in there. I think some 2011s are affected, yes.

Watch this video about buying a Mk5 (most is applicable to Mk6 as well): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKWUu0HU9UU

Watch this video about buying a Mk6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkjtW4FfDns&t=164s

Can't answer the town MPG question as I don't use mine for that very much!

The manual is fine as a daily. Clutch and gearbox easy to use. I wouldn't call them nice to use. But fine. No issues with getting into any of the gears at low temperature or anything.

I haven't got much experience with sports cars, but I would say the stock suspension is on the comfortable side of sporty. My Honda Civic Type-S I had before was way more crashy.

Factory sound system is actually pretty good. There's an upgraded one called Dynaudio, but even the standard one is pretty good. I fitted Focal speakers and a sub in my last car, but I'm not going to bother to meddle with this as it's fine. The RCD310 head unit is pretty bog standard, though. I upgraded mine to a RNS315 (~£200 on ebay). Some come with RCD500 which is better.

Parking sensors were a £435 option on the GTI but a lot of them have it. Oddly cruise control seems much rarer even though it was only a ~£230 option. But you can retrofit cruise control if you want that.

[ramrod]

i havent got parking sensors or reverse camera

[Borbus]

I don't have a reverse camera. As someone who has learnt to manoeuvre cars "the old fashioned way" I actually find the parking sensors annoying more often than not. They're always beeping when reversing into parking spaces and the like even though I can see I won't hit anything. They are useful for low objects behind and in front of the car sometimes. I wonder if I can reprogram it with OBD11 to not come on automatically but only when I hit the button..? In any case, I definitely wouldn't considers sensors or reverse camera to be a deal breaker. It's not a huge car and visibility is decent.

[MA1694]

So it seems the timing chain, inlet manifold, PCV, water pump are the main issues. Does this apply to the European engines too, as far as I know NA had a different engine code? If so, that’s some costly repairs!!

I don’t have off road parking and regularly parallel park between cars so reverse sensors are a must for me.

Don’t mind leather or cloth seats as long as they are heated! But I would say that leather makes a car feel more premium.

[ramrod]

I would get the chain reading from vagcom to get an idea of the condition & get the tensioner checked/changed for the latest revision at the very least!

I've not had any issues parking without sensors but I learnt the old school way and have been driving without additional help for 26yrs lol

[Snoopy]

Or check the top of chain cover for build date of the engine. Quite a few have had later engines fitted under warranty by vw so will have updated components.

Other issues listed as common but does not meen all cars suffer them. Probably a low percentage do.  Most that had will probably be rectified by now.

[MA1694]

Thanks for the replies so far. Searching the likes of Auto trader, Facebook marketplace every day. They are holding their value quite well, but I’m hoping I can get at least a 2010 reg for my budget. I know there are perfectly good cars with over 100k on the clock but just a mental thing for me would prefer to be below that. But we’ll see.

This would be my third PQ35 platform car, had a 2004 Mk5 1.4, currently have a 2009 A3. Obviously the interior layout, space will be mostly the same. I wonder if MQB is a big step up?