This is slightly drifting from the original topic, but I’d like to pick the brains of this forum as to how best to spot a decent Mk5 or Mk6 given that, inevitably, there’s a lot of bad ones around, but any car over 10 years old is going to need money spent on it. I’ve watched some good YouTube vids illustrating the common faults however I am no mechanic really and don’t think I’m sufficiently qualified to spot a lot of the faults that would require expensive work.
A bit of background, most of my life I’ve stuck to buying new or nearly-new as I needed to rely on my car and felt this was the safest bet. However having recently retired I feel I can afford to look for something older (and cheaper) knowing that I’ve got the time to fix things that need doing. Just before COVID I dipped my toe in the water for the 1st time by buying a 2004 Audi A2 (don’t laugh) with almost 150k on the clock for £2k as a runaround. It’s worked out quite well since though it’s needed quite a lot of maintenance work there’s a very loyal and supportive owners club that has been an invaluable resource - l bought the car through the owners club - and it tends not to be the kind of car that people thrash. But now I’d like to spend a bit more on something more exciting which is why I’m here. I think my budget (£12k) should get me a decent Mk6, or leave me with change if I got an exceptional Mk5. However having narrowly dodged a bullet last week, with an £11k Mk6 for which the engineer’s report suggested it was likely to be a money pit, I’m now wondering where to go from here.
Naturally I always look for the obvious things like full service history, not too many owners, a tidy MOT history, and glean what I can from how well the ad is written and how well the car is presented, a bulging book of invoices is rare but a nice bonus. I also try to do a bit of homework on the dealer’s reputation however online reviews can often be misleading, though I’d never rule out a private sale either. The trouble is that my recent experience shows that this isn’t enough, I thought I’d found a decent car last week however my RAC inspection (which cost almost £300) proved me wrong. I can’t realistically afford to blow that amount on every possible car I look at until I find a good one, so what suggestions do people have from their own experience? Unfortunately I don’t have a good mate who’s a mechanic who I could take with me who’d spot the things I’d miss. Would it generally better value to try and get the car inspected at a local garage (VAG specialist preferably) prior to purchase?
Sorry this is a bit of a ramble but I’m genuinely in a bit of a quandary and your answers might help others in a similar position.
