what to look for

[lee]

:-/hello im about to buy another mk2 16v gti what sort of things should i be looking for. The one ive seen has 45000 on the clock with every thing to back this up what do u think. Im very new to golfs u see.

[ows]

erm check state of engine, smoke (blue n black) interior condition, play and wear in suspension, rust in door sills stuff along that line

Take a test drive and see if the engines bogging down, get a feel...

Cheers

Ows

[Jon16]

Also get it started from cold to see any oil burning and dodgy itle characteristics.  Check the gear linkage, any spring left on reverse (or will it go straight in accidently when you try 1st).  Any syncro on 2nd?  Look for accident damage (dodgy panel alignment, rough paintwork, no manufacturer stickers on panels)  

[jv]

only 45k miles?  

do a HPI/Carwatch/AA Data check type thing. Always worth it I reckon...

jv

[Jon16]

definitely do the carwatch (?9.99) search, I recently walked away from a near mint (but once written off) Oak Green 16v....  Such a low milleage would worry me unless the car has extensive history to prove it was on the road since 1989 or whenever it was built (not being rebuilt) i.e. old MOTs, tax discs etc (some dodgy people have managed to avoid have accident damaged cars recorded as such)...  
If it's legit, the owners of these timewarp cars know their value in 99% of cases and will optimistically price them up to ?4500!  Strictly for those who will garage them and insure them on agreed value classic insurance.

[lee]

Thanks everyone, good advice, the car has every MOT cert from 3 years old and lots of service receipts. The book is stamped up to date as well (VAG).


 

[Jon16]

Being nosy now, how much are you paying?  Don't worry I'm out of the market having recently bought one too  

[lee]

Hello mate
Bought it today after doing a carwatch check as recommended. The bloke wanted ?3000 but managed to get him down to ?2500 after some haggling.
Do you think this is too much? The car's pretty clean, and has all the factory fitted options.

You say I shouldn't use unleaded on an unmodified 16v, can't I just adjust the timing to retard it a bit?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers

Lee

[Jon16]

If the car is as good as you say and the mileage is genuine then ?2.5k sounds like a good deal.  I paid ?1900 for a beautiful and very (obsessively) maintained G-reg recently but with 133k.  I'm not an expert on the 95 octane unleaded situation, but am fairly sure there is more to it that simply retarding the timing. Seems like a false economy, significantly blunting performance and perhaps risking the slightly sensitive k-jettronic mechanical fuel injection to save a few pence per litre on fuel.

I think these guys at Tim Stiles claim to be experts, but will want to sell you a ?500 K-star...
http://www.tsr-performance.com

[relli]

sorry lee ive read the same - you cant retard the timing on 16v models. (or you may be able to with a loss of power??)

it will run on 95oct but not too well - loss in power and lower fuel consumption will occur i belive. adding 98 octane will make the car run as it should and give you better fuel consumption and will offset the extra cost of petrol. most garages i have been to that actually sell 98 oct dont sell it for much more than 95 oct anyway, about 1-2p/litre more.

or you could add that redx additive stuff, but this tends to be more expensive than the 98 oct petrol in the long run.