Should I buy a Mk3 or Mk4?

[RyanM]

Hi,
Never owned a GTI before, but quite fancy one now that I can afford the insurance.

I work in London, so do about 500 miles each week (about 300 miles motorway). I've got up to 2k to spend and can get some tidy examples of either model for this money.

Considering the mileage I do, would I be mental to go for a Mk3? I prefer the look of them, but don't fancy putting up with unreliability - will this be an issue?

Also, will my fuel bill cripple me? I currently spend about £40/week on petrol, will a GTI be much worse?

As I'm a total mewbie, any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks/

[Wayne]

I would save up a bit more and get a mk4 TDI.

[FlySpeck]

the mk3 reliability issue is a combination of age and maintenance. I like the mk3 looks too but whether one is more reliable than the other is questionable, especially in the mechanical area, since corrosion should be less or non existent in the mk4.

A badly maintained mk4 will be as much of a pig as a badly maintained mk3 etc.

As for fuel, the official figures are around 25 - 30 mpg for most gti's whatever the year afaik mate, sensible driving will see consistant 30-31 and planting the right foot will bring you into 22-25mpg land.....the choice is yours LOL

Look at service history, and general condition overall. Mileage is to be noted, but not taken too literally if the car has had parts replaced as needed, what you are trying to avoid really is a car where lots of bits are nearing the end of their life and picking up the bill, so recent receipts for parts like timing belts, brakes, clutches, mafs, exhausts etc all show the car has been getting fixed when needed and you will have less problems later.

And yeah, the GT TDi is probably the better bet.

[dom]

Also, will my fuel bill cripple me? I currently spend about £40/week on petrol, will a GTI be much worse?

My overall average is 32mpg and thats pretty much just sensible A-road driving, assume yours will be a little higher because of the motorway driving. However even if you average 35mpg, over 500 miles thats going to cost you around £70 depending on the price of petrol. Out of interest what do you drive at the moment?

[justalex81]

my 16v mk3 was hitting 45mpg doing 70mph yesterday. as long as you don't boot it you can get good mpg.

[tweed]

I wouldn't buy a gti if I drove that many miles. Or I would have two cars. smart car for work, gti for weekend 

[christomk3gti]

+1 on saving abit more for a mk4 GT TDI.

I love my mk3 and wouldnt part with it, unless it really let me down. a mk4 would then be on the cards, or an Audi...

[jpgti]

tdi mk4 everytime with that milage. unless money is not an issue

[RyanM]

Currently driving a borrowed ford ka (which is hateful, but free). I was probably being a bit optimistic when I said that I spend £40 each week on petrol, perhaps closer to £55 looking at bank statements.

A big attraction for the mk3 is that I can insure it as a classic which is much cheaper. A mk4 TDI as clean as some of the mk3 GTI's I've seen is about 4-5k as opposed to £2k for the GTI.

I have seen a few mk3 GTI's going up and down the M40, which makes me quite confident about their reliability, but looking on this forum leads me to think I'll be in the garage every weekend?

I'm looking at a £1800 mk3 GTI with FSH and 70k on the clock and 2 owners. It's got loads of history and hasn't got a spot of rust, but I had a mk3 polo once and I spent loads maintaining it, can't be bothered with any of that business anymore.

There's some surprisingly cheap, unmolesterd ones on Autotrader!

[FlySpeck]

yeah, but I change my cars a lot, as I was in the business of buying one or 2 at a time, anything sporty, and fixing them up, driving them while i did so and I must say no make is immune to the kind of faults on here.

Toyota, Mazda, Vauxhall, Merc, BMW (very sheeite), Nissan, Ive had them all over the last 5 years and had faults like mafs, sensors, o2 etc on them all at one time or another. I have to say the jap motors are a wee bit less troublesome but the parts prices are hideous compared to vag stuff.

Example of a recent one:
Honda civic wheel bearing - £109
Golf one - £15

No contest, cos both will need them sooner or later....


But, I have to say that VW have a rep for reliability that is not wholly deserved in my opinion, with as many faults as the rest. Electronic gremlins haunt electrical parts on all makes and models, thats the problem, as the car became infested with emmission control gubbins, and much as I love my electronics, (its my job) I know an electronic part will fail way before a mechanical one, and mechanical faults are easy to find, harder to fix, electrical ones are the other way round unfortunately.

Get a diesel MK3, chip it, and enjoy good reliability and excellent mileage, with enough grunt to keep you happy. No point in a fast powerful car that you drive like miss daisy to save fuel! I get 25mpg on average wi the VR but if I wanted 55mpg id get a tdi...