Thinking of a MK3

[steviem]

Hi,

I'm thinking of going away from my incredibly unreliable mk2 GTI to a mk3 2.0 8v GTI. The insurance difference for me is £18, bit of a bargain, eh!

So apologies for calling the mk3 a boat, etc..

I'm going to have a look at the one in Walthamstow (its in the cars for sale section 'Cheap MK 3Golf GTI only £600')

It looks quite sound, but just would like your advice for anything to look out for.

[steviem]

no worries, although i was being proper lazy just now, as there are a couple of ickle threads on here, but any other guides you can find would be great!

[monkeyalan]

at that price the obvious things really .
Signs of accident damage/repair, blue smoke on start up.
check the abs light comes on then goes out after about 10 seconds.
get it HPI'd too. it's only £40 and seeing as there no service history it's probably worth it to be safe.
the seats aren't recaro either, just standart gti sports seats.
you'll be needing a new glovebox handle by the looks of things too.
I think you'll need a new windscreen to get through the MOT as he says it's cracked.
TBH it looks a bit of  a dog, i'd spend a bit more on a better one. you may end up with more trouble than you started with.

[BigDaveC]

I'm sorry, but anyone willing to give their Dub away for that money is not an enthuiast or there is something majorly wrong with it.

[steviem]

Yeah, I'm gonna have a looksee at it, and I'll do an hpi on it but if anythings majorly wrong or dodgy with it, it'll be a no...

it looks like he only signed up to shift his car, so doubt hes an enthusiast.

at the end of the day, its only a 10 minute drive from mine, so it'd be rude not to have a look...

oh yeah, how does handling compare with a mk2?

[BigDaveC]

like a boat !
Lower it though, and it's just as good ! (IMO)

[monkeyalan]

yeah , the mk3 never gonna be a nimble as a mk2. you can make em pretty decent with a bit of work tho. you'll feel a hell of a lot safer in it anyway.

[vwagain]

Glad you've seen the light mate Only joking pal

It sounds like its worth looking at it just to see all that can go wrong with em

The gearbox's are known to be a little fragile, mines on its second and this one has started to leak :sad:  Also rust on the sills can be a problem especially on early ones!!!!!  Mine recently failed on rusty sills were some twit had jacked the car up with a trolley jack on the sill lip both sides and crushed the sills over letting the rot set in 

The 2.0l AGG lump is solid as a rock and can do many trouble free miles if serviced regularly. 

I agree though, spend a bit more and you will find a gem among the nasty ones.  Apart from the rust and leaky gbox(only a seal so im told) mine has been spot and i only paid around £1300 for it and its a 96 with private plate, air con ,lecy roof and windows, abs, airbag, pearlescent paint, lowered boge sussy,etc,etc.

Stu

[steviem]

So do you think a bilge pump would help with any leakage?

[vwagain]

So do you think a bilge pump would help with any leakage?

 

Stu