Considering a GTI 8v as a daily - am I mad?

[benga]

Hi,

Be gentle - new boy in class  

I'm considering replacing my current motor with a GTI 8v.  I keep swinging from 'Wow - genius idea' to 'Are you mad?' so after I found this forum and spent most of yesterday reading it instead of working I thought would sign up and ask your collective opinions.

So - the situation is I drive about 300 miles a week, probably 3rd city, 3rd fast dual carriage way and 3rd country roads, as my daily commute so if I get a new car its got to be up to that and be reliable.   

From what I've read on the forums the 8v is the one to go for if you want economy so thats what I was thinking of.  From the figures I've seen on here I should be able to get better mpg out of a 8v than my current '98 Seat Arosa as its an auto and damn thirsty - best I ever had out of it has been 38mpg and that was driving like a saint!  Usually around 35/36mpg in normal everyday driving (there is no point in trying to go fast really - its not going to).

So it makes sense from a economy point of view and the cars don't seem to be that expensive to pick up plus I've always liked them and I real want to drive something interesting again. Thats the 'Wow - genius idea'  bit.  I've convinced my self that I wouldn't miss the aircon   and if I get one later enough it will have central locking too.

The 'Are you mad bit' is because I'd be buying a car that could possibly be 10 years older than I have now with probably more than twice the milage on it than the Arosa, plus you never know what problems you might run into with a car that age.

Any thoughts on my ramblings would be much appreciated.  Am I mad?  Or is it a genius idea with absolutely no drawbacks at all?

I realise that you lot might be a little bias

Cheers.

[slammed-gti]

hey,
i have been doing a similar trip everyday for 4 months and doing about another 150-200 miles at the weekend have not had on single problem except last night my blue sender leaked, got a new o ring so fingers crossed.
thats the great thing about the golf just pick up a new bit and onward. i replaced my 55 plate ka with the golf and boy oh boy its fantastic smiles per gallon is what its all about dude
go for itmines a 1990 8v gti

[Mr Blue]

I do about 400 miles a week in my 8v for about £45. country roads, heavy traffic and duel carriage.

The MFA reads 27mpg at its best. Thats without a fine tune and a service along with odd tyre pressures.

Be careful with vw's though. Carry a well equipt tool box on long journeys and make sure the spare tyre has air in it 

[Conker]

To cover off the fuel economy bit, you'll be wanting the 8v DIGIFANT which will get at least 40mpg, prob even better if you take it easy. Note that some 8v's are on K-Jet injection which is (IIRC) a bit faster, but worse on MPG.

As for reliability etc. I do 150 miles a week in a 16v and would thoroughly recommend it. It also sometimes does 300+ miles in a single weekend if I visit my folks in Derbyshire, and handles the journey admirably, to the point where I love the long drive! When I first got my 16v I used to stop half-way to Derbyshire to "give it a rest", but now I don't even bother doing that.

Things frequently do go wrong with an 17 year old car, ranging from silly little things like an electric window motor giving up, to big things like the head gasket. But... Even brand new cars go wrong and let you down, and to be honest I know of LOADS of people that own modern cars that have all sorts of weird electrical gremlins (because modern cars are so complicated) that even the dealership can't be bothered to trace/fix the problem.

I miss aircon but then you'll get a sunroof and windows, and hey, you'll be saving the planet.

In summary...

1) More things will go wrong, but there easier/cheaper to fix. Plus without depreciation, you'll have more money to spend on garage bills.

2) I wouldn't buy one unless you intend to do SOME of the work yourself, otherwise it would get expensive.

3) Buy one as a second car for a while and iron out the kinks/see if you like it before getting rid of your other car and being dependant on it.

[nealey]

I was doing 400miles+ a week in my 8v gti at one point, i went to my gti from a 2002 pug 106

I then knocked it down to around 200miles a week by car sharing and then i moved job and probably do around 70miles a week now, sometimes even less

Didnt really have any major problems apart from a few coolant leaks, an oil leak and a clutch cable snapping

Its not that bad really considering my car has done 170k and didnt have any service history

they are not hard to work on so get yourself some tools and a haynes manual and get stuck in

My main advice when buying a mk2 though is buy the best one you can find and afford, dont worry about mechanicals too much as that is easily sorted, buy them on the condition of the body

[golf-manic]

NO WAY
ur a sensible person as this is what i have as a daily
its had a new engine in as the original one had done 194k and still workd but abit worse for wear
im running it in and through everyday traffic and 70 is a peace of cake
i got 36mpg other day on motorway so it isnt too far off the arosa
if you buy one give it a good service and you should be fine
hope u buy one and enjoy

[jv]

On the one hand, remember that this was a fairly expensive car back in the day, generally fairly well put together, so why not?

On the other, people get used to cars 'just working'. This will be an old car. If you totally rely on it, it may well break down.

Buy in at the right price, run it for a while, worst outcome the drive makes you smile but you can't put up with it and you sell for what you paid. Not too many cars you can do that with

[spacerat]

ive got a digi and drive 15 miles each way through twistys and 2 villages, i normally manage about 28mpg, however if i take it easy i can get 42mpg on the same journey.  motorways, again looking at low 40s.

[cняis]

ok some facts:

my GTI has coverered 242,000 miles - its no spring chicken.

the engine has never been rebuilt, but i keep up with maintenance.

until recently i was commuting 50 miles a day and it never failed on me. average MPG was about 38-40 calculated off actual fuel usage, not the MFA.

over the week i was doing approx 300 to 350 miles which cost me around £50 in fuel.

perfectly good enough for daily use. 

[Goops]

I do approx 300 motorway miles a week (over the last year in my 16v) ....
MFA reads between 30 and 35 depending on how i drive