Thinking of buying a GTI - Need some advice

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:40 pm

Hey guys new to this site and this is my first post.

The car am looking at is Silver 3 door 2001 on a Y' registered 15/05/01
25574 miles full VW dealer service history and just under a years MOT. looking for Â£6500 for it.

The question i have is any reprted problems with them? i know about the alloys but what about the pedal box problem? Not sure about that and any others? And does the price sound ok?

Oh and i need to spend Â£80 for the minor 30k service too!

Regards Craig

neilw · Post by **neilw** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:43 pm

Yeh thats a good price. Im looking for one at the moment aswell. they generally go for between Â£6000 and Â£8000. Going to have a look at one this week hopefully a 51plate with 17,000 miles, its Â£8000 tho and i was hopeing to find for abit less than that.

dubpolo · Post by **dubpolo** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:17 pm

i just got mine, 51 plate, 7000 miles, full vw service history. the first one was after 1600 miles!!! there so fun to drive!

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:32 pm

Hey dub polo!

What did you pay for yours?

Anybody want to explain the pedelbox problem and what i should be looking out for?

Cheers

dubpolo · Post by **dubpolo** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:07 pm

I paid Â£7250

When you take the car for a test drive, make sure all gears slot in easily and the clutch is free and Un restricted, put it into reverse quite a few time. Do all this whilst the engine is running! If the clutch is stiff or you have problems selecting gears, get out and run away

good luck!!

Andy

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:18 pm

How expensive are thse to replace and do you know what part actually breaks? Does a new clutch cable help to prevent this?cheers

dubpolo · Post by **dubpolo** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:23 pm

Iâ€™m not initially sure

I think itâ€™s an accumulation of problems that can be solved by a gearbox alignment if sorted early!!! But im not sure

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:15 am

Thanks for that. Is thier any other issues that i should be aware of before purchasing this little motor!?

ttrd · Post by **ttrd** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:53 am

Hi.

3 months ago I bought a W plater with 29,000 on the clock for 7200. The clutch hasn't failed but was really heavy. I wasn't worried at the time because I had a mk2 golf with a heavy clutch for 8 years and over 130,000 miles without a problem. I blamed the electric throttle strategy for the really poor drivability off the line. In no time at all I was having problems changing gear, the air con failed, the ABS failed, the wiper motor failed...
The ABS failure was nasty - cutting in and releasing the brakes under gentle braking in dry conditions. It was a huge relief when the light came on and it stopped working all together. I've since heard from an ex vw waranty department man that it's another known fault on the car. I just got the car swapped for an equivalent value mk4, which I'm really impressed with, but it's a shame the GTi was such a disapointment. I hope mine was an isolated bad example.

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:40 pm

Thanks for the replt TTRD! Hopefuly it was a one of but the car comes with a 3 month warrenty so if thier is any prob then it will be getting sent back! Am purchasing the car thru my work and only seen photos of it but i get to test and check the car before i sign for it and as i say they will be happy to return the car if thier are any problem and not 100%.

Cheers

Should get it in 2-3 weeks so will post pictures!

ttrd · Post by **ttrd** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:21 am

No problem.
My mistake was wanting the car too much and just ignoring all the faults on the test drive! And I'm an automotive engineer who really aught to know better... Bear in mind that a waranty wont cover wearing parts like the clutch plates and bearings.

dubpolo · Post by **dubpolo** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 10:34 am

thereâ€™s a recall on the GTI's to fix the pedal box/ clutch/ everything else, get the person your buying it off to put it in!

ttrd · Post by **ttrd** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 11:44 am

Yeah, I got the letter. I'm sure VW will fix the pedal support but if the clutch is nackered it depends how friendly VW are going to be about it. Proving that the clutch hasn't been abused, and that the problems are all connected could be impossible. Maybe a call to VW customer care to check that they're going to stand by the associated faults is in order... 0800 711811 - Not that I've complained so many times that I know it off by heart or anything.

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 1:58 pm

Am going to phone the recal helpline and see if the recal is applicable to my car or not? Thanks for all the help. I'll get back to yous regarding the recall.Cheers

st33ly · Post by **st33ly** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 5:27 pm

I phoned VW today and my car is due for the recall! So if the clutch is buggered then at least it's getting fixed under warranty! Whoo!