is 200k's too much?

[benjoman]

Good evening all,

I've tried to scourge the internet for info on buying a mk5 Golf GT Sport TDI, the one I'm looking at is nearing 200,000kms


I was wondering what things should I be looking out for before buying the car? I know these TDI's were the ones with the injector problems and DPF, anything else I should be looking at? I have never owned a diesel before so I was thinking either I get the nicer looking GT Sport or go for a lower km Mk5 TDI


Thanks,
Ben

[Transporter]

The DPF may be towards the end of its life though.
Is it manual or DSG?

[benjoman]

It's a manual, I'm going to check out the car this weekend to see if the injectors have been sorted out as well if the DPF has been changed

[stormshark]

It's a manual, I'm going to check out the car this weekend to see if the injectors have been sorted out as well if the DPF has been changed

Mines got 190k s on it ,its always had diesel inj and DPF additives, plus service "flushes" and egr cleaned, top grade oils, coolant flushes etc. Highway km's etc. Its running better than ever. Your injectors will have been replaced circa 130km if like mine in recall. I would feel quite confident if I was to sell, the car would do a minimum 60k more without any real dramas. If the price is right and servicing has been done above the minimum, per above, I wouldn't be too concerned. There's a guy on here has about 300k up with no dramas.

[ian]

What's the price their asking ?

[benjoman]

The dealer has advertised 10k negotiable, I'm really keen on the TDI, I hope that the inspection goes well, what sort of price can I get this down to?

[Transporter]

Even if the red book value was higher I wouldn't pay more than $8,000 for it and it would have to be in tiptop condition. Simply because of the life of the car was exceeded, at least in my books. The one could spend easy another $10,000 for the repairs soon enough after the purchase. Also see it as the $10,000 asking price is at least 2 years of the repayments on an equivalent brand new car, plus you'd get the warranty and a new car smell with it.

[brad]

Agree with Transporter. When you buy a used car you are paying for the unused mileage left on the vehicle. Keep looking or buy a GTI

[benjoman]

Thanks all for your help, I might settle for a lower k's Mk4 GTI or a Mk5 TDI with lower k's, I'll be buying next week

[brad]

This car

http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/f23/polo-gti-9n-clean-stock-example-mature-owner-98664.html

I'd also highly recommend you check out the 1.8L Octavia - I average 6.7L/100 & bought it instead of a diesel. For <$10k you'll get a good example with < 150,000km & they have a timing chain, so no belt to worry about. Something like this
I had a Mk4 Cabrio before the Skoda & the Skoda craps all over it.

You'll even get a vRS for that money

[poyta]

Thats not too bad mileage for a diesel and the price seems very good to be honest. If well looked after you'd probably get a good 100,000kms more which seems like good value for 10k , so long as you don't have to spend more on repairs. Like mentioned check that the injectors have been replaced but my biggest concern would be if it still has the original DPF. Mine is seriously filled and I've only done about 80,000kms - granted its city driving but at 200,000kms it would be reaching the end of its life and its seriously expensive to replace. EGR would have to have been cleaned a number of times by now too. I cleaned mine at about 40,000kms and it was bad!
As much as I love my GT if I were in your place I'd probably opt for a non DPF equipped TDI.

[Transporter]

Well, long are gone the times when we used to say that the diesel engine is just run in when it clocked over 100,000km and you're right they should last well over 200,000km. But..........the accessories and the modern fuel system components won't, and it will be an uneconomical to repair it.

Today's cars just aren't made as solid as the cars made decade(s) ago, and if the first owner didn't take a very good care of it, even cosmetically, ...they look terrible some 3-5 years or so later.

[Ryeman]

Well, long are gone the times when we used to say that the diesel engine is just run in when it clocked over 100,000km and you're right they should last well over 200,000km. But..........the accessories and the modern fuel system components won't, and it will be an uneconomical to repair it.

Today's cars just aren't made as solid as the cars made decade(s) ago, and if the first owner didn't take a very good care of it, even cosmetically, ...they look terrible some 3-5 years or so later.

So true!
change is happening so fast it's uneconomic for any manufacturer to build for long life as a priority as the public are overwhelmed with choice and not into brand loyalty.
eg the 2016 Nissan Leaf will have a range of ~300km and fuel cell cars are approaching production.
so much serious choice......
as a manufacturer, what to gear up for?

[Mysticality]

Remove dpf, tune to stage two, problem solved.

My vRS has something like 197,800km on it right now. MY12 model, plenty of life left.

[Greg Roles]

The DPF is the killer. How peeps are approaching 200k without having washed it out or replaced it amazes me, mine died at 120k, but is only now half full at 195k on a max soot tune, my washout has been quite a success.

My car is running better than ever at 200kms, and I see no need to change it anytime soon. EGR / oil blowby buildup is the other killer with modern diesels, clean that out and things are generally fine. I recently did a rough buildup clean on a mates 3.0 A5 TDI and he thought I had tuned it, went so well.

The new PD170 injectors are warrantied for a further 7 years, and all cars should have been done by now. I have heard of zero failures to date on the replacements, but for sure it will happen eventually.

All this said a tune on a 103 puts it bloody close to a 125 tuned, the difference in a straight line is pretty small really.

A lot of other improvements in the GT over a 103 TDI, but yeah the DPF and gunk buildup in high mileage diesels is always the concern.