Looking at a Golf Cabriolet to buy

[dylan8]

Hi guys,

Have been looking around for a bit of a project car and a black Golf Cabriolet turned up for sale around town. Has 180,000km on the clock, looked pretty good condition for something its age, had the odd mark where a trolley or something had been put in to the bumper, roof looked ok from a quick inspection, interior also looked ok from through the window. I'm going to contact them and see if i can have a closer look/drive, and then take it to my mechanic to look at if it still seems ok to me.

Any advice on what i should be looking for would be awesome.

Cheers, Dylan.

[dylan8]

May have been a stupid question after even further research haha.

Pics of the beast. I have done a dodgy and covered the price, id like to know what price you guys think?






My pics through the glass had more reflection then originally thought so no point in posting them.

[Brisben]

Nice, I wanted a black one but very very hard to find..

[Golf Loon]

Looks Tidy mate, I`d check the roof is not ripped and goes up and down.
Engine, I`d check that it starts cold ok and idles well. It should go pretty well, they are zippy. If you have massive vibration at idle, its probably engine mounts. Check for rust and accident damage. thats it.

[kavlfc]

If you click on the link on my signature there's a guide to what to look out for when buying a cabby on the right hand side of the home page. Hope this helps.
Regards
Chris

[dylan8]

Thanks for the help guys.

Ill go have a look as soon as i can, if i don't get it ill get some details encase anyone on here is keen.

[dylan8]

So i went and sussed out the cabby.

Interior was great as far as i can tell (id say better then mine when i got it!) except for the carpet on the passengers side had been pulled away from the door sill, didn't look torn but i forgot to go back and check if it would just need re fixing down as it was getting dark.

Engine sounded good, (again quieter then my car i think?) seemed to be to many cables/lines running everywhere compared to other MK1 engine bays iv seen on here so I'm going to look into that.

May have been a hole in the exhaust? but then again the exhaust looked to new and big compared to others iv seen, so thinking it may be after market/off different car.

Roof was in amazing condition compared to what i was excepting at closer viewing, there was 1 or 2 nicks above the drivers door in the bottom of the roof trim

Other then the bumps in the pics, 1 or 2 smaller panel dints etc, the paint was awesome! there was a dint in the quater panel i didnt see, but dad thinks it would be a hard 1 to get out, no damaged paint or anything shocking though

started the engine from almost cold start (obviously had been driven a few meters from the garage to there drive way). The guy said i had to give it a little when i started, a small touch of the accelerator and she fired up fine. no smoke etc, no oil leaks (where its been parked for the past yr or so under a tarp in a garage), oil came out as clean looking as you would put it in.

the electric roof didn't work... i didn't try it but the owner said he can here the motor going, and then can manually put it down.

He said it was a 1.6lt? but i thought they were 1.8s?

tyres look great, (forgot to check the wheels but they didn't jump out at me so cant have been to bad) the drivers front tyre on the inside had a little bit more wear then the rest but barely noticeable.

original tape deck hooked up to a CD stacker in the boot , didnt try the stereo, but id probably replace that anyways if i got it.

he said there is a noise from the passenger wheel at the start of driving, then goes away as the car heats up (he seemed to think a bearing?)

Before living here, the car was originally in NSW, so someone may know it.

Pics:





Im sure i took a lot more, but apparently not...?

The guy will drive it into town so i can test it on sealed roads (he lived on gravel/rough roads) so that'll be next if you guys still think its worth a look.

Any ones thoughts so far? how much would you pay?

[dubai gti]

Any ones thoughts so far? how much would you pay?

given the market these days, Aust. delivered ones like this are prob. not worth more than $5k, even in VGC. Like the saying goes, pay on condition, if it's really good, maybe get a compression test done by one of ur local garages or do it yourself.

Good luck.

[dylan8]

given the market these days, Aust. delivered ones like this are prob. not worth more than $5k, even in VGC. Like the saying goes, pay on condition, if it's really good, maybe get a compression test done by one of ur local garages or do it yourself.

Good luck.

Thanks.
Yeah the owner actually said about getting it compression tested, how much would i be looking at cost wise to get it done?
apparently they had some major work done on it at the same place i get mine serviced, so on the phone tomorrow to see if my mechanic can remember good or bad things...

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?
motor apparently runs, just not connected to the roof?

[cab93]

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?

Just expensive.

Check the fluid level, check for leaks. hydraulic rams are available new for around $800 - $1000 from VW. they can be repaired for around half this price.

Some times the pump "Drive" can break it's made of plastic. It can be glued together (If your lucky). VW only sell the complete pump, again I think the price is almost $1000. Leaks are the most common problem. Don't underestimate the cost of roof frame and mechanical part repair.

Michael

[mrlex]

Never seen another black cabby until now, and it looks alright. Same interior as mine too!

Firstly the carpet being pulled up may be signs of water damage, mine was like that when i bought it and didnt think much of it till a few days later and a lot of heavy rain there was a pond in the passenger footwell.
Pop the bonnet and look around near the heater matrix and wiper motor, there should be two drain holes one either side of the car...the passenger side on mine was full of crap causing water to leak in.

As for the electric roof, make sure the tap on the pump in the boot is turned in, it can be turned out to enable manual raising etc...make sure it has fluid and theres no cracks in the pump like cab 93 said.
I have to put mine down manually but it goes up on the switch, ill take a look at it one day...

Cheers
Alex

[kavlfc]

Looks a very straight and tidy cab, good find if the money's right. Would fetch around £1,500 over here. Regarding the roof, you could easily convert to manual roof, less to go wrong and cheaper to repair when it does! Plus it's quicker to put up & down
It looks like a 1.8 but not 100% sure but there were no 1.6s imported to the UK after '88 (via VAG UK) so depends what year it is to be sure.
Get your mechanic to give it the once over then try and get it cheap!!

Chris

[dubai gti]

Thanks.
Yeah the owner actually said about getting it compression tested, how much would i be looking at cost wise to get it done?

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?
motor apparently runs, just not connected to the roof?

Comp.test should take a competent mechanic on a Golf, no more than say 20 mins.


as far as the roof....mine's manual, and I know it doesn't look as cool to lower, but hey, no tech. problems and if i'm enthusiastic, I can drop it from the drivers seat (however u need to get out to get it to 'lock' into place)

[gordymatt]

Thanks.
Yeah the owner actually said about getting it compression tested, how much would i be looking at cost wise to get it done?
apparently they had some major work done on it at the same place i get mine serviced, so on the phone tomorrow to see if my mechanic can remember good or bad things...

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?
motor apparently runs, just not connected to the roof?

How much money does he want for it?

[dylan8]

How much money does he want for it?

he wants 4k.

contacted my mechanic, he said it had some issues when he saw it last (mainly just from lack of scheduled services) other then that he said the only strange thing was someone had tried to repair a bracket in the engine bay for something, which he repaired again haha. he said it had a 'great little engine' then. that was two years ago, apparently it hasn't been driven since then until last w.e.

Dad also reminded me that when he said it was a 1.6lt that it was a 'genuine import' sooo if it was, does that make it worth more?