Mk 5 GT 1.4 TSI?? Buyer Advice

[Soup Nazi]

Hi Guys
i am looking to upgrade my Mk 3 Golf Tdi in the near future. Was looking at a Mk 5 GT 1.4 TSI. Im a little worried about the complexity with the Turbo and supercharger. Also Ive heard there may be or have been an issue with the CAM chain. Nice looking car though.

Anyone had any experience with this model, all advice appreciated.

[Passat my07]

They are complex and do have timing chain issues. Maybe a gti would be a better option. More power and less to go wrong.

[pseudofusion]

I had one from new for 150k km and it didn't miss a beat. Top little car and didn't have any engine complexity issues. GTI for a handful of $ more may be a better option in the second/third hand market unless you can find a mint example.

[Soup Nazi]

Thanks
The one I'm looking at is a one owner and has 77K on the clock. Owner only wants around 10K for it. Seems reasonable value against the GT Tdi and GTI.

[blower]

Thanks
The one I'm looking at is a one owner and has 77K on the clock. Owner only wants around 10K for it. Seems reasonable value against the GT Tdi and GTI.

The earlier revision of the twincharger that's found in the mk5 is far more reliable than the one in the mk6 (despite them being nearly identical). Piston failures on the mk6 CAVD twincharger are common, but you almost never hear of them on the mk5 varient.

The only thing is if its a manual, NEVER leave it parked in gear - a lot of chain issues occur when the car is restarted and usually this is after it was left in gear on some form of incline (even a slight incline like a driveway) - if it rolls back just a bit in gear with the engine off the chain can slip a tooth or 2 as there is only light tension on the chain when there is no oil pressure. So on startup the engine is out of timing and the valves smash into the pistons.

The way the chain is tensioned in terms of where the tensioner applies pressure to the chain means if the crankshaft turns in reverse without full tension it can easily loosen completely and slip a tooth. Unlike most of 2.0 TSI's there is no ratchet mechanism on the tensioner, so with no oil pressure only the spring is applying pressure and this spring can weaken with age.

[Mattlock]

I bought my GT Sport in 2013 with 92k on the clock. I was the 3rd owner. I loved it.

I had a couple of issues with mine mostly related to the valves that control the switch between S/C and Turbo. During its lifetime they were re-designed and upgraded by VW but mine had never failed during warranty so they were still the original parts. Once they failed and were replaced the car was fantastic.

The only other issue I had was an A/C compressor failure and the intake valves had a clean.

I loved it, put 30k on the clock and sold it late last year when I bought a new R.

It's quick, not much slower than a Mk5 GTI, lighter nose (smaller engine) and makes a great noise. I still miss the S/C whine.


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[brad]

Hi Guys
i am looking to upgrade my Mk 3 Golf Tdi in the near future. Was looking at a Mk 5 GT 1.4 TSI. Im a little worried about the complexity with the Turbo and supercharger. Also Ive heard there may be or have been an issue with the CAM chain. Nice looking car though.

Anyone had any experience with this model, all advice appreciated.

They are a good car but a better alternative is the GTI or the Skoda Octavia 1.8tsi. I cross-shopped all 3 plus the GT diesel back in 2008 and ended up with the Skoda because of the size of the boot and the overall features per dollar spent.

$10k doesn't sound that cheap. My 2007 Octavia with 170,000km is worth about $5k. A Golf is worth a few $k more.

[Mattlock]

$10k doesn't sound that cheap. My 2007 Octavia with 170,000km is worth about $5k. A Golf is worth a few $k more.

When I bought mine (MY0 in mid 2013, I paid $17,500 for it. When I sold it at the end of last year, Carsales had them at between $9k and $11k. I got $10k with the dealer on a trade-in against the R - a bloody good reason why I took the deal!



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[Soup Nazi]

MMM
Thanks guys, this will be my daily hack flog to death machine and I'm looking for a good 8 years out of it. It is replacing one seriously reliable Mk 3 Tdi so I think at this stage ill rethink it due to possible reliability (cost) issues. At this point the 103 Tdi in a Pacific or Sportline looks the goods since it has no DPF and accepts a tune nicely. GTI is nice but expensive and the fuel consumption well, if you pour the fuel in you get more power, its pretty much that simple.

10K is the limit on price. I only looked at this one GT Tsi because its a really nice looker and one owner but the last thing I need is a bottomless pit!

Cheers

[brad]

I average 6.3L/100km on my normal Hurstville - Campbelltown commute. Average 7.6L/100km around the suburbs. That's with tune and other minor mods.

Doing 25,000km/year it's only $2500 of 98ron. I wish depreciation was only 2500/year...

[BennyTheJet]

MMM
Thanks guys, this will be my daily hack flog to death machine and I'm looking for a good 8 years out of it. It is replacing one seriously reliable Mk 3 Tdi so I think at this stage ill rethink it due to possible reliability (cost) issues. At this point the 103 Tdi in a Pacific or Sportline looks the goods since it has no DPF and accepts a tune nicely. GTI is nice but expensive and the fuel consumption well, if you pour the fuel in you get more power, its pretty much that simple.

10K is the limit on price. I only looked at this one GT Tsi because its a really nice looker and one owner but the last thing I need is a bottomless pit!

Cheers

They are great little cars and very fuel economic! I bought mine 1.5 years ago with 92xxx km on it and has been a pleasure to drive. Only work I've had to do is some new spark plugs and new rear brakes. No issues as yet with s/c or turbo, both still power on as they should! The seamless transition from s/c powering the low end to the turbo kicking in is amazing.
Great fuel consumption, average around 6.5l/100km around the city and even better on highway drives.
They are not bottomless pits in any regard unless the car has not been looked after. It sounds like the one you have been looking at is in good condition!

[MkvGTSport]

I bought new and had 98,000 trouble free kms, but then the timing chain went, which resulted in complete engine failure. $14,600 quoted to repair by VW service.

Mine is a DSG and it had been parked on an incline and been only driven once a week for 3 months prior to this. There were no warning sounds, just went to start it up and - screech bang.

I've done some research and the timing chain issue on the 1.4tsi was brought up by Autobild in Germany in 2009. It appears to mainly effect cars which are used for short trips. I've always been a supporter of VW, but reading that they knew about the timing chain issue in 2009 and they chose not to recall and replace the timing chain in those cars effected (probably cost too much) is infuriating esp as it is going to cost me $15K. Add to this the VW service I went to advised the timing chain should last the lifetime of the car and never needs to be replace. VW does not even have it on any of the service requirements.

I rang VW and raised this issue to see if they could provide any goodwill payment (the Autobild article said VW would provide ex-gratia payments as long as the manufacturers service intervals had been met - which my golf has), but customer care(less) just kept repeating "we are unable to provide any assistance" to almost everything I said. When I asked if this could be reviewed up the chain, I was advised it could be reviewed but the answer will be the same. I asked that as the result of the review is already known, what exactly is reviewed. Again I got they will do a review but the response will not change. Aaaagh! Has anyone else had this problem?

[mcam]

I'll share my experience with my 2009 Golf Mk5 wagon. I bought it used about three years ago with 90k on it. A few months later, I heard there was a recall on them, due to an issue with the DSG transmission. Even though mine was a used vehicle, VW New Zealand stated it was eligible for a mechatronics upgrade, and the local dealer carried out the work free of charge. I got a call back two days later, and they said the diagnostics had returned worn clutches, and they would have to be replaced. As the wear was the result of the faulty mechatronics, they replaced the clutches free of charge as well.

About 12 months ago, the engine light came on. I took it into the dealership, and their diagnosis was a stretched timing chain. They quoted about $1600NZD to repair it. I questioned the timing chain stretching, as timing chains should last a decent amount. Their response was "we've experienced a few of these, and it is just wear". I booked it in for the repair later in the week, but did some research.

It turns out the timing chain tensioner was faulty (a design fault) and VW were repairing them under warranty. I went back to the dealer, and asked them to check their service bulletins. They came back with a "oh, you're in luck. Yes, there is a pro rate warranty agreement. VW will pay for all parts, and 60% of the labour. So your quote will now be $300". Go figure. I asked "what about the other customers who have paid for this repair in full?". I got a "oh, my other phone is ringing, I will have to go".

Anyway, if you're looking at one of these vehicles, check to see wether the timing chain tensioner has been upgraded to the new part, and that it has had the mechatronics upgrade.

To the poster above, the timing chain issue IS a known problem. It is the result of a fault in the design of the tensioner. The dealers know about it, but they seem to be selective on their acknowledgement of it.

[Mysticality]

+1 on the Skoda Octavia. You can have a nice vRS sedan (sedatch!) or wagon for $10k... Or a 1.9TDI for about the same.

[governor22]

How did you go looking at the GT model ? I think I saw the same one in carsales and was thinking about it for my sisters replacement car