test drive

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:06 pm

Well, I've test driven the car. "Purple" 16v with 61k miles. There's not a ding on the car, but lots of stone chips from motorway miles. It feels tighter than my 1.0L and is in mint condition inside. To be honest the bonnet needs a respray and there's a scratch on the passenger door which would need seeing to. Then a couple of stonechips to touch up. Two of the indianapolis alloys are marked. That's it though.

It's going for Â£3999 but I think I could drop it to Â£3750 and then spend Â£250 on the alloys and resprayed bonnet. Seems like a good price to me.

Anyone got any thoughts? Tempted but I really could do with seeing a good condition one to compare it to. There's none for sale locally though!

jakethesnake · Post by **jakethesnake** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 1:45 pm

What year is it ?.

Look in Performance VW or The Golf magazine several companies will refurb wheels for approx Â£40 each wheel.

Has it had a cambelt change ?. If not haggle the price down by at least Â£400 to cover the cost of a new belt/ water pump and tensioners. It's a fairly time consuming job so costs about Â£400. It's essential this work is done on a car with that sort of mileage.

I would suggest you try and find a few others to look at to give yourself a better idea of condition etc, even if you have to travel a bit.

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 2:11 pm

It's a 1999 T reg.

Cambelt was done at 42k, but that's all it said - didn't go into whether the tensioner was done, who did it etc. Is the water pump usually replaced with this job then?

I will try to find a comparison. It's not my number 1 colour either but it's nice enough....

jakethesnake · Post by **jakethesnake** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 8:25 pm

It's a wise idea to replace the waterpump same time as the cambelt. The cambelt drives the waterpump, if the pump bearings sieze up, the belt will snap

.

Sounds like you're not sold on the colour

try not to buy the first car you look at unless it's exactly what you want. There's plenty of others out there.

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:09 am

OK.

My ideal car would be black or a dark metallic colour. With around 40k on the clock. So it's not perfect. I'll keep looking - I'm happy with the decision to go for a 16v and sell my 1.0L. That's a big step for me! I've bought enough cars to know to try not to let the excitement get in the way

it's difficult though!

cheers

chubbster · Post by **chubbster** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 7:49 pm

try buying private. i got mine for Â£4000 with 27,000 on it. it had one minor dint u could only see wen the car was clean and freshly waxed and that was it. i did hassle the lad a lot tho he wanted Â£4500 for it. i think if u go private and look around for abit u'll find a bargain. just do the usually HPI check and inspection from someone like the RAC or AA

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 8:21 pm

I have just found a dealer car - 1999 V plate with 26k on the clock. He wanted 5k for it, but I haggled down to Â£4,500 which seems pretty good from a dealer? It's HPI-ed and has a 2 month warranty on it, it's been serviced and fully RAC checked. plus the peace of mind that it's from a dealer. I have put a deposit on it and go for a test drive on saturday.

Yes, I haven't tested it - but it's a refundable deposit.

The going rate seems to be 4500 for a very low mileage T plate - seems like you got a bargain!