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Buying a GTi questions

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 3:29 pm
by owenjt
Ok so i've asked so many questions on here over the past couple of months (thanks to all for your responses) that i thought i'd setup a thread dedicated to people who are buying GTi's and want to ask questions!

So to kick it off:

1) How much would you pay for a GTi? I've seen one with 20,000 miles for £8k :shock: and am considering going to see one for £6.5k.

2) Would you buy a GTi that has had dealer servicing through its warranty period and then the owner has serviced it himself since and has no/some receipts? I guess without the book being stamped the sell-on price is going to be lower?

3) How long did it take you to find your GTi? I've been looking for about the past 2 and a half months and am starting to lose patience! I know exactly what i want and it's proving difficult to find it! (adding to my annoyance is the fact that i found THE perfect car yesterday, 1st time i'd seen it advertised on autotrader - and i check at least twice daily - and it had already gone, snapped up the day it was advertised).

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 3:32 pm
by ModifiedMadness
Mine was £7k from a VW garage (pretty expensive I know).

Personally I'd rather buy one with full VWSH if I could or full service history at least, at least then you know it should have been done properly.

Took me a little over 3 months, had the money sitting there, everyone I did phone up for had gone, I was even going to drive 3 1/2 hours to see one but someone bought it the day before I was going to look.

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 3:43 pm
by Del_GTi
Mine was same price as ModifiedMadness, again it came from an Independant VW garage, with VWFSH, 1 yr full VW warranty, and i also liked that the car was originally bought from same dealer and had had all it's servicing done there.

So i was quite happy to pay that price. Also at the time they were rare as rocking horse **** to get a hold of from a dealer and both the dealer and i knew he could get full price for it all day long and it would sell quick, but i'm happy cos i got a good one.

The best advice i could give is try and get a good price but at the end of the day if it's a minted car (no pun intended) and your happy with it, so what if it's a bit more expensive. As long as you don't by a lemon. 8)

P.s i also spent about 3 months searching for one, and had a look at a couple which were cheaper before settling on what i've got now.

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:19 pm
by satin gti
Go on to auto trader and search vw and polo between 5000 and 6000G on a national search and you will find my gti!! have a look :lol:

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 4:21 pm
by satin gti
ITS THE ONE FOR 5100OVNO-2001 VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.6 GTi 3dr Hatchback, Only 48K,silver.fvwsh,9months tax,mot ap06,full gti spec.alloys h&r suspension. Xenons,air con.10disc cd .4 new tyres stunning car in excellent condition.FIFE.. . . . . (private)

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 2:43 pm
by owenjt
Except you're 293 miles away!

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:37 pm
by satin gti
if you want a mint gti bud its worth it :lol:

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:38 pm
by Del_GTi
He's right, you might need to travel to get a good one.

I wasn't too bad, about a 150 mile round trip.

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:55 pm
by Redline
Took me around 4months to finally find a GTi that met my requirements. I wanted red, 3 door, no leather and low mileage.

Paid £7k from an independent dealer, no warranty. However he did give me a lot over book value for my 1.0e, so my actual cost to change wasn't so great. Plus it came with a rather cool number plate :D

Involved two 160mile trips, but as others have said, it's a rare car and you have to be willing to travel. And further more be in a position to at least put a deposit down if you think it's good enough, as they don't hang around for long.

I was lucky with mine, saw it the first day it went on Autotrader, had a deposit down two days later. Other people had been looking but fortunately hadn't put their money down.

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 10:54 pm
by ModifiedMadness
Same with me, the day I saw it was the day they got it, my mum and dad got them to hold it by (while I was at work) I went down there and said, Yeah I'll have it.

Mine was only about a 40-50 mile round trip maybe a bit more but... Basically if you want a good one you have to be prepared to travel to get it.

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:15 pm
by owenjt
Well i've now found one that's 90 miles away so hopefully going to see it at the weekend. I know its been there a few weeks but it sounds worth a look. Here's hoping it's good!

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:08 pm
by ModifiedMadness
It's always worth a look yeah, but I found out and no doubt others will back me up on this, a lot of the good ones are gone within days! Like I say still worth having a little look though may be the one you're after :D

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:10 pm
by owenjt
Yeah i did think that but this one is probably slightly over-priced at £6499 which may put some people off. No harm in looking though! (and haggling!)

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:12 pm
by ModifiedMadness
Yeah, go for it mate, I paid £7k for mine like I say but that was from VW, keep us posted 8)

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:59 am
by mkone
The one you've seen for £6499 isnt at Chartoak Motors in Wilmslow by any chance is it? If it is I went by to have a look the other weekend for a nosey, looks like its had some hammering all the leather was worn off around the steering wheel and had an above average mileage (around 60k i think) for a 51 plate.

These guys keep on getting GTi's in as they know all too well they sell like hotcakes, was thinking about trading mine in simply cause they'd give me a high trade-in, just my 2 cents worth. Good luck on finding one!