Purchase Advice 6C GTI 2017

[Max6cgti]

Good evening everyone,

Tomorrow I'm going to view a 2017 Polo 6C GTI with 65,000 miles What are some things to look out for with this model?

Also, do you see any discrepancies in the photo's and does the motor sound good?

Photo's and video of the car: https://photobucket.com/share/73f5542d- ... 76fab16de2

I'd love to hear from you!

Have a nice evening.

[SRGTD]

Hi @Max6cgti, welcome to the forum. Bearing in mind you’re going to look at the car today, I hope I’m not too late posting!

I see your location is shown as London but the car is left hand drive with German plates so I’m intrigued to know why you’d be considering a German LHD car for the UK, unless your location details are incorrect.

Have a read of this discussion topic from a few years ago;

https://www.uk-polos.net/viewtopic.php?t=74800

In addition to the discussion topic at the link above, if the car has a DSG transmission, be aware that VW used the 7 speed dry clutch DQ200 DSG transmission to the 6c GTI. VW normally limits the use of that transmission to lower performance / lower toque cars and fit wet clutch DSG transmissions to their performance cars. I don’t know if this might mean the DQ200 DSG in a Polo GTI might be more prone to mechanical issues than a wet clutch DSG would be but it’s something you might want to consider, especially if the specific car you’re considering has been re-mapped. Probably worth doing an internet search on ‘VW DQ200 DSG issues’ or similar search.

Regarding the specific car you’re considering buying - a few things to check or check;

• condition and service history are the obvious things to check to ensure no damage or evidence of bodywork repairs (may be worth doing an HPI check?) and that there’s a full, comprehensive service history. I’d also check that the car’s fitted with a set of matching premium tyres, which can (but not necessarily) be a sign the car’s been well maintained.

• with UK cars, it’s possible to check the MOT history on the gov.uk website. A history of multiple advisories or fails could (but not necessarily) be an indication of a poorly maintained car. If there’s an equivalent facility that can be checked on German cars, I’d recommend checking it.

• check that both of the original keys are present and that they both work (they can be expensive to replace and get re-coded)

• alloy wheels - they’re diamond cut and the front right wheel of the car you’re considering looks to have some kerb damage so I’d recommend checking them all carefully for damage. It’ll probably cost in the region of £100-£120 plus VAT per wheel to get them professionally refurbished by a good, reputable company. Also, be aware that diamond cut alloys are prone to white worm corrosion where the surface of the diamond cut sections oxidise under the clear coat lacquer. When this happens (and it almost always does), the only way to get rid of it is to get the wheels refurbished. If you’re not familiar with what white worm corrosion looks like, try an internet search on ‘alloy wheel white worm corrosion’ and look at some of the images.

• I see the car has a sun roof; the design of the optional sun roof fitted to the Polo is the same as that fitted to the mk7 Golf. Be aware that on the mk7 Golf the sunroof surround on the mk7 Golf is prone to developing cracks in the area of the surround between the front corners of the sun roof panel and the top of the windscreen A pillars. Check out the discussion topic on the Golf GTI forum at the link below (some of the posts in that discussion topic include pictures of the cracks in the surround. To fix the issues, it’s necessary to replace the sunroof surround (maybe replace the entire sunroof assembly?) which is an expensive job.
  
  Cracked sunroof surrounds might not be an issue on the Polo but IMHO it’s certainly something to check out.

• leaking water pump and thermostat housing; this is a fairly common issue with the 2.0 litre version of VW’s EA888 engine fitted by VW in the mk7 / mk7.5 Golf GTI. I can’t be certain but I seem to remember think there might be one or two posts on the forum where 6c Polo owners have had the same issue (if you use the forum search facility, you may find those posts). I owned a 6c Polo GTI for four and a half years and I used to get a faint smell of coolant when the engine was hot and the cooling system was up to pressure towards the end of my period of ownership, which indicated my car might have had a slight coolant leak (coolant level hadn’t dropped in the expansion tank). I never had the water pump / thermostat housing replaced as I sold the car before it became a major issue. Maybe something to check out. Cost to replace the water pump / thermostat housing at a UK VW dealership is probably £1,000 or more.

• From the video clip you’ve posted of the engine running, the ticking noise is quite characteristic of the fuel injectors. On some cars the ticking sound is louder than on others (from memory, mine was very quiet).

• Carplay / Android Auto; this wasn’t standard on UK spec 6c Polos so if it’s important to you, check that the car has it. Be aware that with some infotainment units fitted to earlier 6c Polos, they’re not CarPlay / Android Auto compatible, so it can’t be retro activated on those earlier infotainment units.

Hope the car meets with your expectations. Once you’ve viewed the it, please update this discussion topic on whether or not you bought it. If you didn’t, it’s worth being patient and waiting to find ‘right’ car.