i bought an old t5 for a banger rally to spain early this year,it went really well even getting us home after leaving benidorm at 12 , stopping for barbecue at my mates house and another couple of hours for a kip we got to the boat at 10.30 monday morning.

anyway i was thinking of doing the next one in sep but decided last time i had been a bit trusting and not bothered really about the car getting there and back so i thuoght id give it a bit of a checking , it has done 237000 miles so a check of the compression seems a good idea ,
checked it yesterday and got 12.5 bar on every cylinder , amazing, seems not to be worn at all .

so my next thing is do i keep it and spend some money on it ??
i keep thinking maybe its a good base for a btcc replica but not changing the engine but spraying , lowering , wheels , stickering up , i see all the decals are available on ebay.

slight leak on radiator on drivers side so a new radiator this week then i think its ready for the banger run to benidorm again

Keep it running on quality oil and it will be fine - I'd recommend Shell Helix. Avoid Castrol Magnatec at ALL costs - utter ste and will ruin a T5

My dad's T5 was, with the exception of a slightly chewed 3rd gear, fine at 200k. It would have kept on going forever if he hadn't written it off.

As long as you look after it, a T5 will rack up the miles with ease.