high mileage R56

[S3_Graham]

I'm after a cheap run around for myself and mrs (to replace her corsa and run alongside my CLK55), have seen a few high mileage 1.6T's. 2007 / 120K-ish at around £5000.

any obvious problems with that? I do a lot of miles anyway so no point buying a low miler!

I know about the weak oil pipe on the turbo and the 'death rattle'. Any reason to avoid a 'well used' car?

[mpit]

You'd get a very tidy R53 for that money.

I fail to see why anyone would choose a ropey R56 over a very tidy R53.

[NormanD]

mpit said:

You'd get a very tidy R53 for that money.

I fail to see why anyone would choose a ropey R56 over a very tidy R53.

I agree

I've got a 160,000 mile R53

Less trouble with a supercharger than a turbo, just remember to change the oil in the supercharger every 50k

[mike9009]

NormanD said:

mpit said:

You'd get a very tidy R53 for that money.

I fail to see why anyone would choose a ropey R56 over a very tidy R53.

I agree

I've got a 160,000 mile R53

Less trouble with a supercharger than a turbo, just remember to change the oil in the supercharger every 50k

I drive an R56, but agree with the above comments. (I used to have a post facelift R53 too). Only real consideration is if your mileage will be high, the R53 likes a drink when pushing on. The R53 is more raw and fun to drive. The R56 is a little more 'grown up'.

I think the turbo on the R56 is fairly robust (despite the twin scroll design). Only 'big' issue is the death rattle/ timing chain issue. There are some horror stories - but I 'think' these are few and far between. I sometimes wonder if oil levels may have caused some issues as most R56s seem to like their oil checked regularly. (mine uses about a litre every 1000 miles and this was from an early stage - 17k miles, same usage and now on 45k miles)

Biggest issue on R53s seems to be power steering pump failure. Ours failed but was covered under warranty. Again some people claim the car cannot be steered without the pump operating - this is nonsense at normal speeds (my wife was driving when ours failed.....). The only thing she couldn't do was park the car once it had failed. It did fail suddenly whilst driving though.....

Mike

edit : reread OPs post about mileage and weak oil pipe on turbo - so just ignore the irrelevant sections of what I have posted

Edited by mike9009 on Wednesday 19th November 20:16