Tell ME i'm wrong: VW Golf Owners

[GreatGranny]

Vince70 said:

You get a lot more car for your money if you go for a petrol.
My father bought a Mk4 golf V5 about 6 months ago which really was as good as new with 45000 on the clock and full history for around £1300 as he's getting on and likes a relaxed drive we went for a auto.

I can really recommend as the car really does soak the potholes up with ease and he gets over 30 to the gallon out the old girl and its has all the toys plus you don't have a turbo to contend with and you get a lovely 5 pot warble.

he must drive it very carefully.

My mate had one and he struggled to get anywhere near 30. Usual tank full was 25!

[Vince70]

Gets 34/35 on the run but averaging 30 on the computer and that's over about a 6 month period. the secret is not using kick down and as it has a bit of torque you don't have to go up and down on the box.
It doesn't get much town use, it's mainly used for a 160 mile commute once a week with a mixture of A roads the odd village and the M20 occasionally.

[Kong]

I've got a MK4 5dr SDI about to go up for sale if you're interested, long T&T and FSH.

[elementad]

Kong said:

I've got a MK4 5dr SDI about to go up for sale if you're interested, long T&T and FSH.

Thanks for the heads up Kong, but I've just bought one this afternoon.
2001 GT TDI 115. Been looked after and had a cambelt kit recently fitted so I'll see how it fairs me.

[8potdave]

I have known quite a few people go for Golf TDI's and I can safely say the following:

1) None of them were interested in cars as such, they liked the 'build quality' and 'poke' from the engine along with the MPG.

2) None of them looked after their cars, only 1 out of 5 had his regularly serviced.

3) They were all thrashed from cold.

4) None very often washed their cars.

5) They all thought owning a Golf was cool and absolutely loved their cars.

All these people are very different but had the above in common. If this is the typical demographic of Golf owner I'm not at all surprised with your findings! I am only going on personal experience here and not insinuating every Golf TDi owner is like this but it is a big coincidence.

[elementad]

8potdave said:

I have known quite a few people go for Golf TDI's and I can safely say the following:

1) None of them were interested in cars as such, they liked the 'build quality' and 'poke' from the engine along with the MPG.

2) None of them looked after their cars, only 1 out of 5 had his regularly serviced.

3) They were all thrashed from cold.

4) None very often washed their cars.

5) They all thought owning a Golf was cool and absolutely loved their cars.

All these people are very different but had the above in common. If this is the typical demographic of Golf owner I'm not at all surprised with your findings! I am only going on personal experience here and not insinuating every Golf TDi owner is like this but it is a big coincidence.

Now I've got mine I'm going to buck that trend!
Annual service, washed weekly and driven with mechanical sympathy.

Very impressed so far. Driven 125 miles today (mostly motorway) and averaged (according to the trip device) 50.9mpg.

[r11co]

I'm getting a tad fed-up with the smugness shown over having a 'full service history' and the obsession over cars that don't have what people perceive to be an exemplary main dealer record.

All it means is that the dealer has relieved the owner of a lot of money in exchange for mindlessly following a tick box set of exercises. Anything over and above that is a bonus.

A full service history maintained by the previous owner of my 330i did not prevent two otherwise avoidable issues - namely the fuel breather leak caused by the pipe chafing on the bodywork, and the blocked plenum drain that caused the water build-up that wrecked the engine ECU. Knowledge of the vehicle and its particular issues and how to deal with them would have (which you would have expected a BMW dealer to have, so they either didn't have the knowledge, chose not to act on it, or the tick-box mentality of the servicing procedure precluded them doing anything about it).

Also, dealer servicing was the cause of my sticking brake caliper, thanks to the hole poked in the piston boot by the BMW technician when the previous owner got them to replace the brake pads.

Incidentally, having all of the above issues fixed by my local BMW dealer would have returned small change from £2000, which some twits would hand over (to the same people who ostensibly caused the problems in the first place).

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 13th November 14:27

[elementad]

r11co said:

I'm getting a tad fed-up with the smugness shown over having a 'full service history' and the obsession over cars that don't have what people perceive to be an exemplary main dealer record.

All it means is that the dealer has relieved the owner of a lot of money in exchange for mindlessly following a tick box set of exercises. Anything over and above that is a bonus.

A full service history maintained by the previous owner of my 330i did not prevent two otherwise avoidable issues - namely the fuel breather leak caused by the pipe chafing on the bodywork, and the blocked plenum drain that caused the water build-up that wrecked the engine ECU. Knowledge of the vehicle and its particular issues and how to deal with them would have (which you would have expected a BMW dealer to have, so they either didn't have the knowledge, chose not to act on it, or the tick-box mentality of the servicing procedure precluded them doing anything about it).

Also, dealer servicing was the cause of my sticking brake caliper, thanks to the hole poked in the piston boot by the BMW technician when the previous owner got them to replace the brake pads.

Incidentally, having all of the above issues fixed by my local BMW dealer would have returned small change from £2000, which some twits would hand over (to the same people who ostensibly caused the problems in the first place).

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 13th November 14:27

What would you rather buy?:

1) a 10 year old car with documented proof of having oil changes, cambelts, plugs, gearbox oil change etc
OR
2) a 10 year old car with nothing. You have to take the word of whoever your buying it off - even if it's had 10 owners.

[BackPedal]

Another FWIW post, my Dad had a PD115 Mk.IV on a X plate from new all the way up to 240,000 miles and had it serviced every 10 - 15K. Every stamp in the book. He sold it for 900 quid.

They exist.

[dgcbev]

I had an 02 fabia 1.9 tdi (still have it)

When i was at uni i didnt service it for 2-3 years (didnt realise that really made a difference)

in fact i even filled it up to brim with oil once (didnt realise there was a max)

bought it at 20k miles and it has donw well over 100k since.

only thing that ever broke was the air intake.

its been my second car for about 4 years now but unbelieveable how good that old diesel engine is. been over 130 in it in germany too..

only learned about servicing and oil when i bought a second hand BMW and learned the hard way.

[Pedmeister]

elementad said:

ging84 said:

don't like what people do with their cars, go buy a fking new one

I already HAVE a new car. This is for my second car
Thanks for the help

Why do you find it necessary to express your opinion with such blatant aggression? It's completely unnecessary and unreasonable. The OP expressed himself in an entirely civilised and logical manner. You appear to have taken personal umbrage based on the aggressive, defensive nature of your reply.

All you have succeeded in doing is to create a very poor impression and make yourself look *VERY* foolish.
I doubt very much that you behave in such a manner in a face to face situation. Hurling abuse from behind the anonymity of your keyboard isn't big, or clever.

[r11co]

elementad said:

What would you rather buy?:

1) a 10 year old car with documented proof of having oil changes, cambelts, plugs, gearbox oil change etc
OR
2) a 10 year old car with nothing. You have to take the word of whoever your buying it off - even if it's had 10 owners.

Missing my point! In the absence of other information people resort to crutches like 'full service history' to justify their decisions, which in my experience are a guarantee of nothing.

I could spend £ks to create the pretence that my car is well looked after and has no problems (aka full dealer service history) or I could look after the car the way I do - research issues that can arise, service it regularly myself, source parts at sensible prices and be pro-active with maintenance, rather than just following a service schedule that was pre-determined before a single production model of my car ever turned a wheel (bar the odd tweak when legal liability dictates). My method results in a better car at the end, but the majority think otherwise.

Funny you mention cambelts, because manufacturer recommended change times tend to be at the outer limits, plus they are not part of the routine servicing...

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 13th November 18:35

[Balmoral]

Pedmeister said:

elementad said:

ging84 said:

don't like what people do with their cars, go buy a fking new one

I already HAVE a new car. This is for my second car
Thanks for the help

Why do you find it necessary to express your opinion with such blatant aggression? It's completely unnecessary and unreasonable. The OP expressed himself in an entirely civilised and logical manner. You appear to have taken personal umbrage based on the aggressive, defensive nature of your reply.

All you have succeeded in doing is to create a very poor impression and make yourself look *VERY* foolish.
I doubt very much that you behave in such a manner in a face to face situation. Hurling abuse from behind the anonymity of your keyboard isn't big, or clever.

+1

The OP wasn't complaining about people who don't service their cars, he was complaining about people who don't service their cars and then claim to have FSH when they put them up for sale.

[elementad]

Bit of an update. Been driving the car for over a week now and put about 520 miles down.
Drives really nice and on decent motorway runs (125 miles) with a lot of stop start morning congestion it was returning 52.8MPG which is great as far as I'm concerned.
Found out that the one I bought was a TDI 130 also (not 115) which was an added bonus.
Steering feels stupidly light. So much so that going round corners it feels very front heavy with not much feedback, but I've only bought it as a respectable mile muncher, not for hooning and so far like it very much for its intended use.
Plenty of low down poke also.

Thanks for all the positive banter on this thread.

[AudiWurst]

r11co said:

I could spend £ks to create the pretence that my car is well looked after and has no problems (aka full dealer service history) or I could look after the car the way I do - research issues that can arise, service it regularly myself, source parts at sensible prices and be pro-active with maintenance, rather than just following a service schedule that was pre-determined before a single production model of my car ever turned a wheel (bar the odd tweak when legal liability dictates).

My method results in a better car at the end, but the majority think otherwise don't have the time, knowledge or tools to do their own servicing.

FTFY

[havoc]

AudiWurst said:

r11co said:

I could spend £ks to create the pretence that my car is well looked after and has no problems (aka full dealer service history) or I could look after the car the way I do - research issues that can arise, service it regularly myself, source parts at sensible prices and be pro-active with maintenance, rather than just following a service schedule that was pre-determined before a single production model of my car ever turned a wheel (bar the odd tweak when legal liability dictates).

My method results in a better car at the end, but the majority think otherwise don't have the time, knowledge or tools to do their own servicing.

FTFY

Who would most buyers trust - the owner who is trying to sell the car "yeah, done all the work myself, I'm better than these main-dealer monkeys", or a book full of stamps by a 3rd party paid to do the service work.

Doing your own servicing saves YOU money at the time, but arguably puts off a fair chunk of buyers come time to sell...so hits your resale value. Unless you've got a 10y.o. snotter, that is...

[All that jazz]

elementad said:

Steering feels stupidly light. So much so that going round corners it feels very front heavy with not much feedback

That is mk4 golfs for you. That's what they do. I absolutely hated it in mine and was glad to be rid of it. They're not a bad motor on motorways (very long gearing in the 6-speed manual) but try to take them at "making progress" speeds on any back roads and you'll quickly grow to hate it and or end up in a ditch. Also if you want it staying rust-free, clean out the front arches and lard a load of underbody seal in there, especially around the arch lip, as one day they'll be fine and the next they'll be covered in big flaky rust bubbles.