VW Golf TDI

[Zimma]

Hiya

I am looking at buying a '54 plate VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE.

I have seen one going through auction with 100k on the clock, should that put me off? and what sort of price should it go through
I keep reading about ABS failure on these, do VW still cover the replacement under warranty, even if i am not the original buyer?

Thanks

Zimma

[Motorrad]

Personally I cannot see VW covering any failure on a car that's done 100K miles. Do you think it's reasonable to expect them to do that?

[Zimma]

But if its a part they know is faulty and replace free of charge for some customers, should they not do that for everyone?

[Motorrad]

Zimma said:

But if its a part they know is faulty and replace free of charge for some customers, should they not do that for everyone?

Depends if it's a clapped out 100K motor that's performed perfectly up until the point it wore out doesn't it?

[HellDiver]

I think you're confusing ABS failure with the Teves ESP problem? Only effects cars with ESP, which I doubt will be an issue on a 1.9TDi SE.

[Deva Link]

...and they do a repair kit now, so it's not too expensive to fix.

Massive gamble buying a modern diesel that's a few years old - lots of things to wrong and most of them are expensive to diagnose and repair.

[va1o]

HellDiver said:

I think you're confusing ABS failure with the Teves ESP problem? Only effects cars with ESP, which I doubt will be an issue on a 1.9TDi SE.

Poor advice. Every single UK supplied VW Golf MK5 ever sold has ESP fitted as standard

I wouldn't touch a 100k 54-plate 1.9 TDI at auction unless it was silly cheap.

[va1o]

Deva Link said:

Massive gamble buying a modern diesel that's a few years old - lots of things to wrong and most of them are expensive to diagnose and repair.

Yep, agree completely. If you do buy it make sure you have a healthy budget for any remedial work. Once you've factored that in, and the auction fees, plus the cost of a logbook and tax disk where applicable you may as well just buy from a dealer with a warranty.

[geeteeaye]

In contrast to the above, 100k on a 6 year old turbodiesel wouldn't worry me in itself, would buy more on condition and the servicing it has had than numbers alone. There seems to be a growing myth on PH that all modern diesels are timebombs and will eventually cost thousands to fix. In reality (for me at least) - no problems with my current 55 plate diesel and friends family with an array of different makes and models of diesels, no significant 'horror stories' that spring to mind.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people regurgitating this misconception about modern diesels, haven't actually owned many (if any) or perhaps were just unlucky in the same way some petrol engined car owners are unlucky. Sure there are diesel variants that are best avoided, like the DPF Golfs preferably, and you hear a lot of 'horror stories' about the Astra 150 1.9CDTi but it would nice to see evidence, if diesels really are as scary as touted.

ETA - This isn't to say buying one at auction wouldn't worry me, but then buying any car at auction would worry me!