VW Polo 1.4 2001 - Bangernomics #1
Discussion
My first attempt at Bangernomics, having previously run a BMW compact 316 (needed the compact boot for carting the dog about). I was sick of the fuel costs/insurance costs/tax costs and the repair bills that were coming up frequently on a ten year old BMW.
So I stuck it on Gumtree and sold it for £1100, which I then hoped to spend half on a new car and keep half in reserve in case I bought a duck egg.
Spent a couple of weeks on ebay/autotrader/gumtree with the criteria being sub £500, petrol, 1.4 or less and ideally 5 door. I'm a big lurker on the bargain basement thread and would have loved to go for a Lexus or an MG ZT but as I was trying to keep running costs to a minimum I was sticking with a hatchback.
Eventually I found a 1.2 clio at a garage in Burnley (I live in Preston so 30 minutes away). Rang up at 4.45 on Friday afternoon when I spotted the ad and was told the car was still available but they shut at 5 and didn't open weekends so I could come in Monday morning at 10 to see it. Got there at 10 and there was a bloke who had just bought it literally as I walked into the office. He hadn't promised to hold it for me so I couldn't really argue but disappointed nonetheless.
On the way back to the motorway we passed a proper old school car place with loads of old cars in priced up cheaply. Only one looked suitable, a Y reg 1.4 VW Polo. It was far from perfect. Had all the manuals and service book (last serviced in 2007), 114,000 miles and a couple of old MOTs. 7 days tax left on it and MOT until middle of April.
Took it for a test drive and it seemed a decent drive although I felt the brakes maybe needed some new discs/pads so a deal was done at £475.
When I got home with I made a quick stop off at the Post Office to sort another 6 months of tax on it and picked up a new front number plate for it on the cheap.
So details so far:
VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.4 MATCH 5dr Hatchback
Mileage when bought - 113,995
Costs:
Purchase £475.00
Number plate (plus magic tree thrown in for nowt) £8.50
Road tax 6 months £96.25
Total to date: £579.75
So I stuck it on Gumtree and sold it for £1100, which I then hoped to spend half on a new car and keep half in reserve in case I bought a duck egg.
Spent a couple of weeks on ebay/autotrader/gumtree with the criteria being sub £500, petrol, 1.4 or less and ideally 5 door. I'm a big lurker on the bargain basement thread and would have loved to go for a Lexus or an MG ZT but as I was trying to keep running costs to a minimum I was sticking with a hatchback.
Eventually I found a 1.2 clio at a garage in Burnley (I live in Preston so 30 minutes away). Rang up at 4.45 on Friday afternoon when I spotted the ad and was told the car was still available but they shut at 5 and didn't open weekends so I could come in Monday morning at 10 to see it. Got there at 10 and there was a bloke who had just bought it literally as I walked into the office. He hadn't promised to hold it for me so I couldn't really argue but disappointed nonetheless.
On the way back to the motorway we passed a proper old school car place with loads of old cars in priced up cheaply. Only one looked suitable, a Y reg 1.4 VW Polo. It was far from perfect. Had all the manuals and service book (last serviced in 2007), 114,000 miles and a couple of old MOTs. 7 days tax left on it and MOT until middle of April.
Took it for a test drive and it seemed a decent drive although I felt the brakes maybe needed some new discs/pads so a deal was done at £475.
When I got home with I made a quick stop off at the Post Office to sort another 6 months of tax on it and picked up a new front number plate for it on the cheap.
So details so far:
VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.4 MATCH 5dr Hatchback
Mileage when bought - 113,995
Costs:
Purchase £475.00
Number plate (plus magic tree thrown in for nowt) £8.50
Road tax 6 months £96.25
Total to date: £579.75
Easy enough to change the gearbox oil. Syncros seem the weak spot. My daughters was a bit messy and we did the oil change and all good. We sold it a year ago and has been spotted still moving today by a friend. Bits are pennies for these. We changed the clutch on it and was £50 for the kit and a mate charged me £40 cash for the labour.
I bought one of these about two years ago from a work colleague for £400.
The body work was immaculate even although it had done 130k.
I was hoping to keep it as my communter car, but the bills kept coming.
Thermostate, Pedal box collapsed, central locking went haywire, exhaust all of which i sorted for relative pennies. Think the back box cost me £15 and i fitted it myself. I ran the car for about 8 months, but the problems kept on coming, broken spring, leaking shocks, etc etc.
I advertised it on Gumtree with two months MOT left, listing the faults. 10 seconds after placing the ad, my phone started ringing and it was gone for £300.
The demand for it was unbelievable. I was just glad to get rid.
The body work was immaculate even although it had done 130k.
I was hoping to keep it as my communter car, but the bills kept coming.
Thermostate, Pedal box collapsed, central locking went haywire, exhaust all of which i sorted for relative pennies. Think the back box cost me £15 and i fitted it myself. I ran the car for about 8 months, but the problems kept on coming, broken spring, leaking shocks, etc etc.
I advertised it on Gumtree with two months MOT left, listing the faults. 10 seconds after placing the ad, my phone started ringing and it was gone for £300.
The demand for it was unbelievable. I was just glad to get rid.
I'm sure that 99.9% of Vw/Audi's of that era are green I've had 4 in a row now it that colour.
The brakes on Vags are easy to do and cheap.
As a previous poster had already said ECP for the brakes but don't go for the cheapest Eicher option go for the Pagid pads as there original spec and still cheap I bought a set yesterday for my A4 for £13.00 delivered so I imagine a polo will be even cheaper.
It Looks a goodun and better to buy a car with a few scratches and dents rather than a polished up motor at least you can see what your getting and you won't mind parking it anywhere..
The only thing for you to do now is to join Autos
te. It's a great site with a really helpful bunch on there, it's one of the best websites about.
The brakes on Vags are easy to do and cheap.
As a previous poster had already said ECP for the brakes but don't go for the cheapest Eicher option go for the Pagid pads as there original spec and still cheap I bought a set yesterday for my A4 for £13.00 delivered so I imagine a polo will be even cheaper.
It Looks a goodun and better to buy a car with a few scratches and dents rather than a polished up motor at least you can see what your getting and you won't mind parking it anywhere..
The only thing for you to do now is to join Autos
te. It's a great site with a really helpful bunch on there, it's one of the best websites about.Thanks for the info/advice gents, I will post a proper update tomorrow now I've had it about 10 days. And it's been a fairly interesting 10 days as not only do I know now a lot more about lambda sensors, but it was six inches from being written off on my own bloody drive on the 27th!
Just had a look on the autoste forum too, cheers for the heads up.
Just had a look on the autos
te forum too, cheers for the heads up.Mr Pies said:
Can I just ask, you say you were fed up of fuel costs on the bmw. Exactly how bad is a 1.6 bmw compact on fuel?
It was actually a 1.8 and a mixture of motorway/town driving was probably giving me an average of about 25mpg although I do admit I am one to put my foot down a bit.
On the 27th December the country was being battered by gale force winds and my street was no different. The missus had planned a day of shopping in the sales up town and as I led in bed contemplating this I saw an oak tree go flying past the window. Fortunately it had missed everything but it was basically one tree of three that grew out of the same stump, and the other two were looking decidedly dodgy. st, move the cars!
No sooner had I moved them and come back inside I heard a huge groan (not the missus for once) and the next one had come down.
Through the side fence and across the driveway, straight across where the car had been 2 minutes earlier. Lucky boy. Both cars blocked in but fortunately untouched. Shopping cancelled and an afternoon with a bow saw scheduled, not a bad result all be told. Little Oliver (yes I have named him) lives to fight another day.
Couple of days later we had our first set back. Engine check light on the dashboard, oh crap don't be too bad. Plug my fault reader in and up flashes 'O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 1'. Quick bit of googling and I'm suddenly all clued up on what a lambda sensor actually does. Nip the car round the corner to a neighbour who is a VW technician and he says he'll take a look at it to see if it is the sensor that's knackered or if its just a loose connection somewhere. I also ask him if he can check the brakes for me too.
Next day word come back that it does definitely need a new sensor and that the front brake discs were below spec so he'd advise changing them along with the pads. So off I went to ECP to get a Bosch lambda sensor (£71) and front discs and pads (pagid, cheers Vince70, £50) which said neighbour then fitted at £30 labour.
There is some goods news though as he informed me that it has a brand new exhaust on it which has outweighed some of this expense as the last MOT had an advisory regarding a blow in the exhaust so I was planning to get it checked to see if it required welding or worse a new one, but that's nothing to worry about now.
Some other expense as I managed to find a nice lady called Angie in West Bromwich selling her Haynes manual on Preloved so that was mine for £7 inc P&P, and another few quid on a tax disc holder.
Costs:
Purchase £475.00
Number plate (plus magic tree thrown in for nowt) £8.50
Road tax 6 months £96.25
Lambda sensor £71.00
Front brake discs/pads £50.00
Tax disc holder £3.85
Total to date: £704.60
Creeping up a bit but hopefully now I'll be able to get a few months under my belt before the MOT without any further expenditure.
t, move the cars!No sooner had I moved them and come back inside I heard a huge groan (not the missus for once) and the next one had come down.
Through the side fence and across the driveway, straight across where the car had been 2 minutes earlier. Lucky boy. Both cars blocked in but fortunately untouched. Shopping cancelled and an afternoon with a bow saw scheduled, not a bad result all be told. Little Oliver (yes I have named him) lives to fight another day.
Couple of days later we had our first set back. Engine check light on the dashboard, oh crap don't be too bad. Plug my fault reader in and up flashes 'O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 1'. Quick bit of googling and I'm suddenly all clued up on what a lambda sensor actually does. Nip the car round the corner to a neighbour who is a VW technician and he says he'll take a look at it to see if it is the sensor that's knackered or if its just a loose connection somewhere. I also ask him if he can check the brakes for me too.
Next day word come back that it does definitely need a new sensor and that the front brake discs were below spec so he'd advise changing them along with the pads. So off I went to ECP to get a Bosch lambda sensor (£71) and front discs and pads (pagid, cheers Vince70, £50) which said neighbour then fitted at £30 labour.
There is some goods news though as he informed me that it has a brand new exhaust on it which has outweighed some of this expense as the last MOT had an advisory regarding a blow in the exhaust so I was planning to get it checked to see if it required welding or worse a new one, but that's nothing to worry about now.
Some other expense as I managed to find a nice lady called Angie in West Bromwich selling her Haynes manual on Preloved so that was mine for £7 inc P&P, and another few quid on a tax disc holder.
Costs:
Purchase £475.00
Number plate (plus magic tree thrown in for nowt) £8.50
Road tax 6 months £96.25
Lambda sensor £71.00
Front brake discs/pads £50.00
Tax disc holder £3.85
Total to date: £704.60
Creeping up a bit but hopefully now I'll be able to get a few months under my belt before the MOT without any further expenditure.
I have one of those universal two piece elasticated edged water proof covers which fits using clips on the back seat and must say you would be better off using a big heavy duty blanket or an old settee throw...
Soon as the dog gets in the back of the car the cover always just pings off so I don't bother with it anymore and find a blanket works better as you can usually just tuck it in the seat and it stays put..
Soon as the dog gets in the back of the car the cover always just pings off so I don't bother with it anymore and find a blanket works better as you can usually just tuck it in the seat and it stays put..
Justin S said:
Easy enough to change the gearbox oil. Syncros seem the weak spot.
Diff bearings collapsing, diff rivet failure and layshaft bearings falling apart are more common than syncro failure. Some 085 transmission parts on the 6N and 6N2 (like this one) Polos were changed from the earlier models, and it seems that it wasn't for the better. Oil change is always a good shout, but if it's still whining get it rebuilt before it's too late. Full bearing and seal rebuild on an 085 'box should be in the region of £250, which is a better bet than a replacement from the scrappy.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff