Big mileage log...
Discussion
I've harboured a thinly veiled lusting for the original Audi TT for quite some time but a series of life/practicality obstacles have prevented me taking me plunge over the years. We've got two 'more sensible' (...and a bit dull) cars on the go at the moment. A tidy Audi A4 S-Line TDi Estate and my wife's VW Beetle Cabriolet. Still awake?!
So, there I was killing a bit of time browsing the Classified's on Saturday morning and up she popped... A cheeky little 2002 1.8l TT Coupe, two previous owners and the all too alluring £2.5k asking price. Enough to catch my eye for sure (given I'm a self confessed tightwad!). My suspicion that the buyer sounded like they may be under pressure to sell proved accurate. Cut a long story short, a quick hop down the road, a thorough inspection of the paperwork, a long test drive and a cheeky - but successful £2k bid later and I'm the owner of said TT.
So, what's the catch? The title of this post kinda gives it away, eh? It's got a whopping 178k on the clock. Now, this really isn't my style. Whilst I don't have a big hang up on mileage I'm still not the type to go for a set of wheels within spitting distance of 100k. Still, it's got recently replaced cambelt, clutch, flywheel, the interior is in great shape, electrics all seem spot on, taxed to September until and there's no leaks from under the hood. Even my 8 year old twins fit snugly on the backseat.
I thought at 178k and £2k worth of gamble, it might make a relatively interesting blog for anyone else thinking about snaffling a bit of fun for buttons. If she holds together, I'll hopefully be able to give a few useful pointers. If not you can all say I told you so as she's wheeled off for scrap!
I've piled on another couple of hundred miles today having taken the family out for long runs around the Kent countryside ( with recovery firm's details tucked nicely in my back pocket, just in case. Gotta say, the TT purred all day long. Acceleration and general handling felt really sharp, there were no iffy sounds emanating from either the engine or anywhere else around the chassis/bodywork. Probably a false sense of security but today gave me the distinct impression we may have picked up a genuine bargain! A big hurdle approaching next week as it's up for an MOT. Nothing too worrying on last years advisory list bar a bit of corrosion on the rear suspension coil. I've got a trusted local garage handling the work for me so not expecting to have my pants whipped down. Time will tell.
So, there I was killing a bit of time browsing the Classified's on Saturday morning and up she popped... A cheeky little 2002 1.8l TT Coupe, two previous owners and the all too alluring £2.5k asking price. Enough to catch my eye for sure (given I'm a self confessed tightwad!). My suspicion that the buyer sounded like they may be under pressure to sell proved accurate. Cut a long story short, a quick hop down the road, a thorough inspection of the paperwork, a long test drive and a cheeky - but successful £2k bid later and I'm the owner of said TT.
So, what's the catch? The title of this post kinda gives it away, eh? It's got a whopping 178k on the clock. Now, this really isn't my style. Whilst I don't have a big hang up on mileage I'm still not the type to go for a set of wheels within spitting distance of 100k. Still, it's got recently replaced cambelt, clutch, flywheel, the interior is in great shape, electrics all seem spot on, taxed to September until and there's no leaks from under the hood. Even my 8 year old twins fit snugly on the backseat.
I thought at 178k and £2k worth of gamble, it might make a relatively interesting blog for anyone else thinking about snaffling a bit of fun for buttons. If she holds together, I'll hopefully be able to give a few useful pointers. If not you can all say I told you so as she's wheeled off for scrap!
I've piled on another couple of hundred miles today having taken the family out for long runs around the Kent countryside ( with recovery firm's details tucked nicely in my back pocket, just in case. Gotta say, the TT purred all day long. Acceleration and general handling felt really sharp, there were no iffy sounds emanating from either the engine or anywhere else around the chassis/bodywork. Probably a false sense of security but today gave me the distinct impression we may have picked up a genuine bargain! A big hurdle approaching next week as it's up for an MOT. Nothing too worrying on last years advisory list bar a bit of corrosion on the rear suspension coil. I've got a trusted local garage handling the work for me so not expecting to have my pants whipped down. Time will tell.
Cheers, guys.
I'm using it today for my cross-London commute (London/Kent Border to deepest Middlesex) to see how it behaves in heavy traffic. It certainly made the commute fun putting my new found vehicular nimbleness (compared to my A4 TDi Estate) to good use to steal the odd traffic 'flow' advantage.
Nothing unpleasant to note. Temperature never went above 90 degrees at standstill and spent most of the crawl sat nicely on 70. The 18 mile run made a minor dent on the full gauge but certainly inline with expectations and the 1.8 TT's standard approx 25-30mpg. That's in stark contrast to my 2005 RX-8 that ended up being sold a couple of years back. In that case the 36 mile round trip ensured I became firmly acquainted with the guys at the local petrol station. Once the novelty factored wore off, she definitely had to go even with more space in the back for my twins. I may of had a bit of a duffer (as the Mazda was also bought used...) but from experience to date, the TT is far more satisfying a proposition.
So, in conclusion, it's got me in to work... hopefully it'll get me home again!
I'm using it today for my cross-London commute (London/Kent Border to deepest Middlesex) to see how it behaves in heavy traffic. It certainly made the commute fun putting my new found vehicular nimbleness (compared to my A4 TDi Estate) to good use to steal the odd traffic 'flow' advantage.
Nothing unpleasant to note. Temperature never went above 90 degrees at standstill and spent most of the crawl sat nicely on 70. The 18 mile run made a minor dent on the full gauge but certainly inline with expectations and the 1.8 TT's standard approx 25-30mpg. That's in stark contrast to my 2005 RX-8 that ended up being sold a couple of years back. In that case the 36 mile round trip ensured I became firmly acquainted with the guys at the local petrol station. Once the novelty factored wore off, she definitely had to go even with more space in the back for my twins. I may of had a bit of a duffer (as the Mazda was also bought used...) but from experience to date, the TT is far more satisfying a proposition.
So, in conclusion, it's got me in to work... hopefully it'll get me home again!
Good luck with the tt - sometimes a calculated "gamble" is worth the risk vs reward.
If it's been serviced etc as you say I would drive it then when it becomes too much to repair (hopefully never !) then you can brake it up for spares etc.
People nowadays seem to think that high mileage cars over a 100,000 are not worth the risk..
At least you have realised a cost effective car - I've got an audi a4 2.0 tdi 08 and I've always wanted a Honda S2000 - which i could of bought.. but it wasn't practical for lots of reasons - rear wheel drive, poor economy, not enough room.. but it had a beautiful engine, amazing dash, gorgeous red leather interior - but just couldn't drive that about everyday...
You've given me an idea now re the audi tt.
Well I would say german/jap cars are worth the gamble - they are built better in all aspects.
If it's been serviced etc as you say I would drive it then when it becomes too much to repair (hopefully never !) then you can brake it up for spares etc.
People nowadays seem to think that high mileage cars over a 100,000 are not worth the risk..
At least you have realised a cost effective car - I've got an audi a4 2.0 tdi 08 and I've always wanted a Honda S2000 - which i could of bought.. but it wasn't practical for lots of reasons - rear wheel drive, poor economy, not enough room.. but it had a beautiful engine, amazing dash, gorgeous red leather interior - but just couldn't drive that about everyday...
You've given me an idea now re the audi tt.
Well I would say german/jap cars are worth the gamble - they are built better in all aspects.
It's obviously been well serviced and looked after , I Picked up a tt 225 last week that's done 116k service history up to 83k very good condition except for a few niggly faults, or so iI thought , soon after purchase it lost oil pressure and as I was on the motorway by the time I pulled over the top end was rattling away , turned out to be the oil pick up which is a common problem on audi tt engines , luckily after taking sump off and replacing pick up pipe and a good flush through, it is running as good when purchased . I have been extremely lucky the engine wasn't trashed , just a warning to potential buyers of problems these engines have, even in a car that has been well serviced
Well, that didn't take long did it!? I managed to sneak out of the house this morning beating the missus to the TT keys and getting a few miles down the road without her even noticing her new station car had again become my new favourite commute livener! She ran like a dream all the way across from West Wickham to Teddington... Making a mockery of my paranoia over the high mileage.
A full working day later and it's home time... Just one snag, it appears the TT has developed a liking for the company car park. So much so that she's refusing to start. Five, six, seven goes at the ignition and she's firing, hitting 3000 rpm and then dying on her ass. I begin reaching for my jacket in the boot but convince myself to give her one last chance before she's dragged onto the back of a flat bed truck and driven back home with her tail between her legs. A good whiff of petrol lingers around the car... Something I grew used to with my regularly flooding RX-8 a couple of years back. One last turn of the key and..... She purrs back Ito life... The little tease! She cruised back home as effortlessly as she got there in the first place much to my delight/relief.
Now, I'm no mechanic but the fact I bought the car with the SERVICE! prompt showing gave me the sense something like this was lurking around the corner and I'm hopeful it's something trivial. Certainly planning for the worst and hoping for the best will likely keep me sane with this car. She'll be getting booked into our local garage as soon as the impending family holiday is out of the way.
A full working day later and it's home time... Just one snag, it appears the TT has developed a liking for the company car park. So much so that she's refusing to start. Five, six, seven goes at the ignition and she's firing, hitting 3000 rpm and then dying on her ass. I begin reaching for my jacket in the boot but convince myself to give her one last chance before she's dragged onto the back of a flat bed truck and driven back home with her tail between her legs. A good whiff of petrol lingers around the car... Something I grew used to with my regularly flooding RX-8 a couple of years back. One last turn of the key and..... She purrs back Ito life... The little tease! She cruised back home as effortlessly as she got there in the first place much to my delight/relief.
Now, I'm no mechanic but the fact I bought the car with the SERVICE! prompt showing gave me the sense something like this was lurking around the corner and I'm hopeful it's something trivial. Certainly planning for the worst and hoping for the best will likely keep me sane with this car. She'll be getting booked into our local garage as soon as the impending family holiday is out of the way.
Sometimes these high mileage cars can be the best value motoring, I bought a 1987 Porsche 944 with 182K on the clock for £1800, four years later and now with 206K on the clock it has been the cheapest motoring ever.
Two years as the family daily driver including long holiday trips, Christmas away and it's been brilliant and cost almost nothing to run in that time.
So even if it gets scrapped after the next MOT it has cost about £500 a year, you couldn't do it any cheaper, and certainly not get so much fun out of it.
If I wasn't 6ft 5 tall, the TT could be next.
Two years as the family daily driver including long holiday trips, Christmas away and it's been brilliant and cost almost nothing to run in that time.
So even if it gets scrapped after the next MOT it has cost about £500 a year, you couldn't do it any cheaper, and certainly not get so much fun out of it.
If I wasn't 6ft 5 tall, the TT could be next.
safehandsgk1 said:
You did, yes. Stays on or around 70 when I'm on the move. sits consistently on 90 when static. I hoped that was a good thing... I.e no head gasket issues etc. are you about to drop a bomb on me?!
I would expect the temp guage to hit 90, and stay there TBH. Sounds like the thermostat needs replacing, rather than anything more serious if its not losing coolant - not an expensive fix.hoegaardenruls said:
I would expect the temp guage to hit 90, and stay there TBH. Sounds like the thermostat needs replacing, rather than anything more serious if its not losing coolant - not an expensive fix.
Thermostat or coolant temp sensor.Coolant temp sensor could affect starting but probably not as severely as you describe.
OK so the car has sat on the drive at home all day today. I 'forgot' to leave the key at home for the good lady to have a spin... ;0) jumped in tonight, fired up first time and drove like a dream. I reminded myself of the tip my dad taught me when I got my very first car... and that the AA told me a few years back when the RX-8 flooded. "When parking up, always make sure you rev the engine and turn the ignition off at peak revs". Not sure I did this at work yesterday as I retrained my brain around diesel engines. As I said, a distinct whiff of petrol in the air... Could it have flooded?
I've decided to risk the TT on the 1hrs 45mins run to Thruxton on Sunday for the BTCC ( if you are going and you see a bald, fat lad in a 2002 silver TT, give me a holler! I've also got a run to Swindon Town FC for the League 1 play-offs versus Brentford on Sat plus the return leg on Monday so lots of motorway plus a cross London run... Although the stakes are higher for the footie and I'm not keen on risking a late arrival or missing the game altogether. One step at a time!
A week in and not a dull moment!
I've decided to risk the TT on the 1hrs 45mins run to Thruxton on Sunday for the BTCC ( if you are going and you see a bald, fat lad in a 2002 silver TT, give me a holler! I've also got a run to Swindon Town FC for the League 1 play-offs versus Brentford on Sat plus the return leg on Monday so lots of motorway plus a cross London run... Although the stakes are higher for the footie and I'm not keen on risking a late arrival or missing the game altogether. One step at a time!
A week in and not a dull moment!
Revving the engine before turning it off? Hmmm, strange. No need to do this.
If you or the garage are giving the car a look over/diagnostic pay particular attention to suspension bushes and springs; they are all prone to excessive wear and make the cars handle horribly.
Do you know when the diff oil was last changed? Does it whine at all?
I know I'm waffling on about things that have nothing to do with your starting problem, simply trying to suggest a few areas of preventative maintenance
If you or the garage are giving the car a look over/diagnostic pay particular attention to suspension bushes and springs; they are all prone to excessive wear and make the cars handle horribly.
Do you know when the diff oil was last changed? Does it whine at all?
I know I'm waffling on about things that have nothing to do with your starting problem, simply trying to suggest a few areas of preventative maintenance
Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff