Used Tuareg 04-06?

[dtr]

I am looking for some advice whether a 2.5 L diesel Tuareg would be a reasonable buy? I really want my next car to be an SUV and would like to get as reliable car, as it is reasonable for a used second hand vehicle; and certainly no major £1k+ failures like gearbox or engine.

It would be around 04-06 with maybe around 100k miles on the clock. Please let me know if there as a very good reason to adjust these figures either way or even look elsewhere for a similar price.

[rufmeister]

We had a 2006 Touareg Sport 3.0TDi which was an amazing car, we loved it and only replaced it with a Q7 for our expanding family and versatility of 7 seats.

The 2.5 is a bit of an old engine and slightly unrefined, but there are some very cheap ones about.

Get on mytreg.com for some info, they suffer from valve chest issues, which is a big repair, unsure if that's only to certain derivatives, and also propshaft bearings which can be rectified for a few hundred.

A bit of research is definitely needed as they are known to be fairly unreliable, and if memory serves me correctly, they were one of, if not the, most repaired vehicle for Warranty Direct at some point.

My advice would be a 3.0TDi.

[Sheepshanks]

Colleague had an 04 2.5 from new and had a lot of trouble at around 80K miles when it became very difficult to start. Both VW and a recommended indie said it was probably due to lots of things wearing out and no one specific cause, and they both said that rather than spends hours doing diagnosis the best thing to do was replace everything relating to the fuel system. I’m not entirely sure what “everything” means, but the bill (at the Indie) was around £4K.

He ran it for another 80K with pretty well no problems but then started having some kind of transmission / driveshafts issue (it was a manual). Indie told him to get shut of the car!

[dtr]

OK, Thanks. I take it the answer is to look elsewhere.

[rufmeister]

I wouldn't say so. They're a great car, and the 3.0 is a great engine.

When you are into luxury car territory, although the purchase price may be low, they still have luxury car running costs.

I would have another one.

[dtr]

rufmeister said:

I wouldn't say so. They're a great car, and the 3.0 is a great engine.

When you are into luxury car territory, although the purchase price may be low, they still have luxury car running costs.

I would have another one.

hmmm... Say it costs £6k, then another £6k in a year and a bit for repairs. Isn't it better to pay those same £12k for a barely run in Tiguan for example? In fact my current ageing car cost me as much as leasing Tiguan for the last year considering repairs and depreciation... and that's what I want to stop.

P.S. did the seats in you ex-Tuareg fold completely flat down?

[Sheepshanks]

rufmeister said:

When you are into luxury car territory, although the purchase price may be low, they still have luxury car running costs.

I wouldn't say it's that, it's more that buying a 10ish year old / 100K modern diesel is always going to be a bit of gamble, unless you find one like my colleague's, that's just had a load of money spent on it.

Unless your handy with the spanners, I'd first find a good indie and have a chat with them, then weigh up how brave you feel.

[dtr]

Sheepshanks said:

I wouldn't say it's that, it's more that buying a 10ish year old / 100K modern diesel is always going to be a bit of gamble, unless you find one like my colleague's, that's just had a load of money spent on it.

Unless your handy with the spanners, I'd first find a good indie and have a chat with them, then weigh up how brave you feel.

My car became disaster almost overnight once I hit 120k on the clock. Now its 140 and things are getting grim, mostly suspension and all rubber bits perished and they are surprisingly dear. If the "new" car is going to have worse mechanical issues I am really out. I might have a look for Tiguan, Yeti, CRV and also keep an eye on Land Crusisers... My understanding is they have less problems or are too new to have problems this expensive?

[cheddar]

dtr said:

I might have a look for a Yeti

There's your answer.

[dtr]

cheddar said:

There's your answer.

Do you think this is much better car than Tiguan or CR-V? Engine wise I'd go 2.0 TDI and probably manual (scared of DSG failure, but I'd love it) and ideally AWD.