Confused.... about to purchase used car... proabably VW Golf

isotonic_uk

Hi All

I am hoping I can get some advice on a couple of dilemmas I have on purchasing my next car which at the moment I am going towards a Golf.... having looking at Seat Leons and Audi A3s.

Have had Ford cars in the past, cheap and mostly reliable however my 2006 Focus TDCi is starting to cost me money and becoming unreliable the more I drive it and am ready to get rid of it, I have had a decent PX price based on the scratch and engine problems it has and want to get a another car before I need to call a breakdown. it's also due for a service, MOT, Tax in the next 1-2 months so I dont really want to spend the money on it and would rather just put that money into a new car.

We do about 10k miles a year, I have been mainly looking at diesels for the low tax and my previous experience from a cost perspective has been ok however with the news of diesel cars becoming more expensive to run possibly, the reliability issues I have heard on VW Golfs from a variety of sources I am just questioning it.

So I have 2 questions, I really like the Bluemotion Golfs, tons of features, economical, low Tax and just the right size of car we are looking for and its within our budget of 12-15k. I have been looking at the 2.0 TDi GT Bluemotion tech model MK6 as well as the MK7 versions, the MK7 versions do slightly go out of my price range but the slightly better economical factor is enticing me towards them, I also hear there are less problems with them compared to Mk6.

What are owners recommendations of these? I am hearing VW reputation isn't that great and if I owned one I wouldn't get it serviced from a VW dealer, I'll just go to my local specialist but he isnt a VW man, he's an all car man... would that be prudent?

My next question is Petrol or Diesel? the news about Diesels do concern me but my other worry is I really dont want a 2.0 Petrol, but in the Golf range they only do the 1.4TFSI which to me for a Golf seem like a small engine. I am coming from a 1.8 TDCI diesel 115BHP btw and am happy with the pick up and torque on this however I would prefer something with a bit more that's why I was looking at a 2.0 diesel but then some people say the new Petrols are streets ahead in power over lot older cars.

I been looking at Audi A3s 1.6TDi/2.0 TDI but few issues with this, one they are more expensive and the features are less of a golf but then I believe (having had an A4 company car) in the past that the quality and ride is superior than the Golf but also the feature set you get in Audi would easily cost a lot more compared to the Golf and this is for reasons that Audi are branded as a more premium car and the badge also has a premium to it.

Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

BeenThroughItAll

isotonic_uk wrote: »

Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Don't buy a diesel.

Marktheshark

2.0 TDI drops conrods that smash the engine block and the 2.0 petrol with the direct injection engine can suddenly start to drink oil, on fully mineral with some using a litre every 100 miles it gets very expensive indeed to run

BeenThroughItAll

Marktheshark wrote: »

2.0 TDI drops conrods that smash the engine block and the 2.0 petrol with the direct injection engine can suddenly start to drink oil, on fully mineral with some using a litre every 100 miles it gets very expensive indeed to run

Is it not only the BXE that suffers from rod failure? Not entirely fair to tar all of the 2.0TDis with the same brush. My friend's firm has 10+ Passats with 2.0TDis, most of which have north of 200K on now.

BeenThroughItAll

isotonic_uk wrote: »

please elaborate?

Diesel at less than 15-20K a year = big potential bills.


Diesels need to be used properly, or they will rapidly turn into money pits.

Robisere

Marktheshark wrote: »

2.0 TDI drops conrods that smash the engine block and the 2.0 petrol with the direct injection engine can suddenly start to drink oil, on fully mineral with some using a litre every 100 miles it gets very expensive indeed to run

Where does that information come from please? I am not criticising or disbelieving you, just want to know the proof.

Regarding the diesel/petrol debate: it's more about your DAILY mileage, than your annual mileage. If you drive a good distance in a day regularly, especially every time you go out, a diesel is better. However, if you do short journeys every time you go out, petrol is a better choice. For example: I live in a very rural area. Anywhere I go is a good drive. Although I only do around 15,000 miles annually, the distance I regularly travel warms the engine and clears the DPF. If I lived in a town, and made regular short journeys, I would buy a petrol-engined car. I have a Ford C-Max 2 litre TDci and it does exactly what I want from a car.

Regarding the VW Golf, I would consider a Skoda or Seat alternative: same VAG group, same engines, much cheaper. Or a Citroen alternative.

isotonic_uk

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Is it not only the BXE that suffers from rod failure? Not entirely fair to tar all of the 2.0TDis with the same brush. My friend's firm has 10+ Passats with 2.0TDis, most of which have north of 200K on now.

Silly question, what the hell is a BXE?

Marktheshark

Robisere wrote: »

Where does that information come from please? I am not criticising or disbelieving you, just want to know the proof.

.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=2.0+tdi+conrod+failure&spell=1
77,800 references should be enough to get you going.

When they let go, the bill is not going to be a penny less than £3k at a budget garage.

isotonic_uk

Robisere wrote: »

Where does that information come from please? I am not criticising or disbelieving you, just want to know the proof.

Regarding the diesel/petrol debate: it's more about your DAILY mileage, than your annual mileage. If you drive a good distance in a day regularly, especially every time you go out, a diesel is better. However, if you do short journeys every time you go out, petrol is a better choice. For example: I live in a very rural area. Anywhere I go is a good drive. Although I only do around 15,000 miles annually, the distance I regularly travel warms the engine and clears the DPF. If I lived in a town, and made regular short journeys, I would buy a petrol-engined car. I have a Ford C-Max 2 litre TDci and it does exactly what I want from a car.

Regarding the VW Golf, I would consider a Skoda or Seat alternative: same VAG group, same engines, much cheaper. Or a Citroen alternative.

For work commute - its 35 mile round trip, then weekend it may be 10 or 50-200 miles round trip.

Clive_Woody

My wife has the 1.4 petrol Golf (122 BHP I think) and it's decent enough to drive and is certainly not slow.

Have you considered a Skoda as essentially it's the same thing, but costs less?

As mentioned my wife has a Golf and I have an Octavia. There's not a huge amount of difference except mine cost less and came with more toys as standard.

Cornucopia

A couple of thoughts...

- 10k miles overall isn't really enough to justify a diesel from a financial POV.

- Don't be misled by smaller engine sizes in new cars. Both petrol and diesel technologies have improved in recent years. I test-drove a Citroen Cactus 1.2 diesel, and it was perfectly driveable (probably on a par with the old 1.6 90bhp diesel that Citroen previously used).

- Golf is "the right size"? Hmmm... there are a lot of cars out there more or less the same size as that!

People on forums tend to go on about unreliability in cars... but the truth is cars are as reliable as ever (probably much better than in the past) - if properly maintained.

I drive 12k miles per year, and have had a mix of used and new cars over the years. My last breakdown excluding tyre problems was in 2006, and before that in 1995.