Second hand Golf advice

Delambre

Hi all - this is probably a very, very straightforward decision which I'm enormously overthinking, but would welcome views.

Our car is on its last legs and is very likely to fail the upcoming MOT, so I've been looking into getting a replacement. A family member is coming to the end of a PCP on a Golf 1.4TSI and has offered to let us have it for the cost of the balloon payment, which is only about £7k. It's a great, well equipped car and they're a careful driver. It only has 30k on the clock and has a full service history, etc. There have been a couple of very minor problems with the suspension, but these have been fixed under warranty.

I think this is a fantastic and very generous offer based on prices for comparable cars I see on Auto trader - and they seller is fully aware of market value, so I'm not taking advantage of them! However, I've been doing some Googling and am now wondering if I'll live to regret it. It looks like a very complex engine (which it also seems is going to need a £500 cambelt switch in 12 months) and there are loads of reports of expensive problems with the electronics (eg parking brake failures, emergency brake radar problems, etc). It also doesn't look a cheap car to keep running if I want to stay with a VW garage?

I'm handy enough but not a mechanic by any stretch, and have no free time, so just want something that works with no fuss. There seems to be a lot more to go wrong with modern cars. Would I be better just going for a brand new car on a PCP/lease for the benefit of the warranty and peace of mind, or am I disappearing into a Google quagmire and looking a very large gift horse in the mouth?

Thanks!

AdrianC

You're worried about bills for basic maintenance - yet quite happy to throw thousands in depreciation away...?

That Golf has lost around £14k from the list price since it was new. Plus, of course, the interest on the full amount borrowed for the term of the PCP - which includes the £7k balloon.

Herzlos

They money you'll save va buying a newer one will get you a lot of repairs.

Belts need changed every few years on everything.

Just buy the car and enjoy it.

FreddieFrugal

Don’t pay for overpriced main dealer servicing. Find a well rated independent. Not only cheaper but if you find a good one you’re likely to get a higher standard of service, than just going to your nearest Franchised dealer because it happens to have a VW badge outside.

I think it sounds like a good deal - you know the car has been well looked after AND you’re getting it for less than market value.

foxy-stoat

AdrianC wrote: »

You're worried about bills for basic maintenance - yet quite happy to throw thousands in depreciation away...?

That Golf has lost around £14k from the list price since it was new. Plus, of course, the interest on the full amount borrowed for the term of the PCP - which includes the £7k balloon.

Dont worry, its their family member who has lost all of the depreciation and paid the interest.

As long as the market value is there or there abouts, theres some value in buying it, if its been serviced correctly and they know for sure there has been no accidents etc.

AdrianC

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Dont worry, its their family member who has lost all of the depreciation and paid the interest.

Sure. I was putting the context to "Or should I buy new to save a £500 maintenance bill...?"

foxy-stoat

AdrianC wrote: »

Sure. I was putting the context to "Or should I buy new to save a £500 maintenance bill...?"

Standard way of thinking these days...car is on its last legs....need to pay for routine maintenance cost....throw it away and spend over 10 times more on a newer car.

I am 100% confident that if I didnt wrap my 1989 MK2 Astra GTE 16v around a tree in 2004 that it WOULD be on its last legs now and probably wouldnt pass another MOT without spending hundreds on welding.....wonder what the car the OP has ?!

Delambre

Thanks for your thoughts everyone - I think I was losing sight of the wood for the trees on this one, and will proceed with the Golf.

I am 100% confident that if I didnt wrap my 1989 MK2 Astra GTE 16v around a tree in 2004 that it WOULD be on its last legs now and probably wouldnt pass another MOT without spending hundreds on welding.....wonder what the car the OP has ?!

A 15 year old Punto. It's been a great car, and thankfully I've managed to avoid hitting any trees, but the last MOT cost me a fortune and I'm pretty sure there's more mechanical expense on the way. The electrics are also starting to fail in irritating ways (whether the boot opens, central locking works, etc is becoming a boring game of roulette). I'll shortly need to take out a second mortgage to cover the cost of topping up the oil, and my MPG is dropping like a stone. Perhaps I'm reinfocing your point about our throw-away society, but from where I'm sat the car's just becoming plain uneconomical to run.

Don’t pay for overpriced main dealer servicing. Find a well rated independent

Point taken! I'll do some digging into local independents.

Sure. I was putting the context to "Or should I buy new to save a £500 maintenance bill...?"

I think that's a slight misrepresentation of my question, which was really: this looks a great deal on the basis of up-front costs, but am I going to inadvertently land myself with a car which will cost a fortune to run and maintain (and, if so, would I be better off taking a different car). The cambelt quote was just an example - I think it only cost me about £150 the last time I had to get the timing chain on the Punto replaced.

AdrianC

Delambre wrote: »

I think that's a slight misrepresentation of my question, which was really: this looks a great deal on the basis of up-front costs, but am I going to inadvertently land myself with a car which will cost a fortune to run and maintain (and, if so, would I be better off taking a different car). The cambelt quote was just an example - I think it only cost me about £150 the last time I had to get the timing chain on the Punto replaced.

My apologies if you feel misrepresented, but I was going off...

Delambre wrote: »

However, I've been doing some Googling and am now wondering if I'll live to regret it. It looks like a very complex engine (which it also seems is going to need a £500 cambelt switch in 12 months) and there are loads of reports of expensive problems with the electronics (eg parking brake failures, emergency brake radar problems, etc). It also doesn't look a cheap car to keep running if I want to stay with a VW garage?

I'm handy enough but not a mechanic by any stretch, and have no free time, so just want something that works with no fuss. There seems to be a lot more to go wrong with modern cars. Would I be better just going for a brand new car on a PCP/lease for the benefit of the warranty and peace of mind

A Glof is as generic a new car as you're going to find. It's no more complex or less reliable than pretty much anything else comparable. Yes, modern cars are far more complex than they used to be - but your mid-00s Punto is still a lot more complex than something 15yrs older than that...

Ganga

Plus an independant garage may be cheaper to do the cam belt change.

Goudy

If this is a later 1.4 TSi it has a cam belt, older models had a chain which caused issues.
The chain manufacturer used an old, worn tool to stamp out the links, so quite a lot suffered with chain failure.

I seem to think the newer belt engines have had their belt change intervals reduced since it's launch.
Dealers are stating it's due every 4 years, it's quite a complicated job which involves some time which is why it does seem to cost a bit more than some other cars, £400 to £500 seems about right depending on who does the work.

It's noted this engine can use a bit of oil, I know of a couple of owners and they do say they need to check the level each week, but both do pretty high mileage.

Another thorn it their side is the DQ200 dry clutch DSG 7 speed gearbox, if it's fitted, best avoid that one, it's a matter of when, not if it fails.

You shouldn't be too far away from an independent VW specialist, they seem to be everywhere, but they are usually split into two groups, older air cooled (and early water cooled) specialists and later specialists that will usually deal with VW, Skoda, Seat and Audi.

You obviously need to find the latter as it's these that will carry all the latest diagnostic equipment needed to keep your car happy, the air cooled specialists will carry various sized hammers!

Genuine parts can be quite pricey from the dealers, but a decent indy will know they can fit the same OEM quality parts from cheaper sources which should keep some costs down.