mynickers

Hi everyone,

I been looking to get my first car for a while now, change my tune every five minutes, the main thing is that I am in no hurry, just been looking for the right car to come up. There has been many flavours on the menu, as some might recall from previous threads. But I have had to lower my price, going for bargain basement for first year, built up another yers ncb, and then onto something more exciting.

But a guy around the corner from me is selling a 3 door golf gti 16v, will post a picy 2moro. It’s utterly spotless on the bodywork and interior. The guy that owns it is a family man, and a real golf enthusiast, he has three on his driveway All immaculate, I see him out there on Sundays waxing them and generally loving them.

Anyway, I am doing my usual thing of talking myself into it, and I know how subjective I can be so I thought I’d see if any of you lot have owned them, could give me some advice on what to look for when I go and have a proper look at it 2moro.

It has 85k on the clock according to him, before he owned it an old man had it from new (1988) so one of the first built. It has full VW service history up to 60k miles, all the major work has been done, cam belts etc, will have a proper look when I go see it. He has had it serviced by a family friend whom I have heard of and I know he is pretty good, all the servicing has been done up to the current day, and has full history, and he has all MOT and tax certs. The guy seemed very sound on the phone, defo not a boy racer, more of a enthusiast, but they all make out like that don’t’ they! He certinly know's his GTi stuff, and he has owned loads of them, which leads me to think he isn't going to buy a crap one in the first place.

Anyway, I haven’t looked inside it yet, and / or driven it, just had a look from the outside and spoke to him on the phone. The body work looks spotless, there doesn’t appear to be any accident damage to my eye and it's a really nice metalic colour blue. The interior is immaculate, really quite amazing for a car from the late 1980’s. It’s definitely been looked after cosmetically.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if anyone could give me any advice about buying one, things to look out for what things should of been serviced and when, what to look out for on the service history, and what sort of money one in this condition should go for. I know they can have problems with overheating if they’ve been really ragged, and that can lead to loads of problems, leaks; warped cylinder head or blown head gasket etc.

He only wants £1,750, which makes me slightly suspicious, if it really is such a perfect motor, couldn’t he ask a little more than that?? Because obviously I am going to knock him down off that price I'd be looking to spend £1500. Sounds a little too good to be true but then I don't really know much about mk2 golfs to be sure. But I remember looking on autotrader a while ago, I just gave up, they were all over 100k, they'd all been modded, and they all looked as if they'd had their necks ringed so to speak.

That said I know of a few people that have bought mk2’s with even higher mileage and raked the ******* out of them and not had any major problems, so hopefully I can have the same luck. Because I am going to rake the ******* out of it, happy to spend cash keeping it running, but don’t’ want to get stuck with major repair bills like new gearboxes etc.

Advice, and anyone that can make me see common sense, would be very much appreciated.

Then if I do buy it, there will be a new thread about how to get more horses and torque from it and then possibly, how to get a better sus set up! he he he!

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

well mate i had one till about a month ago. i only paid 1000 for mine in jan taht was a 1992 J with 102k on the clock and also full leather also lowered on a full kit and a gas flowed haed and high lift cams.
this was so cheap mainly due to the fact that the previous owner did not know it's value. i had the car untill last month and me being 21 and all nailed it everywhere night and day did over 4000 miles in it only problem new distributor. bit of a petrol loving car but worth every penny. i sold mine for £1800 which was nearer it's value!

i would suggest having a look for over spray under arches and on exhaust and so on. also just stand in line with the edge of the car just to see if it looks straight as u can quite often see a twisted car just by looking.

the mechanical parts of the car are pretty much indistructable just have a test drive and that the car goes into all gears. although u may get a slight crunch going from first to send which is a worn synchromesh not problem. just listen for whining which may be bearing going.

in the end it will run forever and it's only £1500 even if it only lasts a year or so.

hope this helped
ciaran

mynickers

ciaran thanks for that.

Pretty much telling me what i wanted to hear. A friend of mine has been filling my head with scare stories, he bought a second hand saab a while back for 900 with full service, family man owned it, and it just costs him one hell of a lot of cash to keep on the road.

I have a good feeling about this car, it looks like a minter. Frankly if it's in really good nick, I wuld be happy spending money on it, to get it up to standard. I can get more cash, just not in one lump at the moment, and I just don't want to get any more credit, my student loan isn't funny!

The way I always look at it is, £1500 is an expensive holiday, and I know i'll get as much fun from beasting a nice front wheel drive chassis around as much as I would sitting on a beach drinking cocktails!

I'd prolly get the same mod's done as you had, I know they're pretty potent 2nd, 3rd and 4th anyway, but i still think they need at least 150 break! Quite a few of my (car enthusaist) mates have scoob's, so I can't be - being left behind everywhere we go!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Parts are dead cheap from Eurocarparts.com, check for rust under the placcy arch extensions, mine was a minter yet was really crusty under there. Good cars annd if you dont get that dont rule out the 8 valve, I have had seven Golf GTI's of various types and still rate the MK2 8 valve as the best all rounder, especially if a few choice mods are done. A Scoob will have to work hard to leave a well fettled MK2 16 valve, it will leave it but not by the margin you may think, good MK2 16 valvers usually make nearer 150 bhp anyway, they weigh a lot less than a Scoob and have lower trans losses, besides if its your first car its probably plenty of performance anyway.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Also, have a FIat Coupe 20 VT which is rapid (once rolling twisties notwithstanding) and to be honest my last 8 valve Golf was probably more fun and less scary.

jjones

first car? therefore no NCB. isn't the 16valve group 14 or 15? that would be one mighty expensive first car to insure!

R1916v

Cant you get done for doing that in public?

Grp 15 will mean high ins with no ncb.

Mind you I insured a grp 15 at 20 with just 1 year ncb ok so you *might* get lucky..

mynickers

OK me and Edcase from here, went around to meet him today. He is genuinely a nice, guy, he has offered to let me put a deposit down for a few weeks while I find the cash. Full history, everything, all the work has been done, very, very clean car indeed.

We went out for a drive, the engine sounded very tight, as did the gear box, in fact it was raining, and it was wheel spinning in first and second at 3k revs! Here are the pics, as you’ll see the only problems were, a little bit of surface rust on the passenger door, and the door handle, both could be easily sorted, it’s not deep, so not really a problem. And frankly a little bit of cosmetic damage doesn’t bother me as long as the mechanics are in good order. I think I have found a genuine bargain. The old fella that had it before him, bought it for his wife, but she didn’t like driving it, one year it only did 11 miles! The only thing I could find that was a minor niggle was there was quite a lot of play in the gear box, but changed fine. I didn’t drive it, but was watching him. Didn’t labour at all (apart from when he had it in the wrong gear ) very rapid, very responsive, and sounded very clean to me. No blue smoke either, engine looked clean, but not clean like he’d steamed it, but just not that anything is leaking.

There are some photos on here, my webserver was pissing me off, and I just can’t be arsed this pissed, and this late, so I have uploaded to fotopic, they’re being approved, so by the time you chaps are up in the morning, should be viewable.

http://gallery60964.fotopic.net/


RE: Insurance, it’s the first car I will of bought and owned, but been on other peoples insurance and lots of them will take that now. I have recent years ncb as name driver, and more and more will take that. I am 27, good job, so they're actually pretty good, last year, and the year before I used to get spastic quotes, 1-2k, but I got quoted 800 fully comp on a 280bhp MR2 95' Turbo import, I was shocked. £1.2k f/c classic Wrx, £1k on a 300zx, £950 200sx, £1.7k Fiat coupe turbo, the most expensive quote I have had is for a freaking clio 172!

I got a quote from confussed.com for £385 tpft on the golf, I am happy with that, it’s about 600 fully comp, but for a £1500 car, I can’t be arsed.

Basically I want to do some mod’s get it to a good state of running, and probably start slowly turning it into a track orientated car. The present owner is quite well in on the VW scene, and has a few contacts. He has a mate that is fitting brand new and or reconditioned 20v engine units generating around 200 bhp and decent torque figure, then just a zorst, and decent sus. And breaks, and I reckon I’ll have a nice track day car!

In the short-term, think I’ll leave as standard for a while, then look to do the sus first, then zorst, filters and chip as that might be alright, even though they're quote 107bhp, they're freaking rapid, it feels as rapid as the Civic, (although it's a few seconds slower) and that's 200bhp. I have heard the 20v is a little bit too silly, wheel spinning in third etc, you can have too much power for a chassis, espeically a fwd chassis. Most people do it the other way around, but I always think it makes more sense to have the chassis done first, as that's what really makes it quick, is how much speed you can carry through corners, then get more power. But then I suppose some people get a kick out of beating people of traffic lights. I prefer 2nd, 3rd, and 4th more than first myself! That’s when the fun really starts happening. The funny thing is that I am driving around a standard clio 1.2 16v at the moment, it leans like *******, but it's got some great grip, and i've shown up a few people in that, just form getting good lines, and having the ***** to get a bit of lift off with only 80bhp to get me out of trouble! So I am sure it will be a lot of fun as standard.

Any advice on mods and anyone that has tracked them, would be fantastic.

And as for driving, I have read lots of reviews over the years, but can't really remember.

Do they oversteer on lift off, are they adjustable in corners? What about torque steer and understeer? Breaks?

HOW exciting, I WANT it NOW!

Harry_Boy

Monza blue - nice colour! Used to have a Jade Green Met 16v Mk 2 for many years.

There should be a red strip on the top of the bumpers, plus a red tape stripe above the rubbing strake on the sides.

Apart from the smoked indicator lenses and the optional BBS wheels, it looks pretty standard & straight mate.

If it's genuinely a nice example, you'll have a ball! Lovely cars!

mynickers

Thanks Harry, does look like an honest little motor. Can replace the bumbers and strips, and yeah it's standard apart from the wheels, but you'd want the BBS anyway wouldnt' ya!

Noticed the smoked indicators, wasn't sure if they were standard or not, but that's cosmetic, doesn't bother me either, I quite like them.

He leaves it on his driveway too, so surprised their is no rust, none in the boot, or even in the sunroof..

Right now lets start looking at some performance mod's

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

well isurance isn't that bad i was 20 when i bought it 0ncd and only paid £847 tpft in my own name saying that i neglected to tell them about it being lowered. im now 21 and have a 306 diesel and only pay £400 u just have to have a look around to get a deal. with he head and cams done i recon i must have been making about 160-170 bhp easily and timed the 0-60 in under 7 and she topped out at 142ish on the limiter in fifth on my private test track of course!

CLSII

I had an F reg 16v about 10 years ago and was absolutely gutted when it had to go. Insurance was going ballistic and even then I only got £2,500 for it although it had done about 80,000 miles when it went.

If I recall I had to replace the exhaust back box, and a CV joint whilst I had it.

Acceleration was brilliant - but then again it ran on four star and had no catalyst.

Brilliant car!