GTI forum questions from potential buyer

Hi Hetain,

sounds like you are pretty passionate about a GTI, i was too when i was researching for mine :) i got mine from private sale, you just have to search carsales.com.au for a shortlist and go test drive them all i guess, and what i did is also get a RACQ vehicle check done which costs around 100-120 dollars if you going down the private sale route. (unfortunately the RACQ vehicle check won't find out about door lock issues or oil consumption.. :( ,  but at least you can rest assured the engine is in a good condition. You can also check redbook website for current market value for your 2nd hand car (however redbook prices tends to be at the lower end of the range). Personally i rather purchase from private sale rather than buy from 2nd hand car dealer, firstly 2nd hand car dealers mark up the price and it's hard for you to haggle compare to what you can get from private individuals, and secondly 3 month statutory warray is pretty useless for a good condition GTI i reckon. Plus i've bad bad experience with new and second hand car dealer in the past, i rate them slightly below child pedophiles, but that's just my personal opinion :)

I did have the PCV valve issue as well now you reminded me, it cost about 100 bucks to replace that valve. Fingers crossed i haven't got any DSG issues yet. You might be able to buy 2nd hand VW warranty too, i enquired before it was around 1000 a year or so... but i didn't purchase them. Tail light: yes i've replaced a tail light bulb and both front light halogen bulbs for mine. they seems to have a determine lifespan of 5-7 years each, but they cost 20+ dollars each so not too bad. Rattle isn't so much an issue in my car, however the plastic bit on the rear view mirror always get loose but that was it. With the oil consumption issue, VW basically checked it and told me there's no leak, so i just bought a huge (and expensive) bucket of shell 5w30 engine oil and tip some in once a while. (the engine oil for GTI is very specific).

but i probably would buy another GTI, for the price (i paid 28500 for mine more than a year ago for 2008 model, almost 80k on the odometer, it's not the best mileage GTI at the time for the money i admit, but it was in good condition, you can probably get the same model for much less then 24k these days i presume), it's a brilliant drive. i think i've mentioned in the forum as well, in a crisp day on a winding road just by yourself, it's brilliant :D   and to fix up all my current problems probably cost 500 bucks (for the door lock) and a few bucks of engine oil a week. The fuel consumption is OK, i'm sure you know those fuel consumption figures by heart by now. 

Let me know if you have more questions.