Folks Just starting out on the search for a new car, but how much will I be relieved for the following spec of car. Mk5 Golf GT 170 PS Less than 50K miles Upto 4 years old Leather Reasonably tidy Not silver or black Are they any good any specific to be aware of? Thanks for any comments Andrew
RUST! on front wings, wheel arches, under the wheel arch liner there is a piece of foam to keep the wheel arch liner in place,this traps moisture (how much of an afterthought is that?!) rust on door sills. coil packs. steering racks. rear brake calipers prone to seizing. VW were on a money/weight saving exercise with the mkV.
yeah I know but I thought the bodywork was galvanised, so surely if its in the warranty period then there shouldnt be any problems, unless its had some poor accident damage repairs?
Ive heard of a lot of rusted mk5's id say its a genuine issue for what is supposed to be the class leader. Ive heard of an R32 which required both front wings replaced after 3 years. as far as i can see most of the problems have been repaired under warranty. some of them are flaws in the cars preparation, where zinc is left on the surface of the metal prior to painting. My dads 03 Audi TT had the same issue with a patch on the roof,it was under warranty at the time. A3's had problems with corrosion around roofrails.
i just got rid of my second GTdi/GT Sport Had a 140ps followed by the 170pS both DSG both leased for 3 year 30k contract. they were both abused and driven hard. IMO the 140 is a better engine. the 170 is very thirsty and not that much quicker in real terms. The 140 has a smoother p0wer delivery and doesnt require revving it too high to see it. The 170 will be more expensive and you can always get a 140 chipped if you do think it needs more power. it also eats front tyres if you drive it "enthusiastically". forget about turning off the ESP. it will spin in first and second no problem! any stone chips will rust very quickly. i backed into a car and whilst it was a 1mph touch and all looked fine on both cars I had momentarily lifted the rear bumper up to touch the edge of the boot. in doing so there must have been a hairlinecrack in the paint on the edge. over the next few weeks it split rusted and flaked an area about 6 inches long and an inch wide on both side of the crack. very poor prep and rust prevention. never had any rust issues around front wings though. get one from 06-11 as the original ones had some design flaws including a brake servo that filled itself with the fluid, some body ecu issues (the stuff like electric mirrors alarm etc) these were all fixed for the next production run I would buy another and was looking at one just recently 05 45k 140ps needed some ABS sensor 4500! there are some deals!
