Think ive got a bargain here just wondered what we think + some advice if poss

[crugga]

Hi all, just after some reinforcement of my shopping skills really really + a bit of advice. I'm a big Vw/Fan and have owned several over the last 10 years. Ive just sold my Audi a6(financial reasons) and have been looking for a runabout for under £500. A friend mentioned his grandad had a golf for sale cheap so I went and had a look.
He wants £250 for it and hasnt advertised it so i'm the only person thats been offered it yet.

Spec as follows
1.6 driver
1991(H)
Black(probably personal preference)
3 door
89kmiles
3 previous owners
gti interior(as standard I presume???)
tape player(old skool)
Bodywork is perfect except 2 tiny dinks in door which are barely visible but absolutely no rust, all original fittings attached etc and interior is in great condition(except the smell of a smoker).
Standard steel wheels with black vw middles
Runs nice aswell, gears feel smooth and it pulls well.
Original small bumpers(which I think I actually prefer)

Basically its totally standard and in great nic, very tidy with no cheap mods, looks wise its exactly what im looking for.
However on the negative there is no history except a recent mot and an mot from 2002 in which time its only done 700 miles and he doesnt know much about whats been done over the time.

Now i'm confident that at £250 with 6 months of the mot left its a good buy however as I dont know whats gonna need doing ive got my reservations. Just wondered what people think?, he's said he'll hold it till next friday but then wants to sell it elswhere.

What are the likely costs of getting the belts changed etc + any other essential servicings?. Guess I just dont want my £250 bargain to end up costing me £700.
Also where would be the best place to look for some cheap mk2 gti BBS alloys other than ebay?

Thanks in advance for any advice. :D

[towcestervag]

not being funny but what do you expect for £250
if its good nick and drives ok buy it

[crugga]

Well this is what I though. Any idea on the cost of a cambelt change though?. I really can only afford £500 all in and need a car pretty quick and the Audi cost me a lot to get done. No way I'd want to drive it far till its been done after snapping my sisters Clio last week and writing off the engine.

[towcestervag]

cambelts are a piece of p--s
£60 for kit max
2.1hrs if with pas
find local specialist

[crugga]

Thanks, should be no more than £140 then, dont get me wrong I love the cars but i'm no mechanic and was in a better financial position with the Audi so just slung it in the garage and let them do whatever then paid it but after looking at the reciepts i'm a bit shocked what I paid for seemingly simple jobs, hence why it probably cost so much. I'm gonna go and buy the car tomorow I think just incase he goes against his word or his garage burns down in the meantime.
:approve: :beerchug:

[macmillions]

Don't wanna put a jinx on it but sounds to me like you have a bit of a bargin there mate!

I would jump at the opportunity if it was as in good a nick a you say it is. Check it for cold starts aswel, cos the old carburettor is known to be a biatch. But ours is the original carb, and it still runs ok. just needs kicking over a couple of times when in freezing conditions.

Post up some pics when u get it! (before BBS alloys) then after if you please :p

Look forward to seeing it!

[davey670]

to be honest i paid £200 for my last mk2 golf but i knew just by looking at it that i was getting a good car with a small amount of work to do.
for £250 you can't really go wrong if it still has a 6 month m.o.t you have 6 months to sort out any problems that might pop up.

i like the mk2 over any other shape golf, i have a mk4 now but i don't like it and it will be going on ebay soon as i have a vitara as well.
i would sonner drive my vitara then the golf.

the timing belts on the mk2 are pretty good and easy enough to get hold of.
if you don't want to be stung by your local garage buy the parts your self, then walk in to the nearest garage and ask how much to fit this kit.
they can't slap their v.a.t on you for parts used on the end of the bill they will only charge for labour plus v.a.t

[the surfer]

I just picked up a '91 Golf 1.6 Driver on Friday! Ours has 117k on the clock and drives like the day it rolled off the production line! Interior is spotless, exterior is excellent (minus one slightly rusty wing), standard steelies are mint, engine is sweet, gearbox is soooo smooth. The car is completely standard.

The Mk2 Golf is an excellent example of quality German engineering! If it's looked after it will go on forever! I know people approaching 400k (same engine and gearbox) with their Mk2s! I friend at work has a 1.6 Mk2 that he drives over 500 miles per week and it's now at 340k and still on the original clutch!

Buy it, you won't regret! Simple yet effective, built like a Panzer, easy to fix, easy to maintain, cheap to run; you can't go wrong!

Link to the advert where we bought it (if you are interested): http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1237236.htm

[zollaf]

that looks like an absolute gem of a car. you just cant really go wrong with a mk2 golf. certainly from an era of 'if only everything was as reliable as a vw'.lets face it, theres not many about in a1 condition, and if you cherish it, you wont loose any money on it.

[macmillions]

Wow, we actually stumbled across the ad for your new '91 Driver when on the prowl for our new motor! My jaw dropped, the only reason we didn't persue is because we were after another 1.8 carb, as we want to swap a number of parts over from our old gal to the new one. Hopefully you will have many years of trouble free motoring!

Just to let everyone know, we are soon to be the proud new owner of this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320422309246&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Absolutely fantastic, immaculate condition inside and out. Only minus' are:
One flake of paint has come off on driver's door, but has been touched up.
Cracked headlamp
One small hole in driver's seat.
Air intake hose is split.

Pros:
Just look at it!
Carb runs pefectly, revs to 2000rpm, then slows once warm to around 850-900 rpm.
11 months MOT

What do you guys think?
We are picking her up on Wednesday.

[the surfer]

We (my girlfriend and I) are both very pleased with it. It's her new daily driver (no pun intended). It really is a very tidy, unmolested example of what is now a classic car. She loves it! :D

Quite often things turn out to be not quite how they appear in an ad. I'm very pleased to say this was not the case here! We bought the car from a very nice young man; a VW enthusiast too!

Mac - that looks very nice! Congrats on your purchase! Bet you can't wait to pick her up tomorrow!

[davey670]

nice looking car,
i am getting a bit home sick now for the mk2

my mk4 will be going on ebay very soon, just want to tax it for 6 months next week then its up for sale so if you know anyone that wants a 2003 TDI ( 100bhp ) automatic send them my way.
its not been driven hard by me and never been remapped in fact i don't even think i have done a 1000 miles in since i bought its just sitting there looking very pretty because i clean it once a week lol lol lol lol

i need to clear it out the way as i have my vitara back on the road I just finished rebuilding the engine in the vitara so the golf has to go bye bye.

now the vitara is complete i will be on the look out for next project and you can bet its going to be a another MK2 if i can get my hands on a goodish one.

[macmillions]

Same story here, if you know anyone interested in our old Golf, send them our way too! (it smkes a bit though, so an engine rebuild would be necessary in the long term.) Bodywork is pretty good though.

And surfer - we cannot wait to pick her up, taxing it today and gonna pick her up at 4pm. I'm lke a little boy on Christmas morning!

[davey670]

must have picked that car up by now,
come on spill the beans macmillions whats it like ?

[macmillions]

Haha, I picked it up last night.

I posted in the general chat, but here it is anyway:

It's a beautiful car, one tiny dink in the driver's door, but its been touched up, so not really an issue.

Was driving it home yesterday (have already test driven it twice), pulled up in town to grab some fish n chips, turned it off and the fepping thing overran like crazy. i had to switch the ignition on for a sec and then turn it off. That worked.

Got my food, jumped back in, went to start it, dead. :aargh4:

As I was driving it at night for about 30mins I assumed the alternator was knackered, so called the AA, bloke came out, alternator and battery fine, but starter motor was siezed. Couldnt even clout it with a hammer to free it!

So I had to grab a random bloke from outside the pub (who was half cut) and help us bump start it so i could get it home haha. AA bloke just said that is pure bad luck, as that could have gone at any random point and it's just so it happened now!

Got a few niggles which I'm going to post in the MK2 section of the forum, regarding the over-run and stuff. But otherwise, hopefully I've got a real gem, a few niggles, but nothing a good service shouldn't sort out!

....................................

I'm going to start a new thread about the over-run so any advice would be great :beerchug:

[AndySil]

Hello, how you doin', sounds like your having a fun time with your new car.
You kindly sent me some of your air intake hose sometime ago so, you should be OK to replace this one?
How much did you pay for the car, or is that a personal question?
My car (1.8 MK2) cost quite a bit to get through MOT this time and body work seems to be getting a problem.(never had a garage). Everthing else is fine and the original carb is behaving well.
I'm looking for another Golf if I can find one.

Good luck with it and thanks.
Andy

[macmillions]

Hi, yea I remember sending you that stuff. Still go loads left, but unfortunately the part of the air intake hose that is split is the part before the warm air hose, (the bit that connects to the wing of the car). So gonna have to find a new bit or gaffa tape it up for the time being!

The car is really nice, its just a shame I cant drive it cos of the starter motor! grrr. But my mate who's a mechanic is picking it up tomorrow, with my help bumping it, and is going to replace it, and do a full service (inc cambelt).

I'm happy to say we paid £595 for the car. I think that is a good price, considering every other one I've looked at on pistonheads, autotrader and ebay have not been as good, and thats nationally!

I have posted a thread about the over-run, and have been informed by crasher and kenney that I should start with the thermostat, as it doesn't quite heat up all the way to optimum, therefore idles at 1500rpm, thus runs over when i switch off.

Hopefully, the service will help with the over-run if its not the thermostat, as I heard carbon build up can cause it, and that is caused by often bad mixture?

Hope your Golf is going well. Sorry to hear you had to spend a lot for its MOT, but hopefully, that will be it as far as big spends go! How old is yours?

[VAGMAN54]

its a p uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuurfect example of a quality car and good luck with it

[AndySil]

Hope your Golf is going well. Sorry to hear you had to spend a lot for its MOT, but hopefully, that will be it as far as big spends go! How old is yours?

Your car looks good and a reasonable price too!

Mine is a 1988 Golf Tour 1.8 . Due to massive pot holes in the roads locally, the front track control arm bush had been pushed right out of the track control arm, so needed the complete arm assembly, then a rear shock absorber was completely shot, one tyre needed replacing and some welding on the bottom where the jack fits by the front wheel arch. I'm sure there was something else but anyway it was over £300 to include welding and redecorating the valances. Ouch! I'm always a bit wary when the welding needs to be done as the underseal gets damaged and more rot appears later. Anyway she's running great apart from a little flat spot when cold . When warm she's as good as gold.

Good luck with yours.
Are you having a new starter motor?
Andy

[macmillions]

Thats unfortunate about all that work that needed doing. I've checked the jacking points on the new golf and they appear mint. I think it must have been garaged all its life. So is yours a 'big bumper?' Or was it prior to that?

Any idea what may be causing your flat spot?
Just a standard Pierburg problem I assume!

Yeah having a new starter motor fitted tomorrow, along with all that other work.

Hoping it will sort most of the niggling issues out. Also, the ligt behind the speedo doesn't work, which is great fun trying to judge your speed by the rev counter! Any idea how hard it is to take the dials out?

[rajan_mk2]

For a rust free shell that is a bargain and a half. You could easily drop a VR or ABF in there if you wanted to...