Question on buying a 04 Highline

[deluna]

I'm going to buy a 2004 Highline 130 tdi and would appreciate any advice on what I should be looking for. I have a 1 litre 1995 Polo at the moment so i can't wait to change! The Passat i'm looking at is from a dealer, it's got 51k miles on the clock and the salesman said it had 2 vw dealer stamps in the book and then it was serviced privately...should i be worried about this and would it effect the resale value. Also, are there any common faults to look out for on the passat? Any advice is appreciated:D Cheers

[hongkongstuey]

if its been privately serviced i'd ask if they had all the receipts for parts etc and wether they noted mileage down for any of them, when i had my previous car i serviced it myself and to be honest i skimped a bit, but the parts i fitted in the 12 months of having it all had receipts for them and i wrote the mileage on them, meant i had a bit more to keep the price up when i sold it.

services may have not been as regular as a dealer would have done them or they may have done them more often, without details you wont know if its been serviced at all. i lose count of the cars ive looked at that are just waiting for the service book to be received by post.

[deluna]

Thanks for the reply! The dealers agreed to change the timing belt and give it a full service so i'm tempted by it. Have to go see it first though!

[TimboUK]

Thanks for the reply! The dealers agreed to change the timing belt and give it a full service so i'm tempted by it. Have to go see it first though!


What are they charging? Main dealers struggle to shift these; I picked up my 54 plate in August for only 7k with 12 month warranty and similar milage, love the car!

[deluna]

I've got the dealer to lower his price from 7k to 6k. Hopefully when i go see it tomorrow I can get the price down to 5800. It's got a 6 month warranty. Glad to hear you're happy with your car. I definately prefer the design of the 00-04 passats to the new one.

[davidrc]

Bought my Highline 130, 54 plate from a main dealer last Feb with mileage of 27k.
It's not been the most reliable of cars, firstly it broke down when the turbo boost pipe blew off the EGR valve (doesn't mean a lot to me but thats what they said!), later the radiator had to be replaced because it was leaking and more recently at 36k both CV boots had to be replaced. The boost pipe and radiator were dealt with under warranty but not the CV boots, all of these faults are apparently fairly common with Passats.
Re the servicing there is an expensive service due at 4 years in addition to the cambelt. If there is no evidence of recent servicing you may need to have it done to be on the safe side, you should also ask if there is any evidence as to what oil has been used in the engine, these engines require oil to a particular VW spec depending on whether it has been on a Longlife service schedule or time/distance.
On the plus side it's a comfortable, economical car with good performance, I tow a caravan with it and it does that well.

[tyreman1]

There`s plenty for sale out there and reasonably priced,i`ve had mine now for 12 months,bought through auction but direct from the lease company,the car had full stamped vw history and had just been serviced 1000 miles before having had new brake discs and pads fitted,it had 126000 miles when bought and its up to 140000 now,apart from a standard service and a few bulbs its been terrific,dont rush into buying have a good look round and be prepared to travel and dont be worried too much by mileage as long as its got the proper history..Dave

[deluna]

Thanks for the advice...I know you're right about looking around for the right one but i'm getting a bit impatient at this stage!

[tyreman1]

its a lot of money to part with,if you buy a pig you`ll regret it loads,buy a nice one and its a hell of a car,have a look on ebay theres a dealer called gerry ash who specialises in passats especially highlines,give him a call or just keep an eye on what sort of prices he`s getting,theres 1 on there now,highline estate fsh 116k and its on about 3 grand at the moment,if you could pick that up for £3.5ish what a car...Dave

item no260337193720

[stonedagain]

Thanks for the advice...I know you're right about looking around for the right one but i'm getting a bit impatient at this stage!
Just remember: Buy in haste, repent at leisure.......

[PeteK]

its a lot of money to part with,if you buy a pig you`ll regret it loads,buy a nice one and its a hell of a car,have a look on ebay theres a dealer called gerry ash who specialises in passats especially highlines,give him a call or just keep an eye on what sort of prices he`s getting,theres 1 on there now,highline estate fsh 116k and its on about 3 grand at the moment,if you could pick that up for £3.5ish what a car...Dave

item no260337193720

I bought my 130 TDi Highline off Gerry last February, it had 96k miles on the clock and has now done 116K. No problems whatsoever apart from the airbag light came on a couple of weeks after buying the car and hoovering underneath the front seats. This was cleared by buying a £15 VAG-COM lead of Ebay and has never reappeared since.

As said above, I wouldn't worry about higher mileage cars. These engines seem to get better with more miles on them, I was recently in a Skoda Octavia taxi that had 750k miles on the clock and was still on the original engine!

[deluna]

Went to see the car today and was disappointed to find it had a bit of rust around, stone chips were all rusted on the bonnet and I noticed a few small bubbles on the paintwork on the doors. The callipers and springs seemed pretty rusty as well. I'm no expert on cars but it's not what I expected from a 2004 car.:( For 6k i expected the body to be mint. I'll keep looking...hopefully find the right one soon.

Anyone else find the same problem or was it just a one off?

[caldirun]

Thanks for the advice...I know you're right about looking around for the right one but i'm getting a bit impatient at this stage!
You sound too keen, go take a look then think how much you will knock him down by and dont look keen he will pick this up and not lower the price.

[tyreman1]

If a car has been standing on a dealers forecourt for a couple of weeks your going to get a build up of rust on brake discs etc and its going to be more noticable because you can see it through the alloys,perfectly normal and should be ok after a few miles,for 6k i wouldnt be buying a car with any signs of rust or damage,as i mentioned before theres plenty out there and its a buyers market at the moment
It took me over 3 months to find the right car