Worried new GTI owner, please help.

[DaveE]

Hi everyone, new member here. I've been browsing for weeks but now finally registered!

Unfortunately I am seriously worried about my new car and I only picked it up last night! I'm hoping for some sound advice from you guys. Please bare with me, it's a fairly long post.

I viewed a few cars over the last few weeks and despite being very weary in the buying process and pulling out of one sale which i kinda regret, I think ended up with a suspect car.

55 plate Tornado red gti
100,000 miles
Up for sale at £3,989.


Went to view last week, at a dearler about an hour away from where I live. Good condition and seemed fine to drive. Infact its seriously rapid! I'm shocked at the power this thing has and I have driven a few quick cars in my time.
Guys seemed decent enough, then i asked to see documents, they sat me down in the office with a coffee and went and this is where it became a bit disappointing. No service book....
I expressed my concerns and said id be a fool to buy this car as I can't be sure it's had the cam belt and waterpump service. Mileage was just under 100k.
He had already called vw and found out that it was serviced the first 3 times there but that's the only record they have as probably went elsewhere afterwards.

He said he'd service it, new cam belt, wp, oil etc etc and also valet the front seats as they're slightly stained. This was all factored into the final cost of £4,110. I went for it and paid in full by debit card.....

My thoughts were that the car drove great, was in good condition so probably had serviced through its life, but (as this guy told me) the service book had been lost by previous owner. A good service should put it back on track and i'd find out the overall state of the engine.. So silly of me.


Now, when I picked it up the first thing i wasnt happy with was the receipt for the service and cam belt work. It looks dodgy, some shoddy vw stamp on it even though it wasn't done be a vw garage... 
Then I noticed the central locking didn't work on the driver door! Called him over and he said to get it looked at and let him know.
When I got home i checked the oil- doesn't look like it's been changed! Looks low even!
I seriously doubt they have changed the cam belt, I don't think they have done anything! The seats are not clean either.

The car comes with 3 months warranty.

I have a vw specialist close to my who are very good. I plan to take the car there and get it checked. What rights do I have? I'm paranoid now and drove along with the stereo off listening for noises and anything untoward! Any little sound makes me feel worried, but then I dont really know what im listening for. I've not had a turbo car before.

This is a huge deal to me, £4k is  a lot to me.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not sure about my consumer rights etc etc. I love the car but am so nervous about the engine.

I look forward to hearing from you...

[DaveE]

Ok, i've calmed down a little now!

Took it to the vw specialists this morning. They are going to give it a thorough health check and look at my areas of concern. A few reassuring words and i felt much better.

We will see on monday! In the mean time, i'm loving driving this car!! 

[ReflexRob]

I wouldn't stress too much. If servicing might have been missed before then do a couple of quick interval oil changes to get it cleaned out.

The seats are just cosmetic.

Get your mate to look at the cam belt,  a new one should be obvious.

We had our family Volvo serviced at a main dealer and the oil looked black when I got it home,  who knows when people actually do the work they say?

If the car seems to run right and doesn't use much oil or water it should be fine.

[bigeyd]

 I would say if it had no service history at all a dodgy VW stamp on work done is not a great worry.
Have you ever heard the term stealerships ? That is what everyday people see them as,I would never take my car to a dealership ever again,a 1k Audi cambelt left a lasting impression.

Try this from citizens advice which will tell you to take it back
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

[damo24]

afaik you have 30 days under consumer rights to cancel the purchase - especially if the specialist turns up anything that wasnt disclosed

[damo24]

.... also may be worth contacting your bank for advice, if you paid by card there are certain protections built in

[Juliand]

Dunno... You don't get a  lot for £4k these days do you?  GTI's  seem expensive cars to keep on the road, so you have to balance that against a reliable £3k  run of the mill car. Maybe I'm being unfair. Sure you'll  tell me..

[DaveE]

Thanks for the replies. I will see what they say on Monday and go from there. When I booked the car in they did have a quick look at the oil and said it actually looked quite clean, so that's a positive sign. I appreciate what you're saying about 1 dodgy service being irrelevant given the lack of history but it was factored into the cost - It was a must for me to have it serviced (and checked over). I should have done this myself in hindsight.

While I'm posting, I was talking to a friend last night who is a mechanic, when I told him what car of bought he straight away said to get the oil pickup in the sump cleaned out. I'd not heard of this as a problem area with these cars before?

[dom069]

Thanks for the replies. I will see what they say on Monday and go from there. When I booked the car in they did have a quick look at the oil and said it actually looked quite clean, so that's a positive sign. I appreciate what you're saying about 1 dodgy service being irrelevant given the lack of history but it was factored into the cost - It was a must for me to have it serviced (and checked over). I should have done this myself in hindsight.

While I'm posting, I was talking to a friend last night who is a mechanic, when I told him what car of bought he straight away said to get the oil pickup in the sump cleaned out. I'd not heard of this as a problem area with these cars before?

The oil pickup can become blocked over time and cause oil starvation. I cleaned mine when it had it's 80k service and it was still pretty clean, unsure if the previous owner cleaned/changed it though.

[brinks787]

£4k is right in the price range of the less well looked after cars sadly, they do need a bit of TLC to keep them tip top and this costs money.

I bought my 08' plate more than 2 years ago and had the cambelt and waterpump + DSG oil changed by the selling dealer.  We factored it into the deal.  I still have no idea if they actually did the work but sometimes you have to trust a little.

The oil if it hasn't been change in the past for a long time could have been in real bad shape and any residue turned the new oil a dirty colour very quickly.  The cambelt is very easy for a mechanic to check, it'll be obvious if a new one is fitted.

As for the front seats, nothing your local valet can't sort out if it's something you don't want to tackle yourself.

Fingers crossed the check over by the specialist doesn't find anything and you enjoy many miles with your new car.  They are ace machines.   Get some photos up too for us :)

[DaveE]

Thanks guys. Really helpful.

I'm loving the car, i'm having to resist the temptation of getting all my detailing products out this weekend to tidy it up, will have to wait until next weekend once the checks are done!

I'll defo get some pics up soon. Will also post some pictures of my much loved Mk4 1.4. Had it for ten years, a great little car.

Fingers crossed. I'll report back on monday!

[DANBOY66]

how did you get on ?

what dealership did you get it from ?

hope you had good news today 

[DaveE]

how did you get on ?

what dealership did you get it from ?

hope you had good news today 

Well, pretty good overall thanks!
The company who checked it out for me are brilliant:  http://www.quattro-tech.co.uk
They road tested it, ran diagnostics and gave it a thorough check over. They are going to sort things out with the warranty company and hopefully get some work done for me.

Car is back in on Thursday to have some bits done. There are a few things they found, i'll report back once I have the paperwork.

But basically they have given me the piece of mind I needed. Told me the car is in decent condition, nothing really to worry about, once all the bits are done under warranty I could do with spending a couple of hundred pounds putting other bits right and i'm good!

Engine cover is damaged and there is a dodgy air filter bolted on in the wrong place (meaning air is being filtered twice and making engine work harder) - they have advised me to get a new OEM engine cover, or even better a REVO air intake with free fitting as they are REVO approved! Works out cheaper too...



I bought the car from a trader called A6 Motors by the way. Just popped up on auto trader.

I will post some pictures soon.....i'll make sure I include the dodgy air filter!

All good! 

[glasgowdubber]

how did you get on ?

what dealership did you get it from ?

hope you had good news today 

Well, pretty good overall thanks!
The company who checked it out for me are brilliant:  http://www.quattro-tech.co.uk
They road tested it, ran diagnostics and gave it a thorough check over. They are going to sort things out with the warranty company and hopefully get some work done for me.

Car is back in on Thursday to have some bits done. There are a few things they found, i'll report back once I have the paperwork.

But basically they have given me the piece of mind I needed. Told me the car is in decent condition, nothing really to worry about, once all the bits are done under warranty I could do with spending a couple of hundred pounds putting other bits right and i'm good!

Engine cover is damaged and there is a dodgy air filter bolted on in the wrong place (meaning air is being filtered twice and making engine work harder) - they have advised me to get a new OEM engine cover, or even better a REVO air intake with free fitting as they are REVO approved! Works out cheaper too...



I bought the car from a trader called A6 Motors by the way. Just popped up on auto trader.

I will post some pictures soon.....i'll make sure I include the dodgy air filter!

All good! 

Just a note mate, I used to work for Audi so know this, any VW garage can check the service history of a vehicle no matter where it was serviced, its not as detailed as the actual garage it was done at, but they'll be able to see a date when the car was in, the garage ID, and a one line description of what was done.  Just ask them to check "VMS", this will allow you to then pro-actively call round the garages in question, or not in this case, and clarify what work was done. They wont be able to provide you paper copies as this is a breach of data protection as it'll have the previous owners details etc.

I did this with my current GTI, as I worked for Audi at the time, and everything tied in.

[DaveE]

how did you get on ?

what dealership did you get it from ?

hope you had good news today 

Well, pretty good overall thanks!
The company who checked it out for me are brilliant:  http://www.quattro-tech.co.uk
They road tested it, ran diagnostics and gave it a thorough check over. They are going to sort things out with the warranty company and hopefully get some work done for me.

Car is back in on Thursday to have some bits done. There are a few things they found, i'll report back once I have the paperwork.

But basically they have given me the piece of mind I needed. Told me the car is in decent condition, nothing really to worry about, once all the bits are done under warranty I could do with spending a couple of hundred pounds putting other bits right and i'm good!

Engine cover is damaged and there is a dodgy air filter bolted on in the wrong place (meaning air is being filtered twice and making engine work harder) - they have advised me to get a new OEM engine cover, or even better a REVO air intake with free fitting as they are REVO approved! Works out cheaper too...



I bought the car from a trader called A6 Motors by the way. Just popped up on auto trader.

I will post some pictures soon.....i'll make sure I include the dodgy air filter!

All good! 

Just a note mate, I used to work for Audi so know this, any VW garage can check the service history of a vehicle no matter where it was serviced, its not as detailed as the actual garage it was done at, but they'll be able to see a date when the car was in, the garage ID, and a one line description of what was done.  Just ask them to check "VMS", this will allow you to then pro-actively call round the garages in question, or not in this case, and clarify what work was done. They wont be able to provide you paper copies as this is a breach of data protection as it'll have the previous owners details etc.

I did this with my current GTI, as I worked for Audi at the time, and everything tied in.

Ah, thanks mate. I'll give this a go!

Another little thing i have noticed on the car is a little rust under the passenger front door, along the sill and a tiny amount inside the boot handle / behind the badge.

I see its a common fault, and that some have had luck with the 12 year corrosion warranty. Im going to give this a go too, but who actually fancies my chances? I don't! It's got to be at least a £300 job to put right?