2004 GTI any good?

[mazza]

Hi there,

Ive been looking for a GTI 3 door in black for around 6k but all the ones ive found are either 7k and over or a million miles away from me apart from one close to me which is a 2004 with 85k miles and history for 6k, i have read somewhere to avoid 2004 cars, is this true, any reason for this, any comments appreciated, cheers

[chrisr763]

I have mot heard of these 2004 GTI roumors. My advice to you would be, drive the car, make sure you are 100% happy with it, all the paintwork is up to your standard and haggle go from there!  Remember anything you find is a bargaining tool. If it feels too good to be true walk away. Check the history and when cam belt / water pump were last changed

Hope this helped a bit!

[mazza]

Thanks for that...its a dealer so you know what they are like when it comes to haggling!   Is it me or are gti prices a bit too high at the moment?

Also how do you guys find the quality of the dash/plastics used?  cheers

[felix!]

test drive, take a mechanic to check it over thoroughly

[chrisr763]

Thanks for that...its a dealer so you know what they are like when it comes to haggling!   Is it me or are gti prices a bit too high at the moment?

Also how do you guys find the quality of the dash/plastics used?  cheers

Haha! Having watched the prices of GTI's recently. I feel they are dropping, but could be mistaken.

The dash plastics are great IMO. Very few scratches in mine, and one small niggle, on the dash somewhere near the centre vents there is a slight rubbing noice where two bits of plastic touch. Doesnt really bother me, most cars wont have it I suppose and could probably easily be fixed!

[Mk5 GTian]

If in doubt, book an AA/RAC Inspection. Well worth it for peace of mind. As said above, the cambelt and water pump must have been changed with this age and mileage, so make sure that's been done and if not, get them to do it or knock 400 quid off the price.

Make sure the service history is full, and check tyre treads as well. If these are low, get them to change them. It's reasonable to get them to pay for mid-range, but what I did when I bought mine was pay the difference in price between mid-range and premium, so they put Pirelli P Zero Rosso's on.

The other thing to do is an extensive test drive, going hard around roundabouts and into corners, so you can hear any creaks or bumps or clanging noises coming from the suspension. Also, do some quite brisk 3 point turns. This will highlight any knocking noises coming from the steering rack or suspension. I had some issues with these things with my first Mk5 GTi as I didn't do this kind of test drive. My current car is like new, no noises whatsoever, and from experience I established this before I bought the car.

Check the sills and arches for signs of corrosion. If there is no accident damage, this can be done under VW warranty if you find any.

Hope this helps mate 

[swgti]

I've been looking around at prices recently and I feel they have deffo dropped quite a bit in the last 12 months, you can easily pick up a 08 car for the same or less than I paid for my 05 18mths ago. It's probably due to the mk6 being more readily available 2nd hand and pushing prices down, I'd expect prices on mk5's to plumit once the mk7 arives.
If its a sound car I'd say £6k is a good price especially from a dealer.

[brookesb32]

Thanks for that...its a dealer so you know what they are like when it comes to haggling!   Is it me or are gti prices a bit too high at the moment?[b/]

Also how do you guys find the quality of the dash/plastics used?  cheers

To be honest £6k even for an early model sounds rather good value to me - for what is a pretty well specced and well built car even in bog standard GTI form. If it is a dealer post the link and any number of us on here can tell you some of the extras it may have (that the dealer may jot have mentioned) just by looking at it 

[chrisr763]

I would thoroughly test the brakes too, when looking for mine a found a few that just drove pretty much straight on and slowed down a little, not what you want or expect. Good luck!

[diesel junior]

6k from a dealer? Sounds good to me and all the above advice is spot on imo, aa/rac test is £200 well spent, it's a great car mate go for it!

[TurboTrev]

Yes as mentioned above, I seem to remember a steering rack (or similar) issue with the very early MK5 GTIs when the car was on full lock?  I'm sure loads of GTIs had this part changed under warranty - check with the dealer to see it it was replaced on this car.  If not, drive it round a car park on full lock and listen for creaking or odd noises.

[mazza]

Like to thank all you guys for your advice, this forum is great!!!

Im not a mechanic but i know a fair bit about cars so i will def give it a good test drive if i do go and see it.

Also one other question i had was did the dash come in either black or grey or both?

Here is the link, see what you think

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201244490839910/sort/locasc/usedcars/price-from/5000/colour/black/model/golf/make/volkswagen/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/keywords/gti/page/1/radius/100/postcode/nr323jx?logcode=p

cheers

[chrisr763]

Car looks like a steal ,, Paint and interior look lovely  

[GTI5]

Some good advice on here - keep an eye out for excessive front end play especially on a car with this mileage...it would be interesting to see what the condition of the lower control arm bushings were.

I think for a little more you could get a much higher spec model, this will cut down on the list of add ons later on.

Have you considered a DSG model?

If you can buy with some warranty then you could test the car and then get it scanned for faults on site after a test drive or elsewhere after purchasing and would have some protection from any 'unexpected' bills.

MK5 are dropping quite quickly in used price.

[homesqueeze]

Like to thank all you guys for your advice, this forum is great!!!

Im not a mechanic but i know a fair bit about cars so i will def give it a good test drive if i do go and see it.

Also one other question i had was did the dash come in either black or grey or both?

Here is the link, see what you think

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201244490839910/sort/locasc/usedcars/price-from/5000/colour/black/model/golf/make/volkswagen/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/keywords/gti/page/1/radius/100/postcode/nr323jx?logcode=p

cheers

Dash came in grey only.
Like someone else said, look thoroughly at front wheel arch paint for any signs of rust appearing. Also check in and around the bottom of where the boot badge opens. These are known faults to VW and common places for rust that lots of people are getting fixed under rust warranties.