Need advice on a car - what to look out for. Alone in Portugal!

[Bengaboy]

Hi guys,

The car in question is this...

http://auto.sapo.pt/Carros/Volkswagen-Polo-12-Confortline-(70cv)-(5p)-1518813.aspx

Now basically, I have recently moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and will be here for 2 years. I know the 2nd hand market is a lot dearer here than it is in England (not a clue why), but this seems like a good buy?

I know you can't tell me whats wrong with the car, but does anyone know what to look out for? Obviously the car looks immaculate visually, but does anyone have any experience with these cars?

Also - what would the expected mileage be on a car like this? I would keep it serviced, etc. I really know nothing about cars, I would be gutted if I spent £3000 on a car for it to go wrong.

ANY help would be appreciated!

 

[m4rkw7]

It looks brand new considering it's a 2002 plate. 81,000 miles getting more towards the high side for a 1.2. What's the service history etc.

 

[OhEsEcks]

No experience with the MK IV Polo, but the Fabia MK I to which it's related.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. It gets in through the floor. In through the boot. In through the bulkhead. In through the door seals. Into the doors (which killed my electric window motors) causing shorts of electrical motors for windows and door locks. You can actually hear the water when (not if) it builds up in the doors sloshing about (happens to the MK4 Polo and the Fabia), so you need to get something to poke wax out of the drainage holes to empty the doors. I've seen people drain more than a litre out of their doors before.

The interior is a boring place to be. Like so boring you want to turn the wheel just a bit and drift into oncoming traffic to put yourself out of your misery. But with the 1.0 and 1.2 litre engines you won't be going fast enough to do too much damage.

Timing chains and tensioners are the biggest thing with the 1.2 petrol engines on early cars. They stretch, making the car run rough, or they snap, destroying the engine. From 2003 on, VW changed the tensioner so it doesn't have the same problems. But earlier cars have had the engine go kaput with very little mileage on them. The fact the one in that advert has made it to 81k miles means it's probably had the work done, but check before you buy. Because if it hasn't, it's probably going to go sometime into your ownership. Then it's a matter of just making sure you DO keep the thing serviced regularly with fresh oil and filters.

But aside from that, they're great wee runabouts. Although if I was going to get another, it would be the Fabia VRS (or the Polo with the same ASZ/BLT engine (GT or Sport)).

 

[snitcher]

Hi guys,

The car in question is this...

http://auto.sapo.pt/Carros/Volkswagen-Polo-12-Confortline-(70cv)-(5p)-1518813.aspx

Now basically, I have recently moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and will be here for 2 years. I know the 2nd hand market is a lot dearer here than it is in England (not a clue why), but this seems like a good buy?

I know you can't tell me whats wrong with the car, but does anyone know what to look out for? Obviously the car looks immaculate visually, but does anyone have any experience with these cars?

Also - what would the expected mileage be on a car like this? I would keep it serviced, etc. I really know nothing about cars, I would be gutted if I spent £3000 on a car for it to go wrong.

ANY help would be appreciated!

insurance should turn out to be cheaper than in the UK.

 

[wildman_33]

No experience with the MK IV Polo, but the Fabia MK I to which it's related.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. It gets in through the floor. In through the boot. In through the bulkhead. In through the door seals. Into the doors (which killed my electric window motors) causing shorts of electrical motors for windows and door locks. You can actually hear the water when (not if) it builds up in the doors sloshing about (happens to the MK4 Polo and the Fabia), so you need to get something to poke wax out of the drainage holes to empty the doors. I've seen people drain more than a litre out of their doors before.

The interior is a boring place to be. Like so boring you want to turn the wheel just a bit and drift into oncoming traffic to put yourself out of your misery. But with the 1.0 and 1.2 litre engines you won't be going fast enough to do too much damage.

Timing chains and tensioners are the biggest thing with the 1.2 petrol engines on early cars. They stretch, making the car run rough, or they snap, destroying the engine. From 2003 on, VW changed the tensioner so it doesn't have the same problems. But earlier cars have had the engine go kaput with very little mileage on them. The fact the one in that advert has made it to 81k miles means it's probably had the work done, but check before you buy. Because if it hasn't, it's probably going to go sometime into your ownership. Then it's a matter of just making sure you DO keep the thing serviced regularly with fresh oil and filters.

But aside from that, they're great wee runabouts. Although if I was going to get another, it would be the Fabia VRS (or the Polo with the same ASZ/BLT engine (GT or Sport)).

Water ingress isnt a problem on the polos

 

[OhEsEcks]

Water ingress isnt a problem on the polos

Sure is. Comes in through the door seals or as I mentioned, the drain holes get blocked in the doors and need clearing to allow them to drain. Also reported that it can get into the boot by people changing bulbs in the rear lamps and not replacing the cluster properly so the seal doesn't work as it should.

Just search "vw polo 9n water leak" on google.

 

[Bengaboy]

No experience with the MK IV Polo, but the Fabia MK I to which it's related.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. It gets in through the floor. In through the boot. In through the bulkhead. In through the door seals. Into the doors (which killed my electric window motors) causing shorts of electrical motors for windows and door locks. You can actually hear the water when (not if) it builds up in the doors sloshing about (happens to the MK4 Polo and the Fabia), so you need to get something to poke wax out of the drainage holes to empty the doors. I've seen people drain more than a litre out of their doors before.

The interior is a boring place to be. Like so boring you want to turn the wheel just a bit and drift into oncoming traffic to put yourself out of your misery. But with the 1.0 and 1.2 litre engines you won't be going fast enough to do too much damage.

Timing chains and tensioners are the biggest thing with the 1.2 petrol engines on early cars. They stretch, making the car run rough, or they snap, destroying the engine. From 2003 on, VW changed the tensioner so it doesn't have the same problems. But earlier cars have had the engine go kaput with very little mileage on them. The fact the one in that advert has made it to 81k miles means it's probably had the work done, but check before you buy. Because if it hasn't, it's probably going to go sometime into your ownership. Then it's a matter of just making sure you DO keep the thing serviced regularly with fresh oil and filters.

But aside from that, they're great wee runabouts. Although if I was going to get another, it would be the Fabia VRS (or the Polo with the same ASZ/BLT engine (GT or Sport)).

Thank you for the advice! And thanks everyone else.

How many more miles (if serviced regularly) do you think it would have left? If you look on the website, polo (96-98) have around 200k km on them, which is a hell of a lot!

 

[Richie]

Sure is. Comes in through the door seals or as I mentioned, the drain holes get blocked in the doors and need clearing to allow them to drain. Also reported that it can get into the boot by people changing bulbs in the rear lamps and not replacing the cluster properly so the seal doesn't work as it should.

Just search "vw polo 9n water leak" on google.

So basically caused by poor maintenance as opposed to inherent faults with the car then?

The car looks decent enough from what you can make out with the photos. The only issue I would have is lack of AC in what can be a warm country

 

[[TW]Fox]

How many more miles (if serviced regularly) do you think it would have left?

Unlimited, there is no reason why it won't do as many miles as you wish to put on it provided you are happy to repair it when it breaks. The trouble is that as the mileage increases its value decreases making some of the repairs which would be carried out without hestitation on a low mileage car less likely to be done.

If you look on the website, polo (96-98) have around 200k km on them, which is a hell of a lot!

It's realy not, is it? It's 120k miles..