VW 2.3 V5 Engine?

Vampire

Vampire

Vampire

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This was going to be a 'spec me a . . . .' thread but I'm trying not to go there yet.

I'm currently driving a 2001 VW Golf Mk4 V5, which has a 170bhp 2.3 five cylinder petrol engine. My new job now requires that I drive up to 1000 miles a week, hence slightly large fuel bills.

However. The Golf will manage 40mpg on long runs if I drive it like a granny (60mph from Cumbria to Swindon without stopping :D), and is a lovely smooth runner. Currently there's nothing wrong with it at all (touch wood) other than having 99k on the clock, so I'm loathed to sell it just to buy a diesel motorway hack.

Being a fairly rare engine, I was just wondering what the average longevity of these is? It seems to barely be stressed in normal driving, and the fact that it doesn't have a cam belt should mean it's quite reliable right?

I do a lot of miles, but it gets serviced every 10k on the dot. Would you expect it to run to 200k, 300k? Or should it have died a horrible death already?

Any views welcome, other than 'buy a mondeo', that's already plan B. :D
 
Doing so many miles suggests much of it is Motorway/A road work. These not stressful conditions. Provided you service it correctly there is no reason why this Golf wont make 200k miles and beyond.

If your employer gives you a car allowance and is happy for you not to spend it on a new car, then keeping the Golf seems particularly prudent.
 
[TW]Fox;11589642 said:
Doing so many miles suggests much of it is Motorway/A road work. These not stressful conditions. Provided you service it correctly there is no reason why this Golf wont make 200k miles and beyond.

If your employer gives you a car allowance and is happy for you not to spend it on a new car, then keeping the Golf seems particularly prudent.
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Agreed. If you're happy with the reduced MPG over a diseasel, stick with it :)

They are very nice engines, a friend of mine has access to a V5 170 and it really is very smooth and pulls well. It's a Golf I would own :o
 
[TW]Fox;11589642 said:
Doing so many miles suggests much of it is Motorway/A road work. These not stressful conditions. Provided you service it correctly there is no reason why this Golf wont make 200k miles and beyond.

If your employer gives you a car allowance and is happy for you not to spend it on a new car, then keeping the Golf seems particularly prudent.
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Yup you guessed right, basically 95% of it is motorways and A-roads, all long trips of at least an hour and no short school runs.

Sadly as a contractor for my own company, I am technically my own employer so don't get any kind of allowance. However I am allowed to claim mileage against tax, so not all bad.

I figure I could save about £1300 minimum per annum purely in fuel costs alone by switching to a diesel - but it'd cost me at least £3k to change cars to something appropriate, thus not a totally convincing argument.

I'm leaning towards keeping the Golf for another year or two (assuming it's still running) and then changing when it's closer to being on its last legs.

As howard says, it is nice to drive, very relaxing. I've done a couple of 5 hour non stop runs in it so far and I was a bit sore but it really wasn't too bad, not bad enough to need to stop anyway. :)
 
Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention is that I have to run it on super unleaded. I've tried running it on 95 but it feels like it's really struggling and the MPG drops by quite a margin. Running it on 97 (or 99) seems to suit the engine much better, and the extra MPG seems to offset the extra cost of the fuel (I think).....
 
I did hear a while ago some very bad reliability stories about this engine - but then you hear the same about every car! As Fox said, its short cold start journeys that kill an engine - long journeys at a sensible sustained speed won't.
 
bigchez said:
I did hear a while ago some very bad reliability stories about this engine - but then you hear the same about every car! As Fox said, its short cold start journeys that kill an engine - long journeys at a sensible sustained speed won't.
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My mum drives like a fiend and hers hasn't missed a beat.

As Foxypoos said, 200k should be a walk in the park for it.

*n
 
Vampire said:
Yup you guessed right, basically 95% of it is motorways and A-roads, all long trips of at least an hour and no short school runs.

Sadly as a contractor for my own company, I am technically my own employer so don't get any kind of allowance. However I am allowed to claim mileage against tax, so not all bad.

I figure I could save about £1300 minimum per annum purely in fuel costs alone by switching to a diesel - but it'd cost me at least £3k to change cars to something appropriate, thus not a totally convincing argument.

I'm leaning towards keeping the Golf for another year or two (assuming it's still running) and then changing when it's closer to being on its last legs.

As howard says, it is nice to drive, very relaxing. I've done a couple of 5 hour non stop runs in it so far and I was a bit sore but it really wasn't too bad, not bad enough to need to stop anyway. :)
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I think you've answered your own question there - if you changed your car you would need to be doing the job over two years just to 'break even'. I had exactly the same thought as you 18 months ago - and I went ahead and traded in a perfectly good 325 for a MK5 diesel golf, thinking I would save money. I absolutely hated it though, and only kept it for 4 months before trading it in for a MK5 GTi.

If you are a petrolhead in any way, keep the V5 and don't think about the fuel cost.
 
what sort of mileage do you get if you drive at 80+ on the motorway and hoon about a little?
(ie) realistic mileage, not that 40mpg nonsense ;)
 
Vampire said:
However. The Golf will manage 40mpg on long runs if I drive it like a granny (60mph from Cumbria to Swindon without stopping :D), and is a lovely smooth runner.
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You might occasionally see 40mpg for a brief moment during that journey but it won't be 40mpg average for Swindon to the Lakes. Not in a million years. Once you hit the windy bits in Cumbria, or crossing through Birmingham with all that stop starting and slowing down for truck convoys, you'll be in the teens which bring the overall average down to about 30mpg. My old man had that car for years for and never saw more than 32mpg average on mainly motorway journeys and more usually about 25-26mpg in mixed driving. Agree that's silky engine though. By the time they sold it it had 130k on the clock and was still running like clockwork. Full VWSH though.
 
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Keep the Golf. With the current price premium on Diesel you wouldn't make much profit on a TDI unless you granny it everywhere.

Lack of cambelt is good. Early 150s were a tad unreliable at 100k+, but the 170 is pretty bulletproof.

Leave the scallies to wind up the boost on the 1.8T. V5 is the way to go - sounds glorious.
 
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