What to look for in a MK3 Golf GTi?

GlasgowTitan

GlasgowTitan

GlasgowTitan

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Glasgow
Hey folks, I'm seriously considering looking at getting one of these soon and was wondering what sort of things go wrong or need to be looked at before buying one. For example anyone know when things like cambelts should be changed, or particular areas that are prone to wear and I should take a closer look at?

I saw this one and it looks in good condition from the pics and seems to be parked outside a respectable looking house, so hopefully isn't owned by a Sainsbury's carpark thrashing lout.

Any tips would be much appreciated.
 
Ahh ok thanks Para. I wasn't actually looking specifically for one of these, but I came accross it in AT and though "hmm, that could work". My main reason for wanting a bigger car is that I do a few motorway miles at the weekend, and the fiesta is horrible for 50-80mph and if the motorway starts to go uphill I'm screwed. But as you say if its not really a cruiser then maybe its not worth it....

I also had a mondeo in mind for this, but it's hard to find a decent specced one (Zetec or Ghia) in budget and not 350 miles away.
 
paradigm said:
Mondeo would be a good buy for the motorway (as would most rep-mobiles), whats your budget?
Click to expand...

Around £2k mark, possibly couple hundred more depending on insurance (20 with 0NCB) I got a quote for the Golf for about £1200 I think it was, so really combining car and insurance about £3k ish.
 
I've been thinking, and you know what, screw it I want the Golf. Its still going to be miles better than my Fiesta, and the Fiesta is worth about a grand more than the golf, so I could keep that money for anything that goes wrong with the golf. Insurance is pretty much the same if I go third party only, and on a 1.5K car is there much point in going fully comp anyway? So its basically an upgrade that makes financial sense to me....

Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

So things to look out for are electrics, clocking...what else? When should cam belts and such be changed? Any other major things that need to be changed at regular intervals?

Although on that particular golf I mentioned in the OP doesn't have mileage stated, its likely to be high, should I be worried about that?

Cheers :D
 
There isn't any 16v versions within 200miles of me. And besides, even the 8v has almost double the power of what I have just now, I reckon I'd be happy with it. I'm not wanting anything special, just better than what I have now, it just so happens the ones I'm looking at have "GTi" on them..

But it would be at least a 10 year old car, which slightly worries me.
 
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