Buying a Polo GTi 9N - what to look for

[GRP]

A second hand Polo GTi is at the top of my list.

I need something my 18 year old can drive and I can have fun in whilst I sell and then look for a replacement for my long term tuned HSV Clubsport. I have a dispensation for my A3 1.8T and today I received a letter from VicRoads advising they will grant one for a Polo GTi.

I figure he can drive the GTi stock and I can have a tune when I feel the need for some punch

Are there any specific things to look out for in buying a GTi second hand? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Grant

[nightphotographer]

In my experience there's not much to look out for, when I bought mine I did a full VCDS scan and mileage check, test drove to check the gearbox was fine (common fault, apparently) and I even checked the cup holders! Imagine my surprise when I found out the next day the car was a write off and now I'm stuck with it!

[vwthunder]

In my experience there's not much to look out for, when I bought mine I did a full VCDS scan and mileage check, test drove to check the gearbox was fine (common fault, apparently) and I even checked the cup holders! Imagine my surprise when I found out the next day the car was a write off and now I'm stuck with it!

Are you serious ? There was one cheap one floating around that had been repaired

[h100vw]

I wouldn't have put an 18 year old me in a Polo GTI.

I was a liability in a 1 litre Austin Metro, if I'd have had 3 times the power, who knows what that would have lead to.

As mentioned some Polo's have suffered from crunchy gearboxes, a change of gearbox oil often sorts this out but not always.

Front wishbone bushes are made of plasticine like the rest of the Volkswagen range. SEAT do some nice replacements that are a great deal better.

If you found a tuned one, you could potentially save money down the line, by reducing the power with a VCDS cable and a custom settings utility. Unitronic Chipped - UNI Setting V 1.4 Custom-Code have one but I can never find it online..... There's APRs Lemmiwinks too.

You can reduce the boost to about 80% and that's pretty close to standard power. Can't promise it'll work with all tuners software though.

Gavin

A second hand Polo GTi is at the top of my list.

I need something my 18 year old can drive and I can have fun in whilst I sell and then look for a replacement for my long term tuned HSV Clubsport. I have a dispensation for my A3 1.8T and today I received a letter from VicRoads advising they will grant one for a Polo GTi.

I figure he can drive the GTi stock and I can have a tune when I feel the need for some punch

Are there any specific things to look out for in buying a GTi second hand? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Grant

[nightphotographer]

Are you serious ? There was one cheap one floating around that had been repaired

Nah the seller didn't even say it was written off or had any damage. It was a hail write off so white car + bright sunlight = no visibile dents. Took the guy to court and he admitted infront of the judge that he had bought the car for $8000 from an auction and sold it to me for $13000 and said it's not his fault I didn't check the car's status before buying it. Which agreed I didn't, but when you're new to the country and desperately need a car it's not the first thing you think off. Fair to say he's an absolute tool.

But yeah check the wishbone bushes like Gav says - I had to replace mine immediately for the RWC.

[AUC-05L]

supposedly the early 05/06 models have gearbox issues. front wishbone bushes go really quick. easy to replace with nolathane or the SEAT alternative.

always ask if its been in an accident and do a revs check. ALOT of them have been in accidents. 3/4 that I saw before buying mine had accidents.

aside from that they seem pretty bullet proof, although mine is an 08 model and the power windows are playing up! really annoying.

[Smead]

supposedly the early 05/06 models have gearbox issues. front wishbone bushes go really quick. easy to replace with nolathane or the SEAT alternative.

always ask if its been in an accident and do a revs check. ALOT of them have been in accidents. 3/4 that I saw before buying mine had accidents.

aside from that they seem pretty bullet proof, although mine is an 08 model and the power windows are playing up! really annoying.

I got my Feb 06 build in Oct 09 with 75000km on the clock. It's now got 156000 km (mostly highway km - Sydney to Canberra more times than I can count, Adelaide and back twice and Melbourne and back once) and the only issue I had was a dead battery (touch wood ) they are an awesome car

[jamesatfish]

Mine's an April 07 build - the only 'common' issues I've had with mine were crunching of the gearbox in the 1-2 plane (solved by replacing with a better quality gearbox oil), failed injectors (which I replaced completely before VW initiated a general recall program) and 'stretchy' turbo bolts (which were replaced with higher quality bolts).

The cars are pretty much bullet-proof - mine is used almost exclusively as a track car and has been very reliable across 4 years of very hard driving including numerous tarmac rally competitions. The presence of ESP and multiple airbags makes it a great choice for a novice driver and if you do end up going down the chip-tuning path you can always keep it set to stock (or even turbo-less valet mode) for when a less experienced driver is behind the wheel.

[GRP]

Thank you all.

Seems other than checking everything works the gearbox will be the most obvious significant issue that should be relatively obvious.

Goes without saying that I will do all the normal checks and get a local specialist to do a report for me. On that note are there any suggestions for someone close to Hampton 3188 for vehicle check and servicing - Dub Addiction or Euroworks are reasonably close?

[Ben_GTI]

Well for what to look for.... I will tell you what I have fixed on mine....

Check if the timing belt has been done as most are getting to high km's / 5 years

Check if the front subframe bushes have been done because they will be due and cost a lot if your mechanic doesn't have the right tools.

See if its tuned or not, its a ~$1200 add on and in my opinion doesn't do any damage to the car what so ever.

Ask if the car has had turbo gasket issues.... not a big deal, but if it has been attended to previously then you wont have to do it at some stage.