Looking at a Golf Cabriolet to buy

[dylan8]

Hi guys,

Have been looking around for a bit of a project car and a black Golf Cabriolet turned up for sale around town. Has 180,000km on the clock, looked pretty good condition for something its age, had the odd mark where a trolley or something had been put in to the bumper, roof looked ok from a quick inspection, interior also looked ok from through the window. I'm going to contact them and see if i can have a closer look/drive, and then take it to my mechanic to look at if it still seems ok to me.

Any advice on what i should be looking for would be awesome.

Cheers, Dylan.

[dylan8]

May have been a stupid question after even further research haha.

Pics of the beast. I have done a dodgy and covered the price, id like to know what price you guys think?






My pics through the glass had more reflection then originally thought so no point in posting them.

[Brisben]

Nice, I wanted a black one but very very hard to find..

[Golf Loon]

Looks Tidy mate, I`d check the roof is not ripped and goes up and down.
Engine, I`d check that it starts cold ok and idles well. It should go pretty well, they are zippy. If you have massive vibration at idle, its probably engine mounts. Check for rust and accident damage. thats it.

[kavlfc]

If you click on the link on my signature there's a guide to what to look out for when buying a cabby on the right hand side of the home page. Hope this helps.
Regards
Chris

[dylan8]

Thanks for the help guys.

Ill go have a look as soon as i can, if i don't get it ill get some details encase anyone on here is keen.

[dylan8]

So i went and sussed out the cabby.

Interior was great as far as i can tell (id say better then mine when i got it!) except for the carpet on the passengers side had been pulled away from the door sill, didn't look torn but i forgot to go back and check if it would just need re fixing down as it was getting dark.

Engine sounded good, (again quieter then my car i think?) seemed to be to many cables/lines running everywhere compared to other MK1 engine bays iv seen on here so I'm going to look into that.

May have been a hole in the exhaust? but then again the exhaust looked to new and big compared to others iv seen, so thinking it may be after market/off different car.

Roof was in amazing condition compared to what i was excepting at closer viewing, there was 1 or 2 nicks above the drivers door in the bottom of the roof trim

Other then the bumps in the pics, 1 or 2 smaller panel dints etc, the paint was awesome! there was a dint in the quater panel i didnt see, but dad thinks it would be a hard 1 to get out, no damaged paint or anything shocking though

started the engine from almost cold start (obviously had been driven a few meters from the garage to there drive way). The guy said i had to give it a little when i started, a small touch of the accelerator and she fired up fine. no smoke etc, no oil leaks (where its been parked for the past yr or so under a tarp in a garage), oil came out as clean looking as you would put it in.

the electric roof didn't work... i didn't try it but the owner said he can here the motor going, and then can manually put it down.

He said it was a 1.6lt? but i thought they were 1.8s?

tyres look great, (forgot to check the wheels but they didn't jump out at me so cant have been to bad) the drivers front tyre on the inside had a little bit more wear then the rest but barely noticeable.

original tape deck hooked up to a CD stacker in the boot , didnt try the stereo, but id probably replace that anyways if i got it.

he said there is a noise from the passenger wheel at the start of driving, then goes away as the car heats up (he seemed to think a bearing?)

Before living here, the car was originally in NSW, so someone may know it.

Pics:





Im sure i took a lot more, but apparently not...?

The guy will drive it into town so i can test it on sealed roads (he lived on gravel/rough roads) so that'll be next if you guys still think its worth a look.

Any ones thoughts so far? how much would you pay?

[dubai gti]

Any ones thoughts so far? how much would you pay?

given the market these days, Aust. delivered ones like this are prob. not worth more than $5k, even in VGC. Like the saying goes, pay on condition, if it's really good, maybe get a compression test done by one of ur local garages or do it yourself.

Good luck.

[dylan8]

given the market these days, Aust. delivered ones like this are prob. not worth more than $5k, even in VGC. Like the saying goes, pay on condition, if it's really good, maybe get a compression test done by one of ur local garages or do it yourself.

Good luck.

Thanks.
Yeah the owner actually said about getting it compression tested, how much would i be looking at cost wise to get it done?
apparently they had some major work done on it at the same place i get mine serviced, so on the phone tomorrow to see if my mechanic can remember good or bad things...

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?
motor apparently runs, just not connected to the roof?

[cab93]

Has anyone ever fixed the electric roof? are they technical or simple?

Just expensive.

Check the fluid level, check for leaks. hydraulic rams are available new for around $800 - $1000 from VW. they can be repaired for around half this price.

Some times the pump "Drive" can break it's made of plastic. It can be glued together (If your lucky). VW only sell the complete pump, again I think the price is almost $1000. Leaks are the most common problem. Don't underestimate the cost of roof frame and mechanical part repair.

Michael