Mk 5 GT 1.4 TSI?? Buyer Advice

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Originally Posted by Soup Nazi

MMM
Thanks guys, this will be my daily hack flog to death machine and I'm looking for a good 8 years out of it. It is replacing one seriously reliable Mk 3 Tdi so I think at this stage ill rethink it due to possible reliability (cost) issues. At this point the 103 Tdi in a Pacific or Sportline looks the goods since it has no DPF and accepts a tune nicely. GTI is nice but expensive and the fuel consumption well, if you pour the fuel in you get more power, its pretty much that simple.

10K is the limit on price. I only looked at this one GT Tsi because its a really nice looker and one owner but the last thing I need is a bottomless pit!

Cheers

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They are great little cars and very fuel economic! I bought mine 1.5 years ago with 92xxx km on it and has been a pleasure to drive. Only work I've had to do is some new spark plugs and new rear brakes. No issues as yet with s/c or turbo, both still power on as they should! The seamless transition from s/c powering the low end to the turbo kicking in is amazing.
Great fuel consumption, average around 6.5l/100km around the city and even better on highway drives.
They are not bottomless pits in any regard unless the car has not been looked after. It sounds like the one you have been looking at is in good condition!

I bought new and had 98,000 trouble free kms, but then the timing chain went, which resulted in complete engine failure. $14,600 quoted to repair by VW service.

Mine is a DSG and it had been parked on an incline and been only driven once a week for 3 months prior to this. There were no warning sounds, just went to start it up and - screech bang.

I've done some research and the timing chain issue on the 1.4tsi was brought up by Autobild in Germany in 2009. It appears to mainly effect cars which are used for short trips. I've always been a supporter of VW, but reading that they knew about the timing chain issue in 2009 and they chose not to recall and replace the timing chain in those cars effected (probably cost too much) is infuriating esp as it is going to cost me $15K. Add to this the VW service I went to advised the timing chain should last the lifetime of the car and never needs to be replace. VW does not even have it on any of the service requirements.

I rang VW and raised this issue to see if they could provide any goodwill payment (the Autobild article said VW would provide ex-gratia payments as long as the manufacturers service intervals had been met - which my golf has), but customer care(less) just kept repeating "we are unable to provide any assistance" to almost everything I said. When I asked if this could be reviewed up the chain, I was advised it could be reviewed but the answer will be the same. I asked that as the result of the review is already known, what exactly is reviewed. Again I got they will do a review but the response will not change. Aaaagh! Has anyone else had this problem?

I'll share my experience with my 2009 Golf Mk5 wagon. I bought it used about three years ago with 90k on it. A few months later, I heard there was a recall on them, due to an issue with the DSG transmission. Even though mine was a used vehicle, VW New Zealand stated it was eligible for a mechatronics upgrade, and the local dealer carried out the work free of charge. I got a call back two days later, and they said the diagnostics had returned worn clutches, and they would have to be replaced. As the wear was the result of the faulty mechatronics, they replaced the clutches free of charge as well.

About 12 months ago, the engine light came on. I took it into the dealership, and their diagnosis was a stretched timing chain. They quoted about $1600NZD to repair it. I questioned the timing chain stretching, as timing chains should last a decent amount. Their response was "we've experienced a few of these, and it is just wear". I booked it in for the repair later in the week, but did some research.

It turns out the timing chain tensioner was faulty (a design fault) and VW were repairing them under warranty. I went back to the dealer, and asked them to check their service bulletins. They came back with a "oh, you're in luck. Yes, there is a pro rate warranty agreement. VW will pay for all parts, and 60% of the labour. So your quote will now be $300". Go figure. I asked "what about the other customers who have paid for this repair in full?". I got a "oh, my other phone is ringing, I will have to go".

Anyway, if you're looking at one of these vehicles, check to see wether the timing chain tensioner has been upgraded to the new part, and that it has had the mechatronics upgrade.

To the poster above, the timing chain issue IS a known problem. It is the result of a fault in the design of the tensioner. The dealers know about it, but they seem to be selective on their acknowledgement of it.

+1 on the Skoda Octavia. You can have a nice vRS sedan (sedatch!) or wagon for $10k... Or a 1.9TDI for about the same. :)

How did you go looking at the GT model ? I think I saw the same one in carsales and was thinking about it for my sisters replacement car

I've just bought a mk5 manual tsk Jetta off the original owner with 110.000kms on the clock for $6500. I thought it was a bargain until I went through the many receipts she had accumulated at her local Ve dealer. There has to be over $20,000 in receipts. I'll put a post in the newbies section soon but now I don't know if I've bought a lemon or the most over serviced car in history.