High km R36

[BennieDaBlade]

I bought my R36 a couple of months ago for $22k. (Private sale) 2008 Biscay Blue wagon with just under 100km on the clock. Two owner with full VW dealer service history. Flew up to Sydney and drove back to Tas.

Now that I have been in and around it a bit (Just an engine oil and filter so far) I think it has been garaged most of it's life. Looks VERY clean underneath as well. The worst thing I have found is the gutter rash on the front passenger side wheel, but it's still not horendous. Was looking for about three months I guess before I found it.

There were two under $20k at the time but one was 170Km and the other 198km. Mine had the VW tow bar and an after market nav and reverse camera head unit.

Very happy camper.

Nigel

[tigger73]

Agree that although the advertised prices (and possibly sale prices too) of these cars is above redbook that if you went to trade one in that they will be offering you something close to redbook prices.

And the DSG/drivetrain replacement cost of $20k is exactly why I would be looking for a low km car. Although it's not a guarantee that you won't have a problem, you've got a lot better chance of having trouble-free motoring than something with 150,00km on the clock (particularly if no major maintenance has been done).

So if you buy a high kms car for $20k and spend another $20k on it, I'd much rather have spent the same money on a low km example.

[Darks RS]

Tigger, the DSG is only 5k, VWA replaced My DSG, mechatronic and anything else driveline related hence the cost.

[tigger73]

Tigger, the DSG is only 5k, VWA replaced My DSG, mechatronic and anything else driveline related hence the cost.

Yeah OK maybe a $20k repair bill is absolute worst case, however my main point is I'd much rather buy a 60-80,000km car than something with 150-180,000km on the clock for not a whole lot less.

I'd put the expected life on most modern cars at 250,000km (where cost to keep the car on the road is more than the value of the vehicle). My benchmark price would be $10-12k for a 200,000km R36 and $17-18k for something with 150,000 on the clock. That's just me and what I'd be prepared to pay but maybe market value would keep these prices up given supply/demand.

Of course this is me looking at this in a rational sense and not once you fall in love with the car....



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[kamold]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts. Drove a black one today. Must say I am now very keen to get one as my daily drive as my wife has pilfered my vrs from me and I am now driving the golf.
Love the exhaust note and planted though heavy feel.
Now need to find one with the specs I want which may take a while but it's worth waiting for what you want..isn't it?

[Passat R36]

Yes, definitely worth waiting! But fully optioned is just hard to come by.
Good luck!

[kamold]

Some options I can live without and others I am happy to retrofit like nav, Bt, climatronics, rvc

[snerlo]

Yeah mate,
I have retrofitted at RVC and RCD510 to my R36. Relatively easy now that I know what is going on. The nav unit would be exactly the same except that I think you have to fit an extra couple of things to make the nav actually work. Much cheaper using your phone or an external unit, but it is up to you. I will be retro fitting Bluetooth too shortly so that will be another interesting thing to look forward to. Good luck finding one. They are nice to drive though!!!

[Jakeys]

I bought one in August and I've still got e-mail notifications for 2009 onwards. There are some proper dreamers, which includes everyone north of $40k. As a general rule, desirable examples can go for up to the mid 30's, average ones end up more in the high 20's. By low 20's you're looking at pretty ordinary examples. If you're asking high 30's, you need to have a pretty good reason I think given how many great examples are available for cheaper, or you're looking to be talked down.

Redbook is useful for negotiating but really, it's wrong for R36's, as it often is for high end cars. I had the same thing with my previous car, despite being a top end model and not common, the Redbook was basically the same as the common models but the market just did not reflect that at all. Redbook is really only good for run of the mill cars, not flagships and sports cars and the like. It's the market that ultimately dictates value, sub 20k R36's just are not happening yet. They will get there, but not at the moment.

For reference, mine was one of the best on the market at the time with almost full options, a lot of dealer adds, probably the most desirable combo (Wagon, MY10.5, white or blue) and had only done 75kms with full history. Only problem was some curb rash on one of the rims. He had it listed for 37k, I borderline lowballed using Redbook to drive the price down and picked it up for a fair bit less, which was a very good deal based on what else was available and still is.

If you can, my opinion is aim for as close to the 65,000 major service as possible. As long as that's been done, as little kms as you can manage. Best bang for buck is about there. You can buy a car with more km's and chances are it'll be fine if meticulously serviced, but I'd only do it if it was cheap enough to justify.

[kamold]

Update:
Am in the process of trading the Golf for a 2009 (white MFD) Biscay Blue wagon!
Wife gets the Octy RS so she's happy.

Inspection happening today, fingers crossed I'll have it for the weekend.
Just had 60k service done.
Doesn't have Dynaudio upgrade which I'm a little disappointed about but otherwise it looks great.
Already started looking into colour MFD and climatronics module upgrades.

If anyone has done either of thess already let me know. Would like to get some first hand knowledge of what's needed.