Buying a Vento

[junior]

Hi Guys, new to the MK3 thread, but looking at buying a Vento.
What are your thoughts, what should I look for, what are they like to re sell, I assume a Golf would be easier to sell, ie its more common. At what service interval is the timing belt due?, are they economical? I assume many parts are interchangable with the MK3 Golf

Any feedback will be welcomed.

Thanks in advance, josh

PS I prefer the Jetta name!

[Jmac]

I had a Vento back in the day with a 2E engine all lowered. Was a good thing. Mate to answer your question about the cam belt- Not a complex task and pretty cheap for the parts. IMO i would be fitting 1 with a tensioner anyway regardless of mileage so you have peace of mind. MK3 with a boot mate. Pretty much eveything interchangeable. Back in the day they even had a VR6 model, along with the leather trim made this a special vehicle. All the usual mk3 things with the Vento mate.
Fairly rare cehicle over here hey
Good luck if you are looking at the vehicle feel free to ask any specific questions, you are at the right site thats for sure.

[Bora Sport]

My wife has one that we purchased with 96,000k's on the clock about 6 years ago. To date it has travelled close to 330,000k's. As Jimmymac says expect all the usual Mk3 issues.

We love it. The boot is huge and very useable. As long as you get used to only expecting any decent action from the engine below around 4,500rpm and just use the torque it can be easy and fun. I put Konis on it with the standard springs around 4-5 years ago and it handles brilliantly and can be quite quick point to point but definitely no rocketship

If you think it is the car for you then I would highly recommend it.

[rayray086]

I'm not very sure, but most Ventos that were imported into Australia are 94+ models, and if they're anything similar to the Golfs here, they would be equipped with the ADY engine. From what I've heard and seen, the differences between the ADY and 2E are a smaller throttle body, and more sensors (one of which was really troublesome for me - crank angle sensor).

But yeah, they're basically a Golf with a boot. I've seen one for sale before at $4900 at a dealer, so I reckon you could pick one up for very cheap. They're hardly known around here and aren't sought after, even though they're rare to find.

[junior]

thanks for the feed back, now I just need to decide ifs it a Vento i want or a Golf.