Been offered a car.. Appreciate you thoughts

[KD79]

To cut a long story short basically my old car gave up the ghost recently and I have been offered a car for 200 quid. It's a 1999 golf, But it's only got one month's mot. Reasonable mileage of 100k.

I know the abs light is on- automatic mot fail I believe- I have no idea how much this would cost to diagnose/fix.

I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this.

To buy or not to buy?

[eastanglianbiker]

the abs light could be as easy fix or major it might just be the abs ring broken on front hub or the sensor gone or something far more hassle dont know if i would bother with it or not to be honest

[KD79]

the abs light could be as easy fix or major it might just be the abs ring broken on front hub or the sensor gone or something far more hassle dont know if i would bother with it or not to be honest

 

Thanks for your reply EAB, would be a gamble I admit.

[EthanKing]

It probably is just an abs sensor. 100k seems quite low for the age. Is it petrol or diesel? For £200 I personally would go for it and if you can't get it mot'd on the cheap I'm sure you would get your money back or possibly even sell it for £300.

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[al_stu]

Suppose the way to think of it is that if the car turns out to need serious money on it, and is therefore just scrap after a month, how big an issue is it for you?

If you can afford to scrap and go get something else then fine

If you would be buggered and skint then it's a risk you can't afford

[Six30]

Any car for £200 is a gamble , as some one has said abs could be an easy fix or cost you more than the cars worth to put right...go online and check mot history, see if there was a load of advisories on last mot , if there was , they could be failures now .

[KD79]

Appreciate the replies. It may not seem a lot but 200 pounds is a lot of money to me, hence the indecision. I do plan to view the car first, but am know mechanic. Have checked mot history 2x advisories last year on nearside front suspension has slight movement at wishbone pin or bush same on offside. Other than that just consumables I.E tyres,bulbs,exhaust listed previously, no major probs noted.

[bonio]

Bit of along shot, but any chance of getting it to a garage for an expert opinion on the ABS light before you buy? If you know the seller, perhaps you could stick on your car insurance, leave £200 deposit, and take it round yourself?

[cockercas]

But how much will 4 tyres set you back?

Buying old bangers only pays off if you can use a spanner set.

[Stu]

these cars dont have an ABS ring its all built in to the drive shaft and they very rarely go wrong

ABS sensors do go on these and are a bugger to replace as the seize in to the hub

you need someone with VCDS to diagnose it for you not any old code reader

you can check each sensor with VCDS and it will read the codes properly

it could just be a lose wire

and yes ABS light is a fail on the MOT

as a side note a battery that has run low on these can cause a low voltage at the ABS module that throws up an error and sometimes they need to be re coded back to the car

rather than use a garage to do this you can usually find someone local who will sort it

are you on facebook? I can send you a link that will be useful

[KD79]

these cars dont have an ABS ring its all built in to the drive shaft and they very rarely go wrong

ABS sensors do go on these and are a bugger to replace as the seize in to the hub

you need someone with VCDS to diagnose it for you not any old code reader

you can check each sensor with VCDS and it will read the codes properly

it could just be a lose wire

and yes ABS light is a fail on the MOT

as a side note a battery that has run low on these can cause a low voltage at the ABS module that throws up an error and sometimes they need to be re coded back to the car

rather than use a garage to do this you can usually find someone local who will sort it

are you on facebook? I can send you a link that will be useful

 

Thanks Stu. Yes I am on Facebook will PM you.

[Joeman]

I've got a W-reg VW Passat that just won't die. Ive had it about 6year and its sailed through it's MOT each year (apart from last year when the idiots at the test centre couldn't open the bonnet - but that's another story).

In all the years I've owned it, and used it purely for muddy dogs and trips to the local tip, its only cost me a backbox, front CV boot and a battery. All the electrics and air-con etc work perfectly.

You can't go far wrong with German engineering IMO, so for 200notes you could get a cracking little run about... I'd say go for it!!

[The Hitcher]

What Golf is it?, if it's a 1.6 Auto avoid it!!, they're truly awful, struggle to get 20 MPG in town and are really, really slow.

Like Joeman, I've iwned a Passat in the past- a 2002 1.9 TDI 130 and it was a brilliant car, good in fuel, surprisingly fast and never went wrong.

That VW 1.9 Diesel engine is really, really good in nearly all its guises, if going for a petrol the 1.8T is the best of the bunch.

[KD79]

Yes it's a 1600 auto. Viewed it today, not in bad condition body wise, however airgbag light is on and needs exhaust as well. That's before I stick it in for an mot. ???what else it may need. When fixed up would maybe make a good car, if I had more money, yea I would take it on. But I don't unfortunately so declined it.

Thanks for all your advice and input, appreciate it.

[EthanKing]

The airbag lights on them often need plugging in to turn them off and sometimes still come back on. If it was tdi it may have been worth getting but I would have passed on the 1.6 auto too.

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[The Hitcher]

Honestly, the Mk4 1.6 Auto is horrific on fuel, I don't know why but it is, I used to work in the car trade and I swear around town it was only 3-4 MPG better than an E55 AMG I also had at the same time.

If you want a cheap car like that my advice would be go for a slightly more powerful petrol manual if you want petrol, or one of the tdis, Golfs command a bit of a premium so if you don't mind a slightly bigger car I'd go for a Passat.

[DELP508]

I bought a 1995 Toyota celica 1.8 over 3 years ago now for £450. And it hasn't gone wrong yet. Toyota's are bulletproof. I was on a budget when moving house so needed to sell my car for deposit. And couldn't have bought a better car. Go Japanese.

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