FS: 1996 Passat TDI wagon, 5 speed, 105K, Green/Tan, $6K

FS: 1996 Passat TDI Wagon, 105K 2 owner miles, Green exterior, Beige/Black interior, 5 speed, PW, PDL, PS, PB, Cold AC, Alpine CD, etc.

Recent Service work includes:

Timing belt
Timing Belt tensioner
Waterpump
Serpentine belt
PS belt
Valve cover gasket
Oil Pan Gasket
Rear main seal
Sachs Clutch kit
Slave Cylinder
Motor mounts
Oil change and filter
Gearbox fluid change
All vacuum lines replaced

The vin # is WVWHG83A7TE247069


This Passat is an Alabama car, so it has no rust, and the paint is nice and shiny. There are several small door dings (this was a daily driven car), but no dents. The interior is very clean with no rips, tears or burns. The cargo area is clean as well, and I do have the cargo cover for the rear. All the power windows and mirrors work as well as the central locking system. All gauges and lights work. The AC blows cold, and the heat is hot. The car has an Alpine AM/FM/CD player as well. The tires are 50% with even tread. All service work listed was performed in the last week. At the time of service, the axles, brakes and tierods/rackboots/ball joints were checked as well, and all are good. The car has been religiously serviced by Hutchinson Automotive in Birmingham, AL by its previous owner.

Here is a link to a photo bucket album with more pictures : http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/audiodyn/Passat%20TDI%20wagon/

The asking price on the car is $6000 firm. The car is located in Oneonta, AL. Delivery is available in the SE US for reasonable cost. Contact Jeffrey W. Bynum , audiodyn@otelco.net, or via phone at 205.446.8085 cell.

Audidyn,

Appears at first blush like a very good deal, you may want to post the VIN so people could run that, and if it sells please consider donating to the TDIclub.

My two cents worth,

Kirk

Edited the thread info with VIN# added.

Thanks,

Jeff Bynum

"POOF"! Later!

PM sent

C'mon ppl. This car hasn't sold yet, at that price?

Howler said:

C'mon ppl. This car hasn't sold yet, at that price?

Click to expand...

I think it's moving to California.

RabbitGTI said:

I think it's moving to California.

Click to expand...

, Later!

Harvieux said:

"POOF"! Later!

Click to expand...

What took you so long?

I've got someone who might want that Harv. Did a friend from St. Louis, Abigail, get in touch with you?

RC said:

What took you so long?

I've got someone who might want that Harv. Did a friend from St. Louis, Abigail, get in touch with you?

Click to expand...

Hi Ron, Not yet but, I have had others inquiring already. Even though this B4V has had a great amount of service and repairs performed recently, I still have to get her here to CA and go through her bumper to bumper. With 50% tires she will get new ones, PDR for the door dings, and whatever else needed to bring this specimen up to the best she can be. After that, it's off to the races for a bit of a cuss word around here, "profit". Later!

All in favor of banning Harv from this forum, wiggle your joystick.

mbr12 said:

All in favor of banning Harv from this forum, wiggle your joystick.

Click to expand...

I second the move to ban

Follow this link for the definition of "profiteer":
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/profiteer

mbr12 said:

All in favor of banning Harv from this forum, wiggle your joystick.

Click to expand...

Sheesh, I broke my joystick from wiggling it so fricken hard! Did I mention that this B4V has the very, very rare ABS option? That's got to be worth a couple grand more of profiteering, eh? Hehe! Later!

mbr12 said:

Follow this link for the definition of "profiteer":
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/profiteer

Click to expand...

While you're at it, look-up: you snooze you lose

No low mi. B4V TDI will ever last long at that price.

That's a very pretty car. I love the green, even though people says it's the most common color. Not an ABS fan, however. I find the brakes easy to modulate on my B4 and my A3.

Someone will be very happy with this one. And it's on these cars that the buyer will really benefit from Harv's loving attention (to the car, that is).

IndigoBlueWagon said:

That's a very pretty car. I love the green, even though people says it's the most common color.

Click to expand...

I thought that the Windsor Blue was the most common color.

The Green is my second favorite color after the maroon (dark red?). I Like the dark int. in either cloth or leather better than the Tanthracite though.

Mcgink said:

While you're at it, look-up: you snooze you lose

No low mi. B4V TDI will ever last long at that price.

Click to expand...

None of us has a chance for the good deals with the Harvulture pouncing on them before you can blink.

Not true: I got one (look at my sig), or two (the '97).

mbr12 said:

None of us has a chance for the good deals with the Harvulture pouncing on them before you can blink.

Click to expand...

Maybe you should take some of that jealous envy energy and scan the nation 24 hours a day nearly every day of the year whilst being ready to plop down the bacon in a moments notice to acquire the TDI of your dreams and remembering to also perform your due diligence while you're at it. Oh, I almost forgot, you don't do this for a living, do you? Later!

Harvieux said:

Maybe you should take some of that jealous envy energy and scan the nation 24 hours a day nearly every day of the year whilst being ready to plop down the bacon in a moments notice to acquire the TDI of your dreams and remembering to also perform your due diligence while you're at it. Oh, I almost forgot, you don't do this for a living, do you? Later!

Click to expand...

You just proved my point!
Layta, vulcha

I honestly don't understand the anti-Harv rhetoric. He jumped on a good deal and got it. Why hate him because he intends to resell the car, that's his business (literally and figuratively). As Peter points out, he got some good deals, and I myself have at least twice flipped cars for profit.

If he were dishonest, or unethical, I could understand. But the man is neither of those, from what I've seen both in person and through the experience of others.

By the way, he's not the only one doing this. There are at least 2-3 others here in northern CA who specialize in TDIs and offer "deals" like 05 Passats for a hair under $30k...

mbr12 said:

You just proved my point!
Layta, vulcha

Click to expand...

Ben, The point I see here is you're sitting on your retired arse b!tiching and calling me a vulture because you missed the boat. Don't you feel like a compete fool? I actually think this is kinda phunny because I PM'd a close friend of mine from here on this forum in advance to have him watch this thread and all the jealous BS I will have to put up with and he PM's back and says, F em if they can't take a joke. Later!

danix said:

I honestly don't understand the anti-Harv rhetoric.

Click to expand...

Really, it's quite childish. If I wanted a car the first thing I'd do is contact Harv and ask him to keep an eye out for me, while I kept an evil hawk eye out for myself. If you want a rare car you better be ready to be glued to the common places where they are found and have $ in hand to close the deal before anyone else beats you to it... as I've done more times than for the two B4Vs we are sitting on now.

Harv is a good guy, he sells a fine product for a fair price, and he deserves to make a decent profit. I've never seen or heard of him gouging anyone at all.

Let it be folks.

RC said:

Harv is a good guy, he sells a fine product for a fair price, and he deserves to make a decent profit. I've never seen or heard of him gouging anyone at all.

Click to expand...

I'm sure that's true, but most of us (the car-buying public, not necesessarily TDIClub members...) are not in the business of buying and selling cars. We're just looking for reliable transportation that gets good mpg at an affordable price.

Of course it isn't Harv's fault (or any of ours), that the best solution for a family of 4+, that runs diesel, is a 10-year old B4V. But, are he and other "flippers" taking advantage of that strange and unfortunate situation for his own personal gain? Buying low (from someone who doesn't know better, perhaps?) and then selling high (on the left coast, where price appears not to be an object for some people)? Or is he providing a much-needed service by buying good cars in far-flung parts of the country, buffing them up and transporting and selling them to willing buyers who have neither the time, the cash in hand, nor the expertise to do it themselves?

I guess I can see it both ways. And I don't think it is jealousy to be concerned that some people may be taking advantage of a situation. That said, once I'm ready to buy, if the planets and my limited vacation time don't align just right, I may need to ask Harv or someone like him to find me a nice B4 and bring it to Oregon!

Cheers,

Jay

jaybeat said:

But, are he and other "flippers" taking advantage of that strange and unfortunate situation for his own personal gain? Buying low (from someone who doesn't know better, perhaps?) and then selling high (on the left coast, where price appears not to be an object for some people)? Or is he providing a much-needed service by buying good cars in far-flung parts of the country, buffing them up and transporting and selling them to willing buyers who have neither the time, the cash in hand, nor the expertise to do it themselves?

Cheers,

Jay

Click to expand...

Both.

That's a HE|| of a lot of deferred maintenance on that ride. I'd avoid it like the plague. Deal might sound good, but think of ten years of sloppy and deferred maintenance it took to get it to that point, where it needed that huge list of back-logged stuff just to get it up to Harv's buying spec's...where he will in turn do a huge list of stuff to get it up to his saleable spec's.

Can ten years of obvious neglect be countered by that much TLC? No thanks for me.

Thankfully for the buying public, Harv has bigger ba||s than I.

nicklockard said:

That's a HE|| of a lot of deferred maintenance on that ride.

Click to expand...

huh? Its had quite a bit of work done on it, bargain for 6K for sure.

Timing belt
Timing Belt tensioner
Waterpump
Serpentine belt
PS belt
Valve cover gasket
Oil Pan Gasket
Rear main seal
Sachs Clutch kit
Slave Cylinder
Motor mounts
Oil change and filter
Gearbox fluid change
All vacuum lines replaced

Click to expand...

I don't see any evidence of deferred maintenance here. Most of the items are part of a timing belt change. The clutch failure is a bit odd, but the motor mounts on these cars seem to get soft with years, not miles. Same with vacuum lines.

This car most likely needs suspension, intake cleaining, maybe brakes, and maybe tires. Factor in any other surprises (like a worn injection pump or a turbo on its way out) and you've got 2K in repairs right off the bat.

My B4 needs suspension, intake cleaning, headlights (fogged lenses) and I think it has a cracked flex pipe. And the tires were shot. At least one window regulator needs to be replaced, and two door latches are sticky. And I think it, too, needs motor mounts. These are ten year old cars that were quirky in their heyday. They're not going to be trouble-free.

If you don't like Harv taking advantage of a free market, then complain to VW for not bringing in more cars, to the EPA for their rules biased against diesels, but not to Harv. He's just doing what any businessperson does: take advantage of supply and demand. And as he's pointed out, it's not without its risks.

A fellow member here PMed me about my B4 when the ad appeared. I happened to be home, happened to have time to talk to the PO. I bought the car 5 minutes into the first phone conversation with the PO, at his full asking price. I took a big chance. I'm not intending to flip the car, but if you look at my signature you can see that perhaps I should divest myself of a few TDIs.

I don't watch ads, but I have friends who do. I'm grateful to them.

nicklockard said:

Both.

That's a HE|| of a lot of deferred maintenance on that ride. I'd avoid it like the plague. Deal might sound good, but think of ten years of sloppy and deferred maintenance it took to get it to that point, where it needed that huge list of back-logged stuff just to get it up to Harv's buying spec's...where he will in turn do a huge list of stuff to get it up to his saleable spec's.

Can ten years of obvious neglect be countered by that much TLC? No thanks for me.

Thankfully for the buying public, Harv has bigger ba||s than I.

Click to expand...

Nick, I know you have heard me bang out the importance of due diligence many, many times here. I personally spoke to this seller and I was satisfied that this vehicle was serviced with good intensions it's entire life to date. I say good intensions because it's improbable that the servicing entities are anywhere near as proficient as some of the great technicians spread out in our tdiclub community but, I feel overall neglect is not in play here as you may seem to think. The following is a quote from the initial seller's posting and that means alot in my book: [The car has been religiously serviced by Hutchinson Automotive in Birmingham, AL by its previous owner] The seller himself is a hobbyist/enthuiest and has restored many vehicles. The cluster has not been changed, there is no previous paint or body work, all power windows work good, A/C and heat blow as designed, the miles are quite low, only two confirmed Alabama owner's, non-inclement weather domiciled (not the rust belt), and the recent service and maintenance performed is actually a positive aspect and knowing these vehicles like I do, maybe some of the replaced items were not really needed (example noted below). My friend, it would probably take you or most anyone else a month of Sundays if at all to find such a vehicle with all the above referenced atributes with the possible exception of aquiring one from a stellar club member B4V owner. In other words, it would have to be a perfect storm to find one that initially meets every aspect of yours/our anal lifetime servicing requirements and which most likely computes to you/us being B4V-less until the cow's come home.

Timing belt = not a bad thing
Timing Belt tensioner = diddo
Waterpump = good thing
Serpentine belt = why not?
PS belt = diddo
Valve cover gasket = probably not needed
Oil Pan Gasket = What about the CCV tube?
Rear main seal = Diddo
Sachs Clutch kit = Could it of suffered the infamous release bearing/throw-out bearing syndrone?
Slave Cylinder = Okayyyyyy!
Motor mounts = Possible infamous sooted up flex in down pipe syndrone?
Oil change and filter = possible 15W-40? That's what was recommended when these first came out, right?
Gearbox fluid change = not a bad thing either if the correct stuff was used, eh?
All vacuum lines replaced = Very normal for every A3/B4 I ever acquired for the last 5 years running.

Later!





Later!

Harv, you just keep on doing what you're doing. I've seen a few examples of your exemplary cars, and was impressed.

I saw this when the ad hit. If I wasn't temporarily bereft of expendable cash, you would never have gotten this one.