what do you think about this tdi? newbie and first time potential owner! i am looking

i am looking at this TDI locally...

2003 golf tdi
5 speed
99,000 miles

Turbo Replaced
New Tires
Fuel Filter
Oil Changed with full 5w40 synthetic
Air Cleaner
Injector Nozzles upgraded to Sprint 520's (European Specification 110Hp)

Comes with the timing belt replacement kit...i can probably do this myself...

What the owner says:
"The car has been hit and has a rebuilt title. However, it was a light hit in the driver side B-pillar. I bought the car fixed but replaced both the side airbags because the previous owner did not replace them. The car tracks and brakes straight and the tires have about 10K on them and there is no adverse wear from the accident. None of the suspension was affected."

He said you can tell from the paint lines where it was fixed, but hasn't experienced any problems...but also, he has only put 300 miles on it since buying it...

price is $9800

is it common for the turbo to go that quickly? anything i can expect to go wrong? the price seems good enough that even if i have to drop another 2000 into it, then i will still be much under the going rate of others out there....

what do you all think?

Odds are that the turbo was never bad and the dealership ripped him off for a new turbo (there are many other causes than turbo failure that causes the turbo to cut out...most of them are very cheap and easy fixes)

What sort of experience do you have with mechanics work? The TB for the tdi is different than many other cars and requires specialty tools (the tools cost in the area of $250...and another $200 for vag-com, if you don't use these tools you stand a good chance of damaging your engine and having to pay literally $1000's to fix it...we see it all the time). I would suggest paying a trusted mechanic from the 101 section to do it if you don't have experience with this, otherwise make sure you follow the howto to the letter and don't take shortcuts (if you feel the need to mark the timing belt, then stop what you are doing and take it to someone to change).

at 100k you are just breaking the car in, you got another 300k left on that engine, so that's a good price for the number of miles.

To give you perspective, I paid $18.5k for my tdi, it's a 2002 with 38k when I bought it...so you have a pretty good deal going.

I would jump on that without question.

See if you can have someone drive it down the road and follow it to see if it really tracks straight or not.

There is no one, not even the worst used car salesman you ever heard about that can lie like the average person selling their own car.

My fabia 1.9TDI (possibly same engine? 100hp PD TDI) had its turbo replaced at 82,000 miles - again many people suggest this is not because the turbo is at fault but because mechanics throw parts at fixing the problem instead of spending time diagnosing what the cause of the problem might be.

PS: I should mention I bought the car at 100,000 miles and don't know the exact story about the turbo.

I would suggest to keep looking.
You can find a better deal than that...
Id say thats a good deal with a clean title.
Someone thought the car was a complete loss at some point... And you dont know exactly how it was "fixed".

The rebuild title itself shouldn't scare you away, but you will need to scrutinize more thoroughly. Have a body expert take a look at how the damage was repaired. Get with one of the local members who has a VAG-COM and see which, if any codes are present. Can you give it a compression test?

I have a salvage title vehicle, a Jetta 03 TDI. It was described the same as yours, but hit in the right front. No damage photos though, so I really don't know what kind of damage it had. So far I have put 20K miles on it. The money spent on it are all for maintenance or extra stuff. TB at about 98K, replaced the shocks and struts, Gator tune, and a skid plate. That and new seats.
While I was doing the shocks, I noticed that the driver's CV boot was leaking, so now it has a new boot, and while we were at it, a new ball joint and new sway bar bushings.
I haven't owned a VW since I had a '68 squareback, but my impression is that all the stuff I nave done is in the category of "To be expected", and not in any way due to the salvage title. I paid $9500 with 80K on it, in August of 07.
Of course, your mileage may vary.

Is that price 20% discounted from local comps with clear title? It should be that or more to be considered a bargain.

Offer the guy $8K Someone has to stand firm on the runaway prices these vehicles are fetching.

Good Luck,

Flashmayo

awesome! thanks for all of the information everyone!

i found a 2001 with 89K miles on it...for $10,000...i am flying to orlando, fl to get it and then driving it back to philly...should be a nice trip to fall in love with it, or decide that i hate it! haha

you will see alot more of me on here now that i am in the "club"...ha

thanks again!