It is with some trepidation I write this, because I am sure it will spurn some animosity.
I took today off as a recovery day since I rode in a bicycle fundraiser over the weekend and logged 158 miles, 112 miles of which was on my fixed gear in one day (think one gear and no coasting), which is not easy and almost unheard of on that type of bicycle. I knew I'd be beat up so I planned on a rest day from work. Revkev called and asked if I could accompany him to look at this car, and I decided that driving didn't require much movement, so I agreed. I have
posted on here he was rear-ended, totaling his car, so he is using my wagon until he gets back on his feet. He works nights, so the plan was to wait for the bank to open so he could get the money, put insurance on the B4 he is looking at buying, and get a transit plate from the DMV, should he buy it so he can drive it home legally. We would drive down in my B4 while he slept, possibly buy the car, and still get back in time for him to grab more sleep before work that night.
We drove the 160 miles each way to Tarasevich's house and looked at the B4. I put the Vag-Com on it and it showed a BK ECU, no codes, and no problems, timing within spec, everything I could see seems fine with it on the scope. The interior is nice and clean and in good shape. The door window is as he describes but the others work fine. It started OK, a little delayed for my taste, but it had an IQ of 7.2 so that should be expected. It will need a harmonic balancer, that much is apparent with it running.
What we found, however, is "
Paint and Body are in Excellent condition" is true for the top of the car, but there is significant rust on the floor pans that will need to be addressed. Tarasevich seems like a nice guy for the little we talked to him, but there is no missing the rust holes in the floor, one of which on the passenger's side you can easily see the pad under the carpet.
If I hadn't spent $11 in tolls and 7 hours of time traveling on a vacation day to look at it for a friend, I probably wouldn't have posted this, but I wanted others to know before they made a similar trip...or a longer one.
Revkev declined the car due to the rust, which will take some time to repair, but it is repairable should someone want to put in the time. I did some similar rust work on the wife's B4 two years ago and it's holding up fine, but it took
approximately 30 hours to remove the rust and weld in new metal and her rust wasn't as bad.
I am not suggesting anyone not buy this car, otherwise it seems in OK shape, but seeing the rust we decided to not even bother taking it for a drive.
I just want people to have as much information about what they are purchasing before they spend the time and effort like we did.
I hope Tarasevich does sell the car, I truly do. And even with the rust his asking price of $2K isn't bad, but it's far from a rust-free car like the ad made it out to be.
has seen it!
