orlando
Well-known member
NO LONGER FOR SALE! Car is currently being repaired and will probably be on the market again in a year or two once it is running smoothly. All offers have received PM replies.
2003 Jetta GL TDI Wagon, broken timing belt, located in Columbus Ohio, automatic transmission and ESP, 154,870 miles
Accepting offers for our car "as is" while we decide whether to repair it or sell it. We screwed up: didn't change the timing belt and it broke. We're in contact with a local TDI guru as well as the VW shop that has serviced it and--full disclosure here--we suspect when all the figures come in it'll probably make sense to repair rather than sell it. (If you're really interested, one reason we suspect the calculations will favor repair instead of sale is revealed in my response to Steve-o in the longest paragraph of my post on 6/29, post #12 in the only other thread I've started.)
Even if we have the engine rebuilt by a local TDI guru, I think we are likely to want to replace this car with a newer one in the next year or so. Maybe this is a false analogy, but I am remembering our experience shopping for a house in an older neighborhood. We saw a lot of kitchens and baths that had just been renovated in a style we hated or with materials we wouldn't have chosen. More than once we said we would have bought the house if the seller had just knocked the renovation cost off of the price and let us do the renovation. So maybe this applies to someone looking for a TDI wagon. (In other words, we're not desperate sellers looking to unload a broken car quickly. My partner keeps whispering in my ear, "I want my clunker back!")
Original owner, used as a family and commuter car, no modifications. (So you know what kind of family this car has had to suffer: we don't understand any of the mods other members list here and in fact don't even know how to change the oil. If you have questions about the mechanical condition all I can do is read you stuff off 10 years of maintenance invoices and tell you how it drives.) This is the base model and the only upgrades I remember paying for were the automatic transmission and ESP for safety. We had the windows tinted by a third party because the dealer wouldn't do it, and we have the VW roof rack cross bars with a Sears cargo carrier that bolts onto the bars (the cargo carrier is visible behind the close-up photo of the cross bars and also in my profile photo). Please indicate in your offer whether you want the cross bars and/or cargo carrier.
In addition to having the engine rebuilt, the car needs new front wheel wells/liners and the chin spoiler. I tried to show this area from below in some of the photos. The back-seat coin tray or whatever it is (visible in one photo) is crushed in from serving as my son's footrest. I'm sure the car has various other cosmetic and mechanical flaws that I haven't noticed or noticed and forgot--our relation to this car is thoroughly utilitarian. It certainly has some nicks/dents/scratches appropriate to its age even if these don't show in the photos. The original stereo stopped working and we replaced it with a basic Pioneer CD player and radio (see photo).
It's never been in an accident with another vehicle or inanimate object, but it did have body work after a deer hoof landed from above (during mating season) on the front left (driver's) corner in 2010. If I remember correctly, it received a new headlight, fender, hood, and windshield (from Rife's, the most reputable body shop in Columbus, covered by insurance). We have all the paperwork from this repair and from everything else that has been done to, on, or for this car since it left the dealer's lot. VIN: WVWRP61J83W572013.
Ask questions. Post abuse. Send offers. But if you send a competitive offer, please don't expect a decision before the middle of the week--we expect to know more about repair costs by Tuesday or Wednesday.
David
NO LONGER FOR SALE! Car is currently being repaired and will probably be on the market again in a year or two once it is running smoothly. All offers have received PM replies.
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