Anything specific to look out for when buying?

[Mirez]

So my old man is helping out my sister at the moment and doing 250 miles every weekend. hes been getting a lot of sciatica due to this (Not too suprising in a 1.2 SE Polo) so we are thinking of suprising him with a temporary car to cover the mileage for the next 6 months. The requirements list isnt big;

MPV so upright seating position
Mini MPV so not too big
Diesel, power not a consideration (polo is 72bhp lol)
Up to around 5k, resale value is important
Automatic preferably.
Mileage to be low, dunno why but the older generation seem to think a car is dead at 100k

So i have shortlisted the Touran or the CMAX as he needs to be a little higher and the both are more suited to motorway miles. The CMAX is notorious for turbo problems though on the 1.6 so I think a Touran is the way forward, found a few so far but a DSG touran seems a rare breed as they all seem to be manual!

So any things to watch out for and how comfortable are they on longer journeys?

[2006ransome]

Thought I read somewhere that the touran had engine issues ?
Might be worth a Google ?
Other than that I am without knowledge on the two sorry

[johnnyroper]

Golf plus similar size to the cmax but far superior and more likely to have lost less money in 6 months time.

[insanitybeard]

I recently put some of my thoughts regarding mechanical issues and general musings in the '12 months in the life of a Touran' thread beneath this one (and also in the older 'bought a Touran' thread), have you seen that? If you're looking to spend 5k tops I'm guessing you'll be looking at up to around 2008-9 reg. models? I've no experience of DSG as ours is a manual, I spent Ã,£3800 private sale 12 months ago for ours which is a '55 reg 1.9 PD manual which had 100k on it at the time. I've not driven it long distance but from the shorter journeys I have driven it on it seems to be comfortable, less body roll and more like a car than the Mk2 Gal, hardly surprising due to it's lower centre of gravity and more modern independent rear suspension. The electric power steering works nicely, the fold flat rearmost seats (if it's a 7 seater version) handily switch quickly and easily to give a conventional sized boot, though admittedly the rearmost seats wouldn't be any good for regular adult use. We recently went down to Cornwall during the holidays and the Touran covers the distance well, that's what I like about the diesels- low revving nature and good torque make for a fairly relaxed drive but still a decent amount of power when required.

I've read a few tales of woe regarding issues with oil pumps on the 2 litre diesel and possibly unit injectors (different to the 1.9) and cylinder heads as well? One reason I went for the older but proven 1.9 PD, plus no DPF to give trouble.

My main gripes are the crappy finish they use on the interior door grab handles, rotary headlamp switch, stereo fascia etc which wears off after a number of years use and looks awful, the black external door handles (if fitted) can also suffer the same fate. Plus ours is suffering from rust around the rear number plate lamps which from a few other things I've read isn't an isolated case. The independent rear suspension looks capable of causing a few headaches if any of the bushes ever require replacement though the same can be said about the majority of modern cars with similar setups. The rear (second row) fold out cup holder and air vent are in the line of fire to get broken if you've regularly got kids in the back, and the warning triangle compartment cover clips on the bootlid trim are prone to getting busted!

[Mirez]

Cheers fellas! Must say I had overlooked the golf plus, going to see a 10 plate 1.6 dsg tomorrow. 95k but only 4 grand which is insanely cheap.

[Mirez]

Well I bought it, checked out and only 1 owner on 88k (not the 95k stated). HPI clear, full VW service history and just had an mot and service. Very happy, arriving Tuesday!!

[attachimg=1]

[johnnyroper]

Ã,£4K for that seems a right bargain.

[Mirez]

My thoughts entirely! Its not the best specced model out there but I have the same 1.6 DSG combo in my golf and its very good as with 7 gears its quite spritely for a 1.6! I'm still slightly dubious but I couldnt see any accident damage, VCDS report looked good and hadn't been reset and full HPI is clear. Turns up Tuesday so fingers crossed its a genuine bargain!

[insanitybeard]

For a 2010 model that does seem a very good price, especially for a 1 owner car and decent service history!

[johnnyroper]

I would say you have bagged a genuine bargain as you know what you are looking for so would clock if it's a lemon

[insanitybeard]

 Wish I'd removed the rose tinted specs when I bought the Galaxy...... 

[Mirez]

Wish I'd removed the rose tinted specs when I bought the Galaxy...... 

Will tell you Tuesday To be fair I didnt go in like that as the plus isnt my cup of tea at all!

[Mirez]

Well first couple of weeks ownership have been good! Found a couple of small niggles, one of which was with the DSG holdimg 2nd and 3rd for longer then expected but a recalibration of the box has sorted that. The other is a lumpy idle when cold, dissapears entirely once warm and appears very common on the 1.6tdi judging by all the ppsts about it! On the plus side its an easy fix although a hundred odd quid for the injector.

Other then that its the usual little things that need tidying amd a couple of dings need to be PDRed.

Ohh and I spent a good few hours trying to figure out why the headlght washers dont work only to discover the Plus seems to be the only VW model to have cutouts on all the bumpers. Doh!

Ohh2 - I've just got a letter from VW to say it needs a recall to fix the emissions lol...

[insanitybeard]

When you say the injector does that mean only one is defective?

[Mirez]

Yeah just one, you can check the tolerances in VCDS on the later engiens. My number 3 is the ony one outside the permitted values but TBH i may just leave it as it runs fine when warm and for a three month car I dont wanna spend too much!

[insanitybeard]

Hundred odd quid doesn't sound too bad for one of those commonrail injectors compared to for example a replacement PD injector but like you say, why worry about it if it isn't bad enough to warrant replacement. I remember renewing commonrail injectors on some of the early Ford TDCI lumps and having to enter a 16 odd digit correction value code into IDS (or WDS as it was then). The Delphi injectors in particular were prone to failure IIRC!

[Mirez]

Yeah Ive changed many on Mondeo TDCI's, they were crap. Unfortunately the VW ones for the 1.6CR are also crap, and likewise need coding with VCDS, they are Ã,£350ish from VW or Ã,£100 for a recon. Normally I wouldnt bother but again, short term use!

[insanitybeard]

Yep that was it, the 2 litre unit fitted to the Mk3 Mondeo, set of 4 of those injectors was upwards of 1k! I also recall reading articles suggesting that the Bosch injectors fitted to the 1.9 PD were more reliable than the Siemens units used on the 2 litre PD's and some later 1.9's but don't have direct experience of that. It did sway my decision to buy a 1.9 PD Touran over a 2 litre though!