[chrisjwwallis]

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of guidance as I'm not really sure what to do. Please feel free to tell me I'm being stupid!

I have a '52 plate Mk 4 Golf GTi 1.8t AUM with 140,000 miles on it. I have wondered about buying a new car recently, but I actually really like mine. New car looking between £10-15k.

I think my Golf is in pretty good condition, I've always looked after it, and had no major issues. Had a gearbox gasket go when I bought it 9 years ago, but nothing else.

My question is, is it stupid to think about putting a bit of money into it and getting the engine reconditioned? I would probably get it mapped at the same time, and I do have aspirations of keeping it long term as a weekend fun car.

I'm not fussed about it becoming a future classic, but if I'm looking at £10-15k for a new car, and it will cost me £3-5k to make this car basically new mechanically and get a long life out of it, then to me it's a no brainer. It's also a lot more environmentally friendly in my mind!

What are people's thoughts? Any steer or indication of costs much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[northpole]

3 to 5k???? mate that is you bring it in to a garage that does everything for you and to be fair with 2.5k it should be an engine that has every moving part, sensors, gaskets, bearings, injectors, pistons, piston rings, rods etc replaced... for new items so basically a new engine that needs to be driven in again. spend up to 5 k and that means you have the car completely resprayed and all the light clusters and interior replaced with new ones.

IMHO if you want to spend 5k you can buy an Audi S3 from 2005-2007 or an Audi S4 2005-2007( but the latter will probably need the timing chains replaced, they are located at the back of the engine so gearbox needs to come off and engine needs to come out to replace it very expensive to have it done, and very timing consuming to DIY, not to mention the fat that you have to use an engine hoist as the front is not detachable as with the mk4 golf)

 

[chrisjwwallis]

3 to 5k???? mate that is you bring it in to a garage that does everything for you and to be fair with 2.5k it should be an engine that has every moving part, sensors, gaskets, bearings, injectors, pistons, piston rings, rods etc replaced... for new items so basically a new engine that needs to be driven in again. spend up to 5 k and that means you have the car completely resprayed and all the light clusters and interior replaced with new ones.

IMHO if you want to spend 5k you can buy an Audi S3 from 2005-2007 or an Audi S4 2005-2007( but the latter will probably need the timing chains replaced, they are located at the back of the engine so gearbox needs to come off and engine needs to come out to replace it very expensive to have it done, and very timing consuming to DIY, not to mention the fat that you have to use an engine hoist as the front is not detachable as with the mk4 golf)

Cool, thanks for coming back to me. As you probably guessed, I don't really have much concept as to how much it would cost! The exterior doesn't really bother me, I think it looks like a cared for 20 year old car, so if I can have the engine rebuilt for £2.5k then that seems a bargain to me. Can then remap to 180-200bhp for a bit of fun. I would like to replace the seats as I think the newer versions look jazzier, but personal taste etc.

I'm just working on the basis that it's a car that I know, and if I do this then unlikely to have any serious problems for years. Always an inherent risk with buying another car, and I'm not the most savvy when it comes to them. I just like my golf

Appreciate the response.

 

[northpole]

i get your way of thinking but it shouldn't cost that much... especially not if there is nothing wrong mechanically.. so just replacing drive train components and getting upgraded parts to get the most out of a remap will set you back 1.5 to 2k incl. the remap

 

[chrisjwwallis]

Nothing mechanically wrong that I know of, I was just thinking preventative. Cool, appreciate the help. Now I just need to find somewhere to get it done. I'm based in Surrey and Cardiff if you happen to know of anywhere, or anyone else who reads this!

 

[northpole]

Any independent VAG specialist garage would be what I would be looking for as close to home as possible...
Google is ace for finding one.

 

[Karim]

If the car this age has engine probles, i would just scrap it. engine probems are never a cheap fox and there's so much that needs replacing together - the bills add up.

what sort of engine trouble are you having?

 

[northpole]

@Karim he's got no engine problems, he was asking about preventative things... so I told him he can go ahead and upgrade parts to get more from a remap...

It just means he'll upgrade clutch, injectors, intercooler, boostpipes and maybe put on a k04 before he gets a remap. Than if he has any smarts about him he also does a big brake conversion and upgrade the suspension. So that the car is able to handle and control all the extra power.

He's got an AUM so he's looking at 200 with the k03 but if he gets a k04 with all the extras, he'll be seeing 230+ bhp.

 

[Karim]

@Karim he's got no engine problems, he was asking about preventative things... so I told him he can go ahead and upgrade parts to get more from a remap...

Oh sorry, i didn't read the subsequent update. Seems a bit pointless to do if you dont have any engine issues. The 1.8T is known for having engine oil get stuck and dry at the top - but only if the owner hasn't done oil changes on time.

It's really down to you whether you want to spend the money on it. A lot of the newer cars are terrible. the tfsi VAG cars (and other brands similar era) have horrible oil burn issues because of reduced friction piston rings where they tried to eek out higher mpg/reduce emissions. They did a lot of stuff to reduce friction in the engine which created reliability issues. You can imagine those tfsi engines frequently had oil drop below minimum many timees, because they sometimes need 1L of oil every 600 miles. Castrol edge LL isn't exactly cheap and I'm sure some owners just forget to put some in.

I was looking at what reliable car I can get next which I can own for 10 years (like the mk4 golf), unfortunately the most reliable 2012 year cars are japanese and korean cars like toyota auris/corolla and kia models which I'm not not entirely familiar with.

I dont like the look of asian cars so I totally get why you want to keep a mk4 running for longer term.

Unfortunately for me, I think I'm going to have to retire mine because it's starting to burn oil now.

 

[ChippyTDI]

To be fair I totally understand this way of thinking, if your considering new car levels of money then why not build something you like.
If it was considered a classic then many people would be telling you how good it is to be getting it up to scratch, your just doing it before that stage haha!

@Karim have you considered moving up an oil grade if not already? 5w40