Best year to get ? fuel economy? any serious issues with engine, Mk4 or mk5 edition,thinking Mk5 would be better? manual or DSG ?, camchain issues ? with some cars I have fairly limited experience with these cars but have driven an Eos many times and really liked the power , handling and sound of course ,found the economy pretty reasonable however petrol is rather expensive here ( 2.20nzd/litre ) but expect an improvement on my old mk3 VR 12v auto ?. I'am not interested in a Japanese import cars as the are generally poorly serviced and can be suspect,I like the 4 cylinder GTI's of the same era but not convinced they are a safe purchase given known issues with the earlier motors,my mate runs a VAG euro workshop and has mixed thoughts about them Having said that my son has owned 2 later GTI's and has had nothing but regular servicing costs. The R32 appears to hold it value very well in my country,a good one is usually 15Knzd from my research on our countries biggest auction site. Comments please from owners of these cars,TIA,cheers.
I dont have an R32 but my ex had a mk4 that was modded (full milltek, schrick cams etc), we took it to the Ring a few times and it was awesome -I own a mk5 Edition 30 , which is a 2 litre TFSI with 310hp , its been relible in my owner ship juust a few rear ABS faults really, the R32 in the mk5 still needs the timing chains checking on VCDS to see if they're stretched.
Yes I follow the Volkswizard...knows his stuff,read about timing chain stretch ,did that effect many cars or all ? seem to remember it was a bad batch of chains ?. Kinda like the Mk4 version as not totally sold on the front end styling of the Mk5 version,only issue is the interiors of the Mk4's was never very robust with age/use ,peeling soft rubber coating ,crappy door handles and door panels that come unglued and of course the dreaded headliners along with others.
Don’t agree personally with your opinion on the Mk5 styling but each to their own - I was toying with getting one a good while back and was always leaning towards the Mk5. I believe it was a bad batch of chains but I think they had trouble tracking down just exactly what batch of cars they went into so there is an element of lucky dip in it
Yeah with MK4 and possibly MK5 they had early chains (sachs I believe) that snapped. Partly chain and partly oil related. Made some changes and swapped to INA chains which don't' snap, however they are still a wear item and do stretch. Guide wear too, both issues being accelerated by poor servicing. Some cars do 30 k and need chains and some do 200 k and are hardly stretched, just depends. 100% worth getting the laptop plugged in to check, especially if you'll be getting someone else to replace to them
The Mk5 is so much prettier. I’m not a Mk4 fan at all tho. and you get all the extra toys in the Mk5 too. Plus DSG.
