Hi
For reasons that I won't go into here, I am finally having to retire my trusty Granada as I face having to spend upwards of £50 per week on petrol. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, I am after a diesel.
My brother's brother-in-law has a 1989 Golf GTD for sale. It has done 138k, part service history and is quite tidy by all accounts. It had stood since February but started first time when my brother went for a look-see at the weekend. It needs a new/re-con radiator and a headlamp lens but is otherwise apparently pretty sound. The asking price is £100 - 150.
Do any of you BR-ers have any experience of these rare beasts? What is the likely cost of the rad and lens? And, most importantly, is the car likely to stand up to a lot of motorway driving?
As always, your advice and comments are much appreciated.
Cheers
Rob
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast."
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Yes, the Golf is unbelievable in terms of mpg, build, comfort, solidity, reliability, safety, value for money, fit and finish, noise vibration and harshness....
All right, I love mine to bits.
The TDi is what you really want. 57mpg overall and powerful with it.
Make sure the cambelt is changed every 60k miles and the cambelt tensioner every 120k.
German French and Swedish or Euro Car parts supply bits for about 25% of the cost of the local VW dealer, usually in VW boxes, or Bosch, Brembo, or other OE manufacture.
Go for it. Superb choice.
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Get some price quotes for s/h on www.1stchoiceonline.co.uk
saves you doing the legwork.
I thought your Granada did 35mpg?? What are you doing, drinking it to spend 50 a week??
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A GTD? I presume this is basically a Driver with the 75 bhp Umwelt TD engine, ca. 1990?
It's cheap enough and at that price, even if it lasts you three months, you'll be up financially. There's even a little bit of kudos left in them, or maybe I live too close to Fulham.
Once you've done the work or got it done, have a new MoT put on it and it should last you a year with no problems, hopefully more. Oh and VW parts are also available from www.eurocarparts.com - certainly from my Renault experience they tend to be even cheaper than GSF.
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Thanks for your replies so far.
Gen - my Granny only does 35 mpg if I'm on a long run and pootling along at 60-65. If I'm on my 25 mile trip to work and invariably late then I will drive a little faster than that (not too much though m'lud). It's a lot of town driving too, so I'm probably only getting low to mid 20s at the moment. Basically, I'm doing about 450 miles a week at the mo, and I always like to have at least a quarter of a tank just in case.
David - it has an MoT until next Feb. It's not worth getting it done again, is it??
I suppose that I should reveal that I've gone and bought it now, shouldn't I? My brother called by unexpectedly - apparently he'd told me that we were going to see it tonight! Anyway, it seems very good for the money. It started immediately with no churning or sluggishness, there's no scary smoke out of the exhaust, it sounds tight and sweet and drives well. The only bad point was that the temp light started flashing on the test drive but I have been assured that it just needs a new radiator. Still, for £100 plus the cost of the radiator, I think I've got a bargain!
Anybody any idea of what mpg I can expect?
Cheers
Rob
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast."
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