i am buying a 93 (k plate)46000 miles vw polo 1.0 cl 3 dr hatch for my daughters first car, has anyone experience or tips to watch out for ie rust places, worn parts or common problems on this model.any replies would be appreciated.
chris
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Mileage seems too low. If there is not a whole pile of supporting paperwork (not stamps in a book, they count for very little) then don't pay any more for the 'low' mileage. In fact, if the mileage is genuine then it would suggest the car has had a harder life of stop start journeys than if it had a higher mileage
Check the petrol tank, especially at the join between the filler neck and main tank.
Check how it starts and runs from cold it should be a really smooth steady idle with little noise from the hydraulic tappets.
When it is warm it should idle nicely also. These cars can have more than their fair share of idle running problems.
Check that the heater fan does not squeal.
Polos eat front disks for breakfast, so have a good look at them.
Check around the door handles for break in damage. Thieves ram a screwdriver between handle and body to get in.
Run the car until the cooling fan kicks in and check for water leaks.
Check the gearbox for oil leaking from the gearchange input shaft, I have not seen any that dont leak yet!! If it is and you buy it, fill it up with gearbox oil ASAP. There will be hardly any oil in the box.
Check the clutch for smooth light action. Any roughness in the pedal action or noise from the release bearing could mean trouble. At this age the diaphragm will go before the friction material. The clutches are cheap and easy to change though. But the clutch mechanism (to press the release bearing to the diapragm) is expensive and a stiff pedal may mean the parts are shot.
Check the rear silencer. Although it may be modified on the newer models and not as prone to rusting.
Take the top of the air filter housing (is it a carb model?) and check for excessive oil in the filter housing. Walk away if there is. By excessive I mean a small puddle of liquid oil, not the usual conjealed light coating of oil.
Check for accident damage. Realistically at that age the car is likely to have incurred some accident damage. If there is any rust then these areas are probably due to poor accident damage repair.
These are great cars, just not as bulletproof as VW would have us believe.
How much is the owner asking for the car?
Please let me know how you get on.
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Don't know how closely related an 88 E 1.3CL would be.
If the engine is similar, then problems included the following:
(Don't be put off by this as mine was pretty worn out):
-Clutch needed replacing, cost £150 but got quotes for £250+
-TWO cables
-Erratic auto choke especially after carb replacement - presumably the K reg is fuel injection but could auto choke still cause problems?
-Bought mine because it had been in the family. However for a year it had done short runs. You could tell.
-Fuel consumption not actually that good - 30mpg
-Radiator £130
-Brakes £200 for discs, brakes, cylinders although I did get screwed by Kwik Fit
-Silly things - trim felt fragile, accelerator cable snapped, tappety from cold
OK so mine was a shed, however I would say they're reliable cars but not so cheap to maintain if anything goes wrong and as for running costs, my insurance didn't rise much when I bought a 1.4 Pug 309, which is actually better in terms of fuel consumtion, comfort, blah blah. OK so I'm biased after a bad experience.
**Whats the history like?**
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Sorry I forgot to mention replacing radiator hoses and the interior fan motor sqealing.
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I 'test drove' an L reg 'Coupe' Polo that a dealer had for sale. My beloved wrote down the list of faults as I called them out. It read something like:
Catalyst very rusty. Middle and rear silencers less than three months' life (also painted to disguise rust).
Steering column loose.
Sunroof handle fell off in hand.
Rear wash wipe malfunctioning.
Gearchange difficult.
Fan belt squealing.
Strong left pull.
Desparate need of a major, major service (mileage was a shade under 80k)
Heater fan squealed.
Rear shocks knackered.
But, it looked very nice. There was even 'back to black' sprayed on the timing belt cover. Dealer wanted £2400 and wouldn't come down in the slightest "because it's a Polo". He got it within a week, too (not from us).
My lovingly maintained D reg, under its stone chipped skin pretty much the same car, goes a hell of a lot better with twice the miles.
If you do got for the K reg, first job is to change the water pump and timing belt *VERY IMPORTANT*. Then change engine and gearbox oil. Anything else can wait until it breaks/leaves car stranded. It will need loads of new parts for long term reliability - get good quality ones from G&S or Euro Car Parts, they actually cost less than Halfords/Partco etc. (yes, really) - and you needn't worry about much at all. Phew.
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I totally agree on the fuel consumption.
I also agree with the rear wash wipe problem.
And.........I agree that a pug 205/309 is a better car. In almost every way!
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My Polo (a 1.3) does 40.5 mpg on an 80-85 mph motorway run, brimful to brimful. This drops to 37-38 mpg at 90-95 mph. (Technical comments only, please...)
But - the carb does have to be tuned properly (even the VW service schedule says this should be done every 10k), and everything has to be in good working order, or mpg drop right off.
Mending the rear wash wipe just requires a nifty bit of soldering broken wires.
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The rear wash wipe failures have nothing to do with the wiring. The mechanism seems to cease up. Perhaps the bush is prone to water ingress, as they seem to start working again after prolonged rain.
What year is your polo? I know that the older ones are not capable of that kind of mpg.
95 in a polo? Brave man.
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Keith,
I reckon any seizing would be down to lack of use - caused by the wires at the tailgate hinge breaking (or giving an intermittent connection). Often the 'park' wire goes, leaving the wiper arm to stop at a random angle.
My Polo is '86. I can assure you that, properly maintained, a bog standard car can return 38-42 mpg at a high speed cruise. Running the tyres at 28 psi (instead of the recommended 24) makes a signifcant difference too.
80 mph in my similar vintage Golf GTI that has been maintained 'under the arches' is a far more noisy and scarier experience. The Polo is actually quieter above 80 than at 70, and it tracks dead straight on new shocks and front suspension bits. You can steer it with one finger and thumb at the six o'clock position, and it can go right off the 100 mph clock.
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What is the rear wash wipe problem you are talking about?? A common 'problem' is that people do not know how to turn them off push the lever away from you to turn on (or an extra bit furhter to wash) and push away again to turn off, else wiper stays on intermittent setting. I know a girl at work that had to stop and turn of the engine when she got sick of the noise of the rear wiper as nobody had showen her how to turn it off!!
Just had to replace the rotor arm on the girlfriends 89 115k miles 1050cc 'hea***' other than that a couple of rear bulbs and oil & filters service is all it has had this year. If it dies or has an unfortunate incident with a wall it will be replaced with the same or possibly a Golf for a bit more poke, definatly a best banger candidate.
P.S. BOSH 4 electrode spark plugs as fitted in MKII 1.6 carb driver work wonders for this wee 1050cc engine the only gripe I have with the car is a lack of 5th gear 1.3 has one though.
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Vern,
The swear box just isn't going to allow you to call the Polo that ;-)
We've always called that style the "breadvan" round here. Any good?
David
David W [Moderator]
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mailto:david_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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Vern, The swear box just isn't going to allow you to call the Polo that ;-) We've always called that style the "breadvan" round here. Any good?
humm suppose breadvan might be better, especially as I am yet to see a
white h e a r s e :0) still I'm sure they probably have them in the states.
There is a local breakers who deals specifically on older polos / golfs / combis and he made the comment one day that they looked like a miniture hea*** and I suppose it has just stuck!!
Glad to see that scraped has been declassified as a swear word. Now why insurance is not *'ed out as a bad word I'll never know!!
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The 1986 polo has even more faults:-
Corner of the cylinder head gasket leaks oil over the alternator, oil gets onto brushes and creates 'grinding paste' wears through the slips rings in no time.
Oil pump gear bears onto flats on the crankshaft. Eventually these flats wear away. No more oil pressure - you know the rest!
Interesting theory on the wiper. Sounds good.
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