VW Bora diesels-Good or Bad??

road_high

Was thinking of buying ONE of these (I know not exactly an inspired choice but budget not v big!).

What are they like?I keep hearing mixed reports about them, and VW's in general.Some say theyre great, others say rubbish!!

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has ahs one or knows what theyre like(the DIESEL).Cheers.

Epicpriest

mfitzy wrote:

Was thinking of buying ONE of these (I know not exactly an inspired choice but budget not v big!).

What are they like?I keep hearing mixed reports about them, and VW's in general.Some say theyre great, others say rubbish!!

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has ahs one or knows what theyre like(the DIESEL).Cheers.

Well i have a Seat Toledo which has the VW 1.9TDI 110 BHP engine in it, seems to be a flyer!

crosstownk

Diesel engines from VW are usually quite good. Its the same engine thats in the Golf. I have some on fleet here with over 100,000 miles on them and very liitle trouble from them. The air mass meter gives some bother from time to time (about €400 to replace). I've seen one or two give turbo problems too - very expensive. In general the engines are quite good imo.

The car itself gives some bother - window mechanisms, door locks, airbag but these faults apply to both petrol & diesel. My wife drives a 2000 VW Bora petrol and its been very reliable to date - it hasn't even blown a bulb yet!!!

It'd be a bonus if you could get one with FSH and some kind of warranty if possible.

bazz26

mfitzy wrote:

Was thinking of buying ONE of these (I know not exactly an inspired choice but budget not v big!).

What are they like?I keep hearing mixed reports about them, and VW's in general.Some say theyre great, others say rubbish!!

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has ahs one or knows what theyre like(the DIESEL).Cheers.

The Bora is a MkIV Golf with a boot instead of a hatch. It shares all components with the Golf including engines. The TDi is generally very reliable and high mileage should not be an issue.

Late 1990s or early 2000s VWs suffered from faulty central locking so watch out for this. As mentioned the air mass meter can be troublesome along with the lambda sensors.

The thing about the Bora is that it doesn't hold it's value like the Golf so they can be picked up for half decent money used. The best one to get is either the TDi with 110bhp or 130bhp(very rare) in Comfortline trim.

Also check that the timing belt has been changed at around every 60k miles, VW dealer labour rates are quite expensive for this work.

Kermitt

Agreed, the Vw diesel engine is fairly bulletproof. You won't go far wrong with one of these, though you'd most likely get a nice Passat for similar money, with tax and insurance staying the same

Epicpriest

Kermitt wrote:

Agreed, the Vw diesel engine is fairly bulletproof. You won't go far wrong with one of these, though you'd most likely get a nice Passat for similar money, with tax and insurance staying the same

The Bora is group 6 insurance, the Passat is Group 11 i think, maybe because of it's size

bazz26

The Passat has generally stronger resale value than the Bora as it cost more when new. Also VW keep changing the name of their Golf saloon model every couple of years which doesn't help either. Before the Bora we had Vento and Jetta, now we have Jetta again.

road_high

Yea they were always the black sheep of VW.
Will def consider this car, a bit scruffy round the edges but mechanically seems sound and has its NCT for 2 years can't be too bad.

The fuel economy is the big attraction for me and the price is v good as its an ex company trade in they just want rid of!