Should I Change Car Soon??

Fizman

Ok lads i'm 24 and driving since last christmas (bout 8 months). I got a Golf 1.4 MarkIV as my first car and it has been running fine. I do quite a bit of mileage with the job and have done 10,000 miles in those 8 months (most done in the past 5 months btw - it now has 85350 clocked). I'm currently on a provisional and will be doing my test in October/November.

It was always my ambition to have this car for maybe 18 months or so and then upgrade (preferably to either an A3 or a more powerful Golf). However I got my car serviced last week by an indy and i paid out 260 (160 for parts which included replacing front and rear pads, a few bulbs and other usual bits). The mechanic told me two things that then got me thinking:

1. He'd recommend getting my timing belt done within the next 4-5 months.
2. Said the gear box is pretty rough (and obviously only going to get rougher) and that he'd recommend getting that done over the next few months as well- also stating that its usually the done thing to replace the clutch all in the one job.

He said he could do the timing belt for between 300-350, but what kind of costs would I be looking at to get the other job done (ball park)????

My tax and insurance is up at the end of December so do you reckon I would be better off changing it around then or should I get it serviced and wait till April or May next year like I had originally intended to??

Like I said, my next car will probably either be an A3 (1.6 or 1.9TDI) or an upgraded Golf (could possibly stretch to a GT - the GTI may be out of the question for a while ).
But thats a different topic again!

Any suggestions/advice on my current car would be much appreciated - cheers!

Fizman

And another thing, are timing belts on Golfs somewhat less durable than other cars? He gave me this impression for some reason!! (Saying something along the lines that they should be done every 40k miles or so).

mack1

Timing belts should be done at 60k miles - do you know if this was done on your car? Most cars require a timing belt change at 60k.

I'd get the work done, make the car easier to sell etc - plus I wouldnt buy (or sell) a car that needed something like a t-belt change, my conscience wouldnt let me!

My GTI has just hit the 60k and I am having the T-belt done next week as well as 4 new tyres before I sell it in about a month (/end shameless plug!)

itarumaa

when is the ntc due?

best option would be change the timing belt, get nct and then sell,

mike65

The most recent warning from VAG to thier dealers is 40k or 4 years whichever comes first.

Mike.

Fizman

itarumaa wrote:

when is the ntc due?

best option would be change the timing belt, get nct and then sell,

NCT isn't due for 11 - 12 months IIRC!

Yeah Mike thats pretty much what he said.

What do ye reckon with the other issue the car has (the suggested gear box/clutch replacement). Would I not be better off trading this in (I bought it for 7500 and reckon its still probably worth it going by carzone) as opposed to getting all those changed and spending a mint in the process?

OldmanMondeo

Fizman wrote:

I bought it for 7500 and reckon its still probably worth it going by carzone

You probably will not get 7500 as a trade in. Go to a dealer and see what the trade in is. Shop around a good few garages as prices vary quite a lot. I was offered between 7500 - 12000 for my last car on trade in's. The other thing you probably should factor in is, finance. I know a good few people who kept changing cars when they started driving, each time topping up their bank loan. A lot of them now owe a hell of a lot more than their cars are worth. Fecks them up for going on Holidays, buying Houses etc.

But if you can afford it and want to, then change.

mike65

The clutch kit from GSF is about €150.

The gearbox depends on what is wrong - a whole new box costs 2k from VAG, a box from a breakers will be around 300 but no come back, of course. The labour is most of a day pretty much. So I'd be budgeting for about a grand if the above was the best solution.

Mike.

Fizman

I know what you mean alright OldmanMondeo, finance is always an issue, especially since im out of college only 1 year, but id be hoping that my mileage will pay the bones of the repayments off so I reckon I should be ok.

To be honest I can see myself changin in Dec/Jan because, as mike pointed out, I could very well be spending the bones of 2K on the car, and I have no intention of doing that.

BrianD3

There's no correct answer to this. If you spend money on the car you won't get it back when you trade in. If you trade in in a panic now because you think the car is about to go wrong, you'll lose money too. Basically, every time you make a transaction with a garage be it buying parts, servicing or trading in your car, you lose.

Now as regards the gearbox, has the mechanic checked that it has enough oil in it because if there isn't the shift could well feel "rough". An oil change might help although most modern cars should not need the gearbox oil changing especially at relatively low mileage like 85k. It is also possible that the roughness is due to a clutch issue (cheaper) rather than a gearbox issue.

The timing belt change is part of normal maintenance and is a predictable cost.

The money you were charged for the pad change and service sounds good, bring it to a main VW dealer in Dublin and you would be talking more than double that