Volkswagen Beetle??

The Bug

Hi, I'm hoping to buy a used VS Beetle possible a 2002? Anyone know what I should be looking out for? Or what a car like this should be worth? I've done a bit of research and they seem to be between €5500 - €7500. But I'm clueless about cars and I don't want to end up paying above whats required. And I certainly don't want to end up with a lemon! Any help at all would be much appreciated!

Also, has anyone used motorcheck.ie? Is this reliable?

Thanks in advance!

Anan1

Do you mean a V5? There are very few of them around, they're expensive to tax, hard on fuel and not that fast. They do make a lovely noise, though. I'd probably settle for a 1.8T.

-Corkie-

Hi my sis in law has one they are a lovley girly car. She has the 1.9 tdi with 100k trouble free miles. I drove it a few times and they are fun to drive as well. A 02 should cost u round 5 k i would say. Try uk they are very popular

Henry Ford III

SARASON wrote: »

Hi my sis in law has one they are a lovley girly car. She has the 1.9 tdi with 100k trouble free miles. I drove it a few times and they are fun to drive as well. A 02 should cost u round 5 k i would say. Try uk they are very popular

Each to their own but I'd find it tricky to imagine anything more hideous. A Golf in a silly frock, with a stove/boat anchor up front for power.

p.s. Actually I'm wrong - a convertible version would be worse. You'd never put the roof down because of the noise!

Anan1

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Each to their own but I'd find it tricky to imagine anything more hideous. A Golf in a silly frock, with a stove/boat anchor up front for power.

I agree, but there is a big market for Golfs in silly frocks. I could never understand why anyone would want a Mk1 Audi TT over a Mk4 Golf V6, but they did.

Pkiernan

The Bug wrote: »

Hi, I'm hoping to buy a used VS Beetle possible a 2002? Anyone know what I should be looking out for? Or what a car like this should be worth? I've done a bit of research and they seem to be between €5500 - €7500. But I'm clueless about cars and I don't want to end up paying above whats required. And I certainly don't want to end up with a lemon! Any help at all would be much appreciated!

Also, has anyone used motorcheck.ie? Is this reliable?

Thanks in advance!

I had one in the US - loved it. However it was the 2.0 litre automatic, which are pricey here.

Never had a problem with it. Loved driving it - the windscreen is like looking thru a largescreen Plasma TV.

The only thing that was a pain in the arse was replacing the battery. It is shoe-horned in there, and took me 2 hours to remove the old one and install the new one.

As to general model reliability, it is mechanically a VW Golf, and therefore generally trustworthy.

HungryJoey

I'm assuming its a V5 Beetle you are looking at, they are grand engines (I drive a v5 toledo). They are hard on juice but sound lovely. The V5 isn't the fastest block but its not slow either ~170bhp. There isn't a whole lot to look out for just make sure it has service history, these engines go forever once they have had their oil changes on time. They also run off a timing chain so no worries about replacing a belt so often. Gearboxes can be a little notchy in these VWs so just make sure every gear engages correctly and there isn't any nasty crunching. Oh, and the tax is a killer.

**I just read the OP again, i think the OP meant "VW BEETLE".. how did I not spot that originally :rolleyes:

The Bug

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah it was a VW (not VS) I meant, clearly spellings not my strong point :P

Looked at a few Beetles today from private sellers, brought my mechanic friend with me, all cars seem to have been in good nick. Got my friend to check the book value for 2002 or 2003 Beetles and it was almost 4 grand less than the average asking price! Turned me off a bit. No way I'll spend €7500 on a beetle when the recommended trade in value is €3700! Wonder what kind of offer I could make??

Also I was v surprised that I couldn't see any of the bonnet while driving it! Suppose thats something I'll have to get used to. Otherwise they have a great panoramic view!

The millage on a few of the Beetles I viewed seemed dodgy too. Does anyone know if there's a way to check if the odometer is genuine? And anyone know when the timing belt should be replaced on a Volkswagen? I heard after 60,000 miles...