Golf 3 1.9 n/a diesel

[Drewtastic]

My father in law has the above, which is now surplus to rquirement. I was considering having it as a commuter for a while? I don't often get on with very slow cars, but cheap cheap cheap would be nice so I can go on holiday this year

He has had the car a couple of years, I think it may need a service by now - but is there anything I should be aware of? Are they good cars to own and do Mk2 gti wheels fit?

Cheers in advance.

Andrew

Edited by drewtastic on Wednesday 14th March 09:56

[Neil_Bolton]

Drewtastic said:

My father in law has the above, which is now surplus to rquirement. I was considering having it as a commuter for a while? I don't often get one with very slow cars, but cheap cheap cheap would be nice so I can go on holiday this year

He has had the car a couple of years, I think it may need a service by now - but is there anything I should be aware of? Are they good cars to own and do Mk2 gti wheels fit?

Cheers in advance.

Andrew

Two things; Bulletproof and Cheap to Run.

Get it serviced (cheaply) and it'll run for years.

Mk2 wheels will fit if you have four stud wheels on the Mk3. If five stud, then no.

Muncher has one of these, and its bangertastic

If I could get one dead cheap, I'd seriously consider having it as a daily snotter.

Edited by Neil_Bolton on Tuesday 13th February 11:42

[Drewtastic]

Thanks for the response. I think I will give it a go - see how well I do

[drewtastic]

Right. I have the car. It needs some work though, as I mentioned in my first post it needs a major service. In addition it has covered 145k with no sign of a cambelt change, so I will need to sort that out. The downpipe has a hole in it and with no tax or mot that will need sorting. Finally, as a personal thing, it has some nasty looking TSW Evo R's on. I have sourced some replacement 14" BMW steel wheels.

Tonight I am pressing on with changing the oil, fuel filter and air filter and removing the holey down pipe. Sourcing the right part could well be expensive, as a contingency plan I have a fabricator friend that may make we a pipe and bypass the cat. While I am there I think I will remove the chrome casing for the tow bar.

Next stop is the local specialist for a cambelt change/service and MOT. Then clean the old girl up, tax it - and enjoy

Further bits that need addressing are the rear shelf is knackered and the glove box handle has expired and wants replacing...........

Edited by drewtastic on Wednesday 14th March 09:59

[JuniorD]

Erm, what are you going to do with the old wheels???

[drewtastic]

The wheels are forsale if you want them.

I have managed to MOT the old girl, just need tax and I am off!!!! For my own piece of mind I am going to get the cambelt done and have the rear brakes done, as per MOT advisory notes. The car is a peach - a good body scrub, detar, T-Cut, clay bar and polish she will be good to go

Thanks for looking.

[drewtastic]

Spent 2 days in the car now, done over 100 miles. It looks like it will do around 40mpg, but I will confirm later. I need to get the tracking done, but I had my first 'moment' this morning.

I was doing the usual commute, as I was approaching a roundabout in the outside lane, I began to brake when a slow moving focus pulled out from the inside lane. Although irritating I see it a lot - so squeezed the brake pedal a touch more at about 50mph when the brakes locked and it appeared as though I was accelerating - a quick lift and back on the brakes, they locked again - as I was about to hit the said focus, who was braking at this point and oblivious of the fact that they had chopped someone up - I hit the last 20 yards of carriageway which was anti skid. The car then stopped dead, someway short of where I needed to stop.

So I think I will get the brakes and tracking looked at as a matter of urgency!!!

Other than that, don't miss the extra 250hp too much!

[tino]

Hmmm locking up? Are the tyres any good?

[Juniord]

The brakes on these are woeful and have a really crappyu feel to them, especially if you are accustomed to proper anchors. But they do their job fine once you get used to them. Were your tyres properly inflated?

[drewtastic]

I went for 30 all round. 30 front 28 back is recomended but I had my kids in over the weekend so I gave it a touch more............

The tyres are legal and made in china - T rating I think. Braking is ok for the type of car, but I know the rears are due.

[drewtastic]

Turns out it was leaking fluid. Some component of my system that was replaced had overtightened and sprung a leak. All sorted now, brakes are much better!

I gave her a clean and having covered a reasonable diatance so far I can confirm it returns 40+mpg. So far so good