Does anybody want to check out this car for me?
 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4060223

$3500 fits the budget nicely. Mileage is low enough that I could be reasonably certain I won't need a new tranny or engine anytime soon. I always dug the style of these too, and parts should be cheap. Only issue is the A/C, but for $3500 I could afford to take it to a shop and have it fixed. Bonus there is the A/C would be fresh and good to go for a few years. Any thoughts?

If any of you live nearby and could check this out, there's be a case of pabst in it for you :D

You are closer than I or would volunteer. I would buy it if i was closer.

Yeah, no kidding! looks like a great deal on a cool car.

Waiting for input from notfarnow. . .

I had a 16v Scirocco. Fun car. I shouldn't have sold it.

That one looks very nice.

Me too! I hope he can tell me what to look for. The good part is, my budget was about $5k, so this leaves me room to fix a thing or two if needed. And if its ALL good, then I could buy some slicks for autoX. AUTOX!!! God, that would be fun! I just wrote the seller and asked if he has records and if he could give me some info on the tires and if the suspension is still original. If its original, I assume it would have to be done pretty soon to be decent for AutoX.

Anyhow, if anyone is nearby there and wants to look at it, my offer of a case of Pabst still applies. SmileWavy

I need it to keep the Corrado company. There is another car you should look at.

Wow. Looks like my old '88, except I had mine repainted pearl white, lost the rubber side strips and had the black side pillar material removed and painted black. I also had the Tectonics Tuning box as well as different cams, exhaust, sway bars, lowered....

Must be buy a Scirocco month. I bought this '84 8 valve at my sister's auction for $200. Full black leather interior, electric windows, split rear seats, no rust and very straight. Dash is cracked but other than that it's in great shape. Slapped my historic 911 tag on it and drove it an hour and a half home. I've decided it'll be my winter beater and then I'll sell it come spring. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1229306575.jpg

I'm no expert, that's for sure.

I'll say this, any VWs I've owned that preceded the A3 cars were great. I had an '87 Jetta with 596k kms, it was a fantastic car. I had a '91 Jetta that was great, my mom had a '92 that took unspeakable abuse. I think the problem was that VW reused a lot of the stuff (suspension components, brakes, 020 transmission...) in the later heavier cars. They also cheapened the overall build quality, things like electrics and the interior materials.

Anyway, I happen to LOVE Sciroccos, and have no issues with A1 or A2 VWs, so I certainly don't have any pissy comments. And FWIW, years ago I dated a girl with a Jetta GLI with the 2.0 16v. What a GREAT engine!

I've read that the 2 liter is more amenable to mods than the 1.8, although I don't think I plan to do anything to the engine. Suspension is another story :D

I also had an early version of the SmarTire system. Cool device. I ditched the front yellow turn markers with the rounded euro version. I was going to get the euro bumpers as well, but then I was given a 911...

I had Nuespeed everything on that car. I went through 3 sets of Racing Dynamics rims. I sold it with a set of AZEV's.

That is a NICE looking car! Incredibly clean! Wish I could go have a look but it's more than a bit far...

VERY nice car. Go for it! A road trip is a great way to get acquainted with your new car.

Waiting on an email from the seller. I asked him about a few things, I hope I get a coherent response. He needs to do it soon, because for me to get a car at that distance, it would have to be this weekend realistically, because I won't have much time off after that. Even though its only a $3500 car, I think if I was about to pull the trigger I would have a PPI done at a shop unless someone I knew could take a look at it, which seems unlikely.

What is the absolute worst case $ for fixing the A/C on it? I'd have to have that done by April or so.

I caught myself looking at coilover sets last night. Also may have browsed a few LSDs. I hope this works out.

Wow! For $200, I'd put up with just about anything, and that one actually looks really good. Nice score!

That is a clean looking car. Hell I'd probably buy it sight unseen as clean as it looks!

Hey if you're going to get into tranny work, I just picked up a transmission from an '83 rabbit diesel. Doesn't sound very exciting, but it's got a VERY tall 5th... 0.71. I normally ebay them or sell them on vwdiesel.net, vwvortex... but if you want it let me know. Would make a nice highway gear, but then again you may prever the revs. I also have a 0.76

FWIW, you can swap out the 5th gear without even taking the transmission out. The 020 was originally a 4 speed, and then they added the 5th later on, alone in the end casing. You can swap out the 5th in 2-3 hours with a couple simple homemade tools.

Just got a response from the seller!!! What do you guys think? His response is below:

rims and tires are matching. rims are motegi somethings? 16 inch tires are matching. i wanna say kumho sport tires. 95% tread. suspension all original. leaks include a small leak at drivers cv axle seal on transmission. had a water leak coming from under dash somewhere a while back. added silicone to hvac box inlet . leak stopped. other than that that is it. records i have . from original owner a book with oil change logs and other services. i have tried to keep up on the log. but as long as i have had it changed oil and filter every 5000 with castrol syntec. a/c question i think expansion valve is plugged up with trash from the retro fit to r 134. high side goes to 400psi low side draws a vacuum. hope this answers yor questions =)


How big a deal is the leak at driver CV axle seal? Pretty much anything wrong will need to be fixed in a shop as I don't have a garage yet. UNless it is SUPER easy and can be done in my friend's driveway in a couple of hours.

It's a pain in the ass!

If it's a small leak I wouldn't worry about it too much until you have the time and energy for it. You can top up the gear oil pretty easily. Heck, in a pinch you can pull the speedometer cable and squirt a liter down there... ask me how I know.

Anyway, I had to do this on my Jetta. It wasn't much fun, even getting to the point where you've got the axles out can be a PITA. My Jetta had such high mileage (596k kms) that the axles were actually worn by the rubber seal. Kinda like the RMS on high-mile engines. Anyhooo, I still have my homemade tools if you want to borrow them.

Good DIY guide here:
http://www.brokevw.com/020flange.html

Keep in mind you won't be standing upright working on parts on a workbench. You'll be laying on your back & side, saying BAD WORDS

How much $ would it cost me to have someone else saying bad words instead of me? :p

Call around, it's a pretty standard job that any VW specialist would be able to give an quick quote on, sight unseen. On some VWs you can remove the axle from the inner flange by just unbolting it and wiggling it out, on others you need to pop the lower ball joint to get the axle out far enough to drop out from the flange

Oh and hey... if it's had a tranny leak, you'll want to make sure that 5th is engaging properly.

If it's been low on oil, 5th gear will be the first to show problem. It'll get noisy, then pop right out of gear, and if it's ignored will cook the bearings and synchros. Again, ask me how I know

Dammit- now you are making me nervous.

Jeeze no, I wouldn't be.

I cooked my 5th by putting 30k kms on it AFTER it started leaking, and was less than vigilant about keeping it topped up. Your car looks pampered.

Just something worth checking out if it's been leaking from the flange seal.

OK- how can I make it do this?

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Be cheaper to just buy that one.

OK- so, I was going to run a carfax... and then I saw that its like $30. Then I got thinking, hell- a ppi would probably be $150 or so. How does a person arrange a remote ppi? I'd like to get it done before end of week, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

I would just talk to local shops and whichever one sounds the best see if the car owner will run the car over and drop it off. He does not need to stay and then have them seal the report in an envelope and give you a call about any issues. Then he can go get his ride back. You just dont want him to be there to influence the judgement of the mechanic.

Do you do your own a/c work? Guy sounds like he took care of all the easy jobs and has the PITA stuff left to do. To get the a/c fixed with a warranty is always $1500.

George

$1500?! Geez, that's a buzzkill... then again, that's why I asked.

If it were "just the expansion valve", that owner would have replaced it. I bet money more than that is not right. A good a/c shop will replace a bunch of stuff to make sure you are not back the next week. New expansion valve and dryer, bunch of seals, some hoses. I saw you were in Miami - hence I figured, you may want the a/c to work.

I usually sell my cheap cars when the a/c goes. I am much like that seller. I like the easy stuff and things that I can do myself. a/c isn't on the list.

George

I repaired the A/C in our Saturn myself, it needed a condenser and a dryer. I think total parts cost was $250 and another $100 to service the A/C. You never know with a car that age though.

Fact of the matter is, I don't have the facilities to work on a car, and probably won't for another few years. I'd be paying a shop for all work besides things that I could do in a couple of hours in my parking garage (apartment building, won't take kindly to my car being up on blocks for days at a time).

I guess I just got excited about what seemed like a good deal, and probably is, but not for me if its going to cost me another $2500 to keep it on the road. I mean, hell, that's getting into Porsche territory.

The downsides of VWs have been thoroughly discussed in the "other" thread. Here's an upside: You'd be really surprised how much you can do on an a1/a2 VW "in a couple hours". Seriously. Even the A/C stuff, if you get the dye and pressure tested it, could probably be traced pretty quickly. I wouldn't be be discouraged by the A/C... chances are if you find an older car with working A/C, it'll need work anyway. Might as well start from scratch, and you've got all winter to troubleshoot it.

I think it could make a fun DD... I'd be tempted to get a PPI before ruling it out.

What are your alternatives?

There's a lot of low-mileage buicks in up in Boca. Not exactly what I want, but I guess I'm not in a "get what I want" stage of life.

Let me ask this another way- all things held equal, would a scirocco be more or less reliable than a 944 or 951? I mean, hell, if I'd be dealing with the same degree of reliability, I may as well go for the gusto.

I tried googling about shops in the Manning, S.C. area for a PPI, and that seems a bit futile. Would a dealership provide a decent PPI?

Not true. Plenty of old cars out there with good original a/c. I'd buy something more modern, with 134, an air bag and ABS. Usually 95+.

The 944 is cheap enough to buy but just as pricey to maintain as a 911. I'd stay away from that.

George

If you can't/don't want to DIY, it's insane to buy any old German car. Don't buy one expecting it to be Toyota reliable, you'll regret it. Even the most over-maintained German car will need more maintenance/repair than anything from Japan, or even America.

But a Buick?! WTF? Seriously, theres a lot of semi-amusing cars that can be bought for $4k or so that will be reliable. Nissan Maxima, Nissan 240SX, Toyota MR2, Honda CRX, Honda Prelude, Acura Integra, Ford Focus, Mazda Protege. That's just a quick list.

If I didn't need a sedan, I'd look for a 240SX with a quality SR20DET swap. I've seen a few that look well-done (not rice) for under $5k. For that money you get a fast, decent looking, reliable, and RWD car. My S13 240SX was a blast stock, I can't imagine it with an extra 100 HP. I beat the hell out of it for 50k miles and it just kept going.

The problem with the Japanese options is the ricing. At my price point, they are all completely trashed. I finally thought I had found a Prelude for $8k, which is way over my budget but it looked nice. That was, until I did some digging and found the seller's website showing him replacing the engine. He never mentioned that in his ad, so I passed.

240sx would be awesome. If you can find me one that doesn't say the word "drift" in the ad I will be shocked.

I am just very frustrated- here's the kind of stuff I typically read in virtually every ad:

1. After listing 25 "JDM" parts, they will mention that it has a slight starting problem
2. "4th gear doesn't work, just shift from 3rd to 5th lolz!"
3. After showing the car and listing all the parts, "Doesn't include seats or wheels, will put stock exhaust back on, will include spare engine"
4. "Show Car". Show cars are generally painted and free of rust.

Arrrrg!!!!! If only I had money.




And it seems that engine swaps inevitably result in no air conditioning.

Buicks are junk. I would buy a Crown Vic. Low miles w/ all records from senior citizen.

Just my two cents.

George