Gaz

That's the $64k question. The car could be absolutely fine. If you like it, maybe pay a third party to inspect it and report, for additional peace of mind? Could be the best £££'s investment you'll make, and would mitigate your risk on any glaring problems, if there are any. You can do a lot yourself if you're able to do the basics when you go to see it. Looking at the advert, the car's still awaiting prep, so early days and no photo's just yet. Seeing it's the 1.5 engine, some of these had an issue with kangarooing, although I'm not sure when it was an issue - link below shows a 2019 manual one. This would be worth reading up on. Gaz Edit: Quite a lot to read if you search on here:

Just to correct myself, long-life is a 24 month schedule, or 19,000 miles, whichever comes sooner: And yes, annual servicing would be my preference. The 50,000 mile gap you have means it's missing two services at least based on the above. Gaz

Might seem odd, but I don't know the servicing is necessarily all that far out. My car's a 2018 model, but was bought new by me in 2019. Transpose that to the car you're looking at and maybe it was sold in 2020, which, if it were on a long-life servicing schedule would make the 2022 service on time. This is of course conjecture on my part, but if it's the case then the next service might be due in 2024 and therefore was carried out five months overdue. Notwithstanding the schedules that Ootohere has already posted. And a brake fluid change is also going to be well overdue. I'd think it's been a company car doing distance work. If it were me, I'd go by condition, how it feels, and be prepared to walk away at the slightest concern or doubt. A high mileage car if fine if it's been well serviced, but as this one's borderline, I'd be prepared to be very critical. Maybe they'd consider extending the warranty in the circumstances to give you confidence and reassurance? Gaz

Interesting noise ☹️, did it come on suddenly, and if so, can you pinpoint when? Sounds top end to me, but I'm no expert, so take that with a pinch of salt. It sounds nothing like ours, and I'd want it investigated before driving it much further if it were me. Yes, cracking little cars 😎 I find it a little cramped to drive, but I'm fine in the passenger seat. As Ootohere has already mentioned, E5 all the way - ours likes Momentum 99. Gaz

My eyes, my eyes!! Not to my taste I'm afraid 🤮 As a slight aside (but far more interesting IMO) and for respite, I've been watching this chap put a PD130 in a Capri (a real one): Gaz

Snap - Mrs Gaz has a '65 plate Polo GTI 😁 Odd that it arrives when warm (as oppose to the opposite). Thinning oil allowing something to move more than it's supposed to maybe? Can you describe it more, or get it on video? Does it increase with engine revs? Can you hear it when stationary at tickover or only when driving? Light and tappity or dull and clonky sound? Oil and fluid levels all okay? Has it been scanned for any fault codes which might assist diagnosis? I'm with you in terms of getting it checked out in advance of it getting worse or more costly. Fair play to your local garage for knowing their limits and suggesting going to one that's more VW focussed. Gaz

40k on the six speed DQ250, 80k on the seven speed DQ381 - think you're likely going to have the latter: Gaz

We've a 2015 Polo 1.8 GTI with the same DQ200. A mate had a 2015 Fabia 1.2 with the same DQ200. Obviously different settings due to the differences in power, but they feel like very different DSG's. Across the three DSG's we have/had, I've never found Eco mode to live up to its name. Quite possibly my driving style, but with the vRS (DQ250) I had, I tried over a sustained period with Eco because people on here thought there might be something up with my car because of relatively poor mpg - turned out it was fine, just my crap h-t-w journeys that were killing it. IIRC Andy (Auric) on here always had his meteor grey vRS in Sport mode, never anything else, and with no reported detrimental effect on his mpg. Gaz

There's another thread that might be of interest: Gaz

Agreed - just checked and they were done in October 2024, not 2023, and prior to that in September 2021. Mrs Gaz is out all day tomorrow, so if she leaves her car here, I'll have a mosey.

Yeah, it's on an exclusive diet of Tesco Momentum 99 👍

Thanks Pete for the previous comment about cylinder 3 👍 I was also thinking that a visual inspection of the plugs might be informative, but then I wondered if the misfire count might not be enough to show a substantial enough visible change (that's just a guess btw). The garage didn't pull the plugs, this was just a scan to see what was going on, prior to booking it in with them. Equally a visual inspection of the loom and connections might be useful methinks. That'll probably be the next appointment. I'm tempted to look myself, but I'm still not over a hacking cough that's put my breathing out of kilter. Need to check, but I think the plugs were done in 2023. It's funny that for the sake of two lights popping up on the instrument cluster, you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. Power's still completely normal, stop/start's working fine, Mrs Gaz drove 75 miles yesterday and got 40mpg, which is above her 33.3mpg long term average (16k miles tracked). Gaz

Mrs Gaz's Polo has popped on its EPC light again, now followed by the EML. A local garage have scanned it and came up with P230800, which makes sense. It's had a barely perceptible misfire, just noticeable at tickover, which it's been doing for over a year. The garage have said to replace all the coil packs because it's not possible to identify which one's failing, but I thought you could? It'll be ten years old this year, and has just passed 55,000 miles, so I can see the sense in replacing all four, based on the thought that once one has started to go, others may follow. A bit of me still thinks if three are fine, then they ain't broke... There's several different makes, Bosch being at the upper end of the price range. Am I fooling myself to think I'm getting better quality if I choose Bosch over names I don't know? Ta Gaz

I did wonder this too - if there's a main switch which is off - one light - both lights. Or of the torch unit switch has more than one function, e.g. push on/off for the torch, double click, or push and hold for the light in the 'B' area. I'm just guessing though.

What I meant was, is it off when the boot is closed, not when you subsequently re-open it. So if switched on, does the act of opening the boot turn it both on (open) and off (closed). G

Does it then go off when the boot is closed? Gaz

Hello and welcome Phil Gaz

Hello Claire Wowzer, 3,500 miles - just goes to show, they are out there! That means it's averaged less than seven miles a week. Which model is it? Gaz

Could it also be from grease someone's put on the mating face between the wheel and hub? I think you'll need to take the wheel off and have a look at what's going on. Gaz

Hello and welcome Brian Gaz

Was it a booked appointment, as in a I want you to do this and I will give you my money for doing it. At which point, on arrival they (initially) said no? WTF - as they say, intelligence has its limits, but stupidity knows no bounds 🙄 Gaz

Depends where you go. My local VW charge £275, Awesome GTI quote £169, and I've seen quotes from £160 upwards. I had a 2015 vRS before my current GTI. Think you might find it's a TSI, not a TFSI. EA888 Gen 3 engine. A good rummage around the Octavia 3 fora on here will give you pretty much all the answers you need. For me, and my car, two relevant areas were the door seals, and the front doors retaining water. And the Silica bag in the coolant header (expansion) tank - if the header tank says 'mit silikat' on it, chances are there's a bag in there, if it's not already been removed. These bags are known to rupture, and the contents block the heater matrix. Getting the bag out is relatively straightforward. Making sure you get hot air from all the air vents is a good check to do. Gaz

Hello Dan, welcome aboard Gaz

Not sure of the value of using a borescope once the head's off? It's not a dead cert that the head is toast at all, but you won't know without looking. That it was at idle and 'gently stalled' might mean it stopped quicker, which in turn might mitigate the level of damage. Unfortunately it's more likely for there to be damage than not. In the mid '90's my S-i-L snapped the cam belt on her Ford Sierra, and then tried to start it. Expecting the worst I got a replacement head before I started. Once the head was off it was clear the original head was in better condition than the replacement and was easily repaired. You never know - fingers crossed for you 🤞 Gaz

Not the same model, but does this help?: Gaz