Hi All, Yesterday I went to see this 04 1.9TDI. I have seen 3 now and think this is the best.

http://www.jamesfrank.co.uk/used-cars/

It's not a high price so you can't expect perfection but from what I could tell it's pretty good. It did have the dreaded wet carpet under the passenger's seat but all three did. The difference with this one is the electrics all seemed intact. I think I can tackle it myself, a nice project. I saw about 6 years dealer service receipts and another 6 or so local garage type receipts. The belts and water pump were done recently.

I'm hoping my brother in law who is a mechanic will come with me tomorrow and check it over. If it's good I fancy it.

I drove a Passat Mk2 today and it felt quite disappointing in comparison.

Never go near a car which has been wet. There will be trouble ever after with corroded connector pins, and there are hundreds of them.

 

Year model '04 does not have folding rear seats. The best model was the 130 PS 1.9 PD AWX with the 5 speed GGB manual box, model year '05 (10th digit in VIN). Buy trim to suit, but basic trim is the best as you get tough cloth seats and fewer VAG electro-sillies.

 

I have one with retro-fitted cruise. It's a very good motorway cruiser and towcar and is astonishingly economical for its performance. It handles like a drunk in charge of a boat - but that's no problem in view of its job. I fold the rear seats down surprisingly often - the boot is pretty useless otherwise, given the sheer length of the car.

 

rotodiesel.

Oh Rotodiesel now my head's mixed up! I really love these cars with all their legroom and feeling of luxury. The next closest one to me for sale is 59 miles drive away and I don't know what its carpet situation is. It's a 55 plate 1.9 TDI Elegance but it's about £700 more.

I will speak to my brother in law today.

I'm with Roto on the water ingress - just walk away.  Or drive 59 miles and have a look at the next one.

 

There's a heater vent underneath the front passenger seat which you get get to from the rear footwell.  If you push the carpet down, you can get your fingers underneath the vent and down to the floor pan (the plastic vent has sharp edges), where you soon tell if there's water down there or not.

 

Gaz

Thanks Gaz. I did as you said and there was no water. The carpet felt dry. I had a look under the plenum cover and whilst I'm not sure I would be able to see anything I couldn't see water.