Hi all,

 

My daughter has decided she wants a newer car and has been quite taken by a 12 plate 1.4 manual petrol VW Beetle.

 

Apart from the normal crash damage checks and basic mechanical checks, is there anywhere in particular I need to concentrate my attentions at all?.

 

I would also be grateful for any feedback on this engine if anybody has had one as I have not been that involved in the 1.4 at all, and come to that any feedback - good or bad on ownership of a Beetle.

 

As always, many thanks for any help in advance,

 

Phil.

Edited 28 May, 20179 yr by kentphil1

5 hours ago, kentphil1 said:

Hi all,

 

My daughter has decided she wants a newer car and has been quite taken by a 12 plate 1.4 manual petrol VW Beetle.

Apart from the normal crash damage checks and basic mechanical checks, is there anywhere in particular I need to concentrate my attentions at all?.

I would also be grateful for any feedback on this engine if anybody has had one as I have not been that involved in the 1.4 at all, and come to that any feedback - good or bad on ownership of a Beetle.

As always, many thanks for any help in advance,

Phil.

 

I gather the mid tuned 1.4 TSI have had relatively few problems compared to the 1.4 TSI Dual charge 180/185 hp versions I have had in the Fabia VRS and there have been similar issues in the Polo GTI, Ibiza Boganegra and A2.

 

With any car out of warranty, and Audi/ SEAT, Skoda, VW rather skimpy 3 year/60k miles warranty is one of the lowest compared to many other car marques that give 4 years/100,000 miles, or more, a warranty is a good piece mind, if it is a decent one, to cover if the turbo goes as that can cost £2K-£3k easily.    As ex civil servants, HM Customs in my case, we tended to belong to the Civil Servant Motoring Organisation which is now called Boundless and this is the deal I had on my Fabia.......  Other deals might suit better but this, I found, was one of the better ones.      https://www.boundless.co.uk/save-more/car-care-plan-warranty.   I had a turbo go on my A3 at 63K miles and 2 years old !

  

 

 

 

 

It's just a golf/octavia under the skin so the usual advice would apply for the beetle as well.

 

It would be worth her looking carefully at the space in the back seats and the boot if she thinks she'll be driving her pals to festivals or some other youthful activity. They're a bit tight at the back.

 

It's quite a big wide car as well. So if she's at all nervous about parking or tight spaces she'd better give that some thought or get one with sensors.

 

Small turbo engines can be quite heavy on fuel and a long way off the paper figures. Might matter, might not.

Well we had a look and a test drive and that was it, she bought it .

 

Just out of interest, is this a chain engine rather than a belt?, was difficult to tell for sure with the engine cover in place. If it is a chain, do these suffer like the 2 litre engine with tensioners or is this a more stable lump?.

 

Went over the car with a paint depth gauge, and it does not appear to have had any major paintwork, and I did a VCDS scan and that came up clear after the test drive.

 

Only thing is, I can't work out how to show the odometer mileage, I presume we have got to use a combination of the MFSW switches, but will play more when she picks it up on Tuesday.

 

At the end of the day, the car has a year's warranty if it does turn to be something larger.

Chain. 

Is this the 160ps? 

How many miles has it done?

The mileage should be showing with the ignition on.

Check out with a VW Dealer the Service History and any Warranty history before changing money.

Spark Plugs should have been changed at least once on a 2012.

Yes, it is a 158hp design. I checked all the obvious places to see the total mileage, but I could see was trip mileage, but there is more than a slight possibility that we may not be looking in the right place .

 

Car runs nice, and she has passed coin of the realm already, as she did not want to get out of the car once she drove it.

 

The car has VW main agent history with the car, and looks to be what you would expect of a 5 year old car.

Just tell them you want new spark plugs in it even if you are told they are not due.

What mileage is it advertised at?

33000 miles. The dealer has been spot on to deal with, I'd rather just stick a set of plugs in myself to avoid the hassle.

 

Are they a very expensive plug type or just average price, and is this a point of weakness I should be concerned about?, she will do about 50 miles a day in it, with about 70% of those being fast roads and motorways.

Just £10 each or so.

If it has Full VW Main Dealer Service History they should have been changed anyway even though not yet 40,000 miles since it has had 2 major services.

Brake Fluid changed in 2015 and again in 2017.

Been doing a bit of googling, and according to one of the posts on there, having the cruise control switched on can cause the overall mileage to swap with the trip mileage. I must admit, I forget to check if the cruise was on or off, so it might be simple after all.

@kentphil1 @lol-lol If Phil, or an immediate relative of his (sibling, sibling's spouse parent, aunt, uncle, child) works, or has ever worked for, Civil Service, or a privatised ex-CS body such BT, water company, QinetiQ... then his daughter is eligable to join "Boundless" AIUI.

I loved my old Beetle 1962 1200cc in Primrose Yellow : good to be different -