Hello, I'm looking for advice concerning a used car that's being sold from a dealership, the car has 66000km and has followed every service with one owner.

The timing chain is stretched, but they will replace it with an upgraded one before delivery at my request, but I noticed that the clutch bite point was very high during my test drive, is this normal?

I own an automatic Fabia from the same generation, so I'm not not familiar with the manual clutches. As of now the clutch engages the gear at about 75-90% disengagement (when I let out the pedal), which feels a lot like a worn out clutch from a previous vehicle I've driven.

I did try putting the car in high gear during a slight hill with low speed (40km/h and 4th gear, don't know if this is aggressive enough) without any increased RPM and a normal slow acceleration.

I also tried putting the handbrake on and keeping the engine at 2k rpm, then slowly releasing the clutch to see when it stalled, it took a long time, but stalled around 80-90% disengagement.

Appreciate any and all advice, the contract for the car needs to be signed tomorrow to keep my reservation 😅

1 hour ago, SkodaUser8 said:

I did try putting the car in high gear during a slight hill with low speed (40km/h and 4th gear, don't know if this is aggressive enough) without any increased RPM

and flooring it*

Also heard that I won't be able to feel the difference in wear based on the travel distance since it's a hydraulic, does this track?

Could be air in system or a failing master/slave but my sons mk1 1.2htp clutch totaled its self at around that mileage. No warning or slipping just no drive suddenly. Clutch kit wasn't expensive but labour might be unless you can do it yourself plus doubt clutches are covered warranty wise. I did his myself and changed slave at same time for around £150. I assume its a car dealer so maybe see if they will cover a new clutch as well or reduce price accordingly. Old style cable operated clutches bite point got higher as the cable stretched but hydraulic if the bite point is high its either a worn clutch or air in system.

Alasdair

Oh wow, that's quite concerning... We ended up signing the contract earlier today, but made the dealer add that they have knowledge of the clutch bite point being high and them confirming that it's normal and the clutch is in good condition into the contract. Did you figure out if it was the air in the system that caused the problem? Also, was there wear on the clutch when you removed it?

Sons is a mk1 55plate and one side of the clutch disk disintegrated. Probably down to old age as there was still a reasonable amount on the flywheel side. No air in system. It only had 60k on the clock when he got it it so it had only being doing around 3000miles a year so could also have been an elderly driver that slipped it a lot. Good shout getting it noted in the contract. His has been very reliable apart from clutch. Have had to do a couple of suspension bushes/ball joints, rear brake shoes and as said fitted a new slave cylinder but nothing major. Pretty good for a 20 year old car.

Alasdair