What kind of owners are mk3's attracting ???

[sabre0699]

Last year my wife was looking at a replacement car for her Audi A3 2.0 tdi Sport (140 bhp BKD engine) , at 8 1/2 years old and 46,000 miles it had just blown its second (brand new Garrett ) turbo to pieces.

Anyway after repair we went around the local dealers to look properly at six VW Scirocco TDI's, all GT spec and either 140 or 170 bhp and none over 45,000 miles, all 2009 to 2011 cars and all in excess of £12,000.

All of the above cars (plus another 10 or so we had a quick look at in passing ) had numerous parking dings and general scratches to the paintwork and all of the six I was interested in had barely legal or bald tyres , it appeared they had been run off on the fronts and then swapped and the rears then run off.

None of them had decent tyres fitted , not a Goodyear, Michelin, Dunlop, Continental, Toyo or Bridgestone in sight ........ they had Wanli, Goodride,Sava and other cheap crap fitted.

Most would have needed discs and pads within a few thousand miles and had fairly sketchy service history , needless to say we gave them all a miss and ended up with a really nice A3 tdi sport this time with the later common rail engine, full leather all options , 34,000 miles, full Audi service history , new genuine discs and pads plus 4 new Michelins and £2000 cheaper than the Scirocco's.

The Scirocco's appear to be giving the impression that they are being bought by people who are looking for something that looks flash and then they are neglecting them both cosmetically and can't even afford to put tyres and brakes on the cars.

Still love the look of the Scirocco BUT will only replace my 170bhp Polo 9n GT TDI for a really nice one in the future

[the edmundator]

Diesel sciroccos are likely to be bought by business users, I'd have thought, running them as cheaply as possible. And, let's face it, most cars of the age you're looking at will have been owned on finance by someone who never had any intention to keep the car more than three years - so why would they spend much money on its upkeep?

[james butler]

this behavior isnt limited to sciroccos.
ive looked around for newish motors recently and found this is the case with most nearly new cars.
people are just using and abusing.
most of which dont keep the car because they cant actually afford the car so just have another and another and another only ever having to pay the finance and never the end payments.
lets not forget the ever lengthening service intervals that are also helping the neglect of cars because most owners certainly arent going to maintain it correctly themselves.
cars that have short intervals are often better looked after as they frequent the garage more often and problems found early on.

[mark1gls]

Agree with james butler on this.
When I was looking for a new 2nd car with my dad there was lots of cars with dents and stone chips and when you point them out the sales people just say "well its a old car so what do you expect!" The cars we was looking at are only 5 years old!!!!

[sabre0699]

As if to reinforce what I was saying, today I popped into a local remapper and as I was there a Scirocco R Line came in to be remapped from 177bhp, the car was 4 years old and looked really shiny BUT mechanically it was shocking, oil level low and dirty, air filter filthy, no evidence of a fuel filter change and also a slight misfire.

Again the tyres were shot and the brake discs badly scored with worn out pads.

Remapper pointed out to the owner that it was pointless going ahead with the remap until the car was properly serviced ie oil and all filters , injector cleaner used and the egr valve cleaned to restore its standard performance and that the car would be worse with a remap if this wasn't done.

Punter insists that it needs a remap , give him his dues the remapper refused, basically saying that he would not do it as he was not going to be responsible for any problems if it was carried out before the car was sorted.

Punters reply was I'll take it somewhere else

[connorj19]

im 20 had my rocco for almost 2 years, shes a gt 170 tdi dsg with a few options anyways, i think it has somthing to do with who you are / what type of person etc. my front tyres were worn out so changed them for the same, keeping with what come from the factory. i hate seeing cars with a different brand on every corner. just dosnt seem right on this type of car, yes on a citroen saxo but not a 20k car

my rocco has got 38000 miles on her still with orginal pads & disks, front n rear, only 2 stone chips on the front bumper, its washed n hoovered every sunday regardless. when its time for another vw sombody is getting a lovley well cared for mtotor

[fev1983]

Most seem to be owned by women with the car on the never never.
Keep it then swap it because after three years cars are knackered.
That's what my mates wife honestly thinks and goes to a dealer just before the first mot is due and changes the car.

[unknownmale]

Yeah, my mate has a mk3, just keeps it until the balloon payment then swaps it for another one.

[fev1983]

Yeah, my mate has a mk3, just keeps it until the balloon payment then swaps it for another one.

Yes and then you can go to the auction and buy these cars cheap as chips

[JABBER88]

Bought one recently from Arnold Sharks in Linwood.

A 16 plate GT Black and on the outside looked okay until I looked closely and it wasn't up to the usual VW paintwork standards.

6 months on and the paintwork on the bonnet, doors and rear quarter are all showing signs of filler shrinking and is going very dull indeed.

They seem to get abused from new by their owners which is a real shame as it is one of the best handling cars I have owned.

Getting there with her though, new tyres all round (Michelan cross climates....welcome to Scotland) and full service of all parts including brakes and replaced the exhaust with a powerflow stainless unit. Absolutely no need for the pancake silencer on the back for a diesel.

Not cheap but has allowed me to have her re-mapped recently and now she is putting out a healthly 184 bhp.

Next up is the paintwork and the suspension with the rubber bushes about to disappear all round.

Labour of love I suppose but now have a mk1, mk2 and finally a mk3.