A4 Jetta TDI w/ 100K+... Run?

My friend Jordan is looking for a second car, something small with a standard. My wife's old coworker is selling his '02 Jetta TDI for $1k. It has well over 100K miles and has been having random issues. Jordan's level of DIY is oil changes and wheels. What says the collective knowledge of GRM?

Thats about a $7500 car if its a manual and not rusty, it either requires deep pockets or quite a bit more mechanical knowledge than that (plus strictly following the maintenance schedule) to be a good experience though. My friend who thiks the TDI is the only engine in the world worth owning recently bought a badly neglected (100k+ overdue for timing belt change, etc) new beetle tdi with 300k on it, and after about $7500 in parts its as good as new.

good god, i will take the Jetta right now for $1000!!! Where? ill get in the car and start driving!!

I'll get in line for that Jetta. I can take a few days off from work and buy a ticket to NY (assuming car's near neon4891) and drive back to the opposite coast and it'll be a quarter of what they're going for around here.

Of course, anybody so out of touch that they'll sell that car for $1k makes me wonder whether it's ever even had the oil changed...

The seller was asking $5k but his dad talked him down.

Hard to say... while $1000 is a great price for a TDI even if it needs work, if the new owner can't DIY a lot of the repair/maintenance work, then he could find himself upside down vs. the value pretty quickly.

Go to tdiclub.com and see if there's a guru nearby willing to do an inspection.

Um, the guy's Dad talked the seller down from $5k to $1k??? Nobody in their right mind takes that.

If it's all kosher, $1000 for that car is a screaming deal.

Random issues sounds like it still runs and drives. Buy that thing yesterweek. Flip it if nothing else.

At $1k you can buy it, put $1k into it, drive it for 2 years, and sell it for $1k profit. That doesn't include the money you save getting 40mpg all of the time.

Yeah, if it was close enough I'd buy it. $5k is cheap, $1k is pretty much free.

There is DIY and then there is DIY. Like, I can do some first aid if you have a splinter, but you probably want somebody else to do your wife's C-section.

These cars have C-section scale problems. Are you ready to re-wire the whole damned thing when all the lights that are supposed to be off are on, and the ones that are supposed to be on are off? And can you do that while listening to "ding-ding-ding-ding-ding" telling you the e-brake is on WHEN IT ISN'T???

So I think I'm saying I'd pass.

AaronBalto wrote: There is DIY and then there is DIY. Like, I can do some first aid if you have a splinter, but you probably want somebody else to do your wife's C-section. These cars have C-section scale problems. Are you ready to re-wire the whole damned thing when all the lights that are supposed to be off are on, and the ones that are supposed to be on are off? And can you do that while listening to "ding-ding-ding-ding-ding" telling you the e-brake is on WHEN IT ISN'T??? So I think I'm saying I'd pass.

Serious question: are those problems ground related, component related, or insulation related?

prob worth that easily in the drivetrain alone for somone with an a2... always thought a TDI would be a hoot in an a2 golf :)

and good question Joshua... I know with earlier 80's volvos the answer would be YES... insulation rots and one of the 228 ground points go bad...

For an example of what a $1k TDI is in california, someone posted a MK3 jetta that had been used to clean out a section of ditch and bent the car beyond repair. It was posted in the evening on craigslist, and my friend called about it and the guy had 15 calls already about people wanting to pick it up the next day, so they ended up picking it up at 11:30pm a few hours after it was posted. Just the engine, transmission and wiring harness sells for $5k at a VW dismantler.

Yup, I sold my 99 with an oil light on and and fairly severe body damage for $1k.

You should have already bought this.

I agree, at that price its likely long gone if it was advertised. Its a big pile of free money, even if the timing belt broke driving it home you could still get more than $1k for it.

I will fly to get it if it runs for that price!