What do you see in this 2010 VW GTI (Salvage)

This upcoming week at the salvage auction is a 2010 GTI with 217k miles.  Yeah, that's a lot of miles.  My thoughts are maybe this would make a good Gastropod.  Certainly only if it sells cheap enough (but how high could a 217k GTI actually go for?)

My biggest issue is that I do not speak VW.  At least not since my '83 Rabbit.  If you do speak recent GTI, please look at the pics and tell me what you see.

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicle?itemID=32804814&rowNumber=4&loadRecent=True

The car got to the salvage auction because of this damage to the C-pillar. 

The whole rear glass is gone too.  This does leave speculation that the current hatch frame is too bork'ed to hold new glass.  A search of parts finds a used replacement hatch can be had for $150.  Of course then this leads to wonder if the c-pillar is so bork'ed that the hatch will not close or will not close w/o breaking the glass.  .   

I'll know more if I can lay my hands on the car Monday.  

I see the decorative engine cover is off.  Are there any visible mods this reveals?  

Tail lights aren't stock.  Hot air intake with secondary air pump filter.  Coil packs aren't stock, doesn't look like a stock exhaust.  Has an ECS Tuning sticker on it so there's probably more done.  Wheels aren't stock.  Looks like it's stock ride height, would be shocked if it doesn't have a tune on it.

I see the soft amber glow of a temporarily permanent check engine light.

I have heard too many stories of failed balance shaft bearings, which VW only sells as an engine block assembly.

The water pump is driven off of the back of one of the balance shafts, so you can't exactly delete them.

The general VW rule of thumb is if it has a timing chain, avoid the whole car.

Are you allowed to start it? It drove all the way to the scene of the accident so I assume it runs.

I’d be concerned that that c-pillar has exceeded it’s structural deflection and will buckle in a roll-over.  I reckon it’s totaled because they budgeted for welding in a new rear quarter.

i guess you, or a sympathetic mechanic, could cut out the wrinkle and weld in a a patch?

In reply to MrJoshua :

You can not bring tools but you are allowed a code reader and a jump pack. 

Yes, I can start it. 

No, you can not drive it. At best, you can drop it into drive and move 1ft forward and drop into reverse and move 1ft backward.  This at least tests the brakes slightly too. 

In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :

I'd only buy this for what I could recoup by selling the wheels/tires and maybe something slight else. 

I would not want to be in the business of parting it out. I'd rather sell it to someone else who would part it out.   My location is not conducive to parting cars. 

A cage may solve that whole rollover issue. Could be someone's good Chump Car. 

docwyte said:

Tail lights aren't stock.  Hot air intake with secondary air pump filter.  Coil packs aren't stock, doesn't look like a stock exhaust.  Has an ECS Tuning sticker on it so there's probably more done.  Wheels aren't stock.  Looks like it's stock ride height, would be shocked if it doesn't have a tune on it.

+1

Coils look like rs7/r8 red tops, most likely has upgrade spark plugs and a tune.

If your plan is to trailer this to the Challenge, it's probably a great car.  Getting another hatch in there would be trivial if you don't care about the color match.

 

I bet we could get the c pillar close enough

So, how much money are we talking that you expect to have into it?  PM if you don't want to disclose publically.

I finally clicked the link and noted that it had the magic paddles of flap.  That's actually worth a lot in 0-60 time even on a front driver.

In reply to Knurled. :

I'd want to have less than $650 into the auction purchase. The reason for the posting here was to try to justify going any higher. 

Seeing the car in person tomorrow afternoon will be the most important thing.

It will still need $200 in rear hatch plus whatever can be done with the c-pillar. 

I would peak and see if it’s obviously has coilovers.  Intake, ignition coils, rims, and taillights would imply there might be coilovers.  Iirc, there was also a common mod to replace the intercooler with a more robust one?  It’s been a few years since I went looking around for mod advice for my dad’s 2012 GTI.

relatedly, there’s a set of OEM Detroit wheels that can be had for a little effort and a little cash.

Knurled. said:

The general VW rule of thumb is if it has a timing chain, avoid the whole car.

Even the current ones with a timing chain?

Pictures from the scene... 

Alzor?  Im not familiar with.  

Never heard of Velozza ZXV4 either.  Build date of 22 week of '18 is good though.

Drilled and slotted rotors but the red calipers look to just be stock

Treadwear of 340 qualifies for Gastropods Challenger

Close up of damage.  The scrap becomes a break halfway through.  You can see daylight (and water will come in.)  There is some water in the spare tire well but that could be from the missing back window too

Boost Gauge

How's this for stereo type.. Vap juice on the passenger seat and in the trunk, dreams of getting rich and getting laid. 

Battery from Sept 17, good

On the oil filter you can see an Audi logo (using the good stuff) and the oil change sticker says it is not overdue for a change.

The interior is spectacular.  In no way does the driver's seat or bolsters look like 217k miles.  It's done right but I suspect either reupolstered or replaced with newer.  

that strikes me as a really interesting car

For $650 id buy that for a race car.

For a street car? Probably not

Seat definitely has been redone.

Coilpacks are, as has been mentioned, the R8 red tops. Entry level "performance" upgrade reputed to have a hotter spark and be maybe a hair better/more reliable than stock. Engine cover came off to make way for the filter on a stick, the engine cover incorporates the stock airbox on top of the engine.

Your shot of the dash shows that the hatch sensor reads as closed, so there's that. Whether the seal is good, excepting the obvious glass challenged nature of it, is too much to say.

That's a really weird place to have such a sharp impact, pretty high up on the quarter. Any idea what happened? That frame rail could be twisted, but I'm no expert and there's no good shot where I would actually commit to saying that for sure.

Boost gauge and other bolt-on performance-y mods raise a few flags for me. That engine could well be flogged pretty hard.

If you have any access to maintenance records, the fluid change interval on the DSG could make or break that as a cheap buy.

Its 7:30 am the day of the auction.  The current pre-bid price on the car has gone to $450 bid which equals $698 after fees.  

I never placed a bid but the dollar amount has already exceeded my comfort level.  

Pre-bidding will end at 8:30am and it is in the last minutes that the price will really increase.  

The auction goes live at 9:30 and given the cars lot number, it will probably go live at about 10:30.  

How high will it go?  

$1375 before fees. 

In reply to EvanB :

That is probably a good guess.   Bids move in $25 increments so $1375 is $1863 with fees

$1575 (also before fees)

edited after seeing $25 increments reminder

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

$1560 (also before fees)

$1575 with fees is $2103

I'll guess $1250.