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Adam Ef · 13-02-19, 02:32 PM

We got our Passatt a few years ago at around the budget you're looking at. We could have been lucky and had nothing wrong with it for years, but actually at the age it was it's likely that things start to go wrong... and they did.
Every year something cost us at least £1000 in repairs. Rear electronic brakes ripping themselves apart, locking on and needing towing and calipers cutting off and replacing, various gaskets blowing and oil getting in the wrong places including coolant system, air con pump seizing just after we'd done the cam belt, so ripping out a belt at speed causing complete power loss on a busy 3 lane road at 70mph, some part of the turbo blew leading to a very slow journey back from Cornwall fully loaded with all family onboard with the car in "limp mode"... the list goes on and on for the last 4 years. Would I have paid a couple of grand more to avoid over £4,000 of repairs, scary epsiodes and inconvenience? Yes, if I had it I think I would.

Essentially we paid £6,000 upftont and paid at least £1000 in installments for the years after, along with the inconvenience and uncertainty that brought with each failure and repair. The more we repaired it the more we had invested in it and the more we needed to keep it running and repaired with each consequent problem.

I guess it depends what is around at your budget price, but if it was me I'd want somehting very reliable. My parents have a Yeti and are very pleased with it. Upright, comfortable and surprisingly spritely for a 1.3 petrol engine!

13-02-19, 02:32 PM	#2
Adam Ef Member Mega Poster Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Bristol Posts: 1,200	Re: car buying conundrum We got our Passatt a few years ago at around the budget you're looking at. We could have been lucky and had nothing wrong with it for years, but actually at the age it was it's likely that things start to go wrong... and they did. Every year something cost us at least £1000 in repairs. Rear electronic brakes ripping themselves apart, locking on and needing towing and calipers cutting off and replacing, various gaskets blowing and oil getting in the wrong places including coolant system, air con pump seizing just after we'd done the cam belt, so ripping out a belt at speed causing complete power loss on a busy 3 lane road at 70mph, some part of the turbo blew leading to a very slow journey back from Cornwall fully loaded with all family onboard with the car in "limp mode"... the list goes on and on for the last 4 years. Would I have paid a couple of grand more to avoid over £4,000 of repairs, scary epsiodes and inconvenience? Yes, if I had it I think I would. Essentially we paid £6,000 upftont and paid at least £1000 in installments for the years after, along with the inconvenience and uncertainty that brought with each failure and repair. The more we repaired it the more we had invested in it and the more we needed to keep it running and repaired with each consequent problem. I guess it depends what is around at your budget price, but if it was me I'd want somehting very reliable. My parents have a Yeti and are very pleased with it. Upright, comfortable and surprisingly spritely for a 1.3 petrol engine!