I've been offered a 4 year old Golf Tdi (2.0 Sport) by a friend who's company is changing a couple of reps cars.
He says the car in particular has been used by a decent guy (rather than another of the reps that kills his cars) and it's been serviced on the dot every time and have already had a cam belt change. Price should be very attractive (i.e. below book).
I'm thinking of getting this to replace a Volvo V70 T5 which, although a great car, is now only used for short school runs and down to the shops = rather thirsty.
What are the weak points on golfs with this sort of mileage?

"Diesels go on forever mate"

Personally, I get jumpy about turbocharges and the 100k mark. But that's just me.

How much below book?

No car goes on forever. Its a myth, its how the car has been treated and serviced.

Friend of mine has a 03 GT TDI with 120k on the clock. Im first inline. He lost his FVSH in a housemove 3yrs ago (genuinely lost it- I was there at the time).

I have a golf tdi with 150 on the clock… so long as the belts are done and you get the oil serviced regular.. they will go on and on. good car. easy to service yourself.

sounds like a good deal.

I've got a 5 year old Seat Ibiza TDi 130 (pretty much the same engine as the Golf version I believe) with 90k on the clock and it's faultless (fingers crossed still will). Has been serviced every 20k with an oil change every 10k, cam belt etc at 60k. Don't think you have much to worry about if the Golf has had similar treatment, which it sounds like it has.

If it has been well looked after, not much, has the cam belt been done when it was supposed to be (i think around 75K) might get the odd glitch like windows, locking, but usually amazingly good. Could go all wrong but I doubt it. We have had three TDis, one Passat two Golfs, all to 150K, left us and going strong one now has 240k and still just a clutch at 150 ish..

I've got an 06 Golf TDI with about 86k on the clock, granted, its a company car, and as such I don't have to worry about bills on it, but to be fair, I've had no dramas at all with it yet…

* Touches everything wood around him….*

I bought my Passat TDI with this sort of mileage 94k with full history straight from Lease Plan. Ive had it six years its now done 237k miles and apart from regular maintainance its hasnt put a foot wrong.
The mass air flow meters (MAF) and EGR valves tend play up on them although if you check the service book/printout it may tell you if theyve been replaced. You can always ring the dealers whose stamps are in the service book to see exactly what theyve done. Also just keep an eye on the clutch mine started showing signs of wear around 130k and its better to replace them straight away.

Not the most exciting cars but Ide have one again and if you can get it below book your doing well.

I'd say a good (personally) figure would be c30% off book as its double the average. Depends how long you'd keep it as well. If you kept it for years then fine. If you plan on changing again in a year etc you'd struggle in a px or private sale of course as the new buyer doesnt 'know' its providence.

Thanks guys, sounds like I should look further into it. The idea would be to run it until it died and as it would only do about 7k miles/year it should do OK.

Colour is it?

got a mk iv golf.

Hate it.

Awful car. Non stop niggling problems. Water leaks, rear washer stops working, interior falls to pieces. Servicing massively over priced compared to other cars, cambelts cost a fortune, suspension bushes go way too quickly. Its not easy to work on, replacing the cambelt for instance requires the front of the car to be removed to get at it. Economy isn't that great 45 ish in normal driving, though if i rigidly stick to 55mph for an hour it'll return 60mpg. Handling is awful. naff all ground clearance. overpriced 2nd hand due to VW badge engineering.

My Passat has done 182k miles and since I've had it hasn't actually gone wrong. I've done loads of work fixing the usual worn stuff but it hasn't let me down at all. Not that that helps since the engine's different to the one you are looking at but I just thought I'd share 🙂

got a mk iv golf.

Hate it.

Awful car. Non stop niggling problems. Water leaks, rear washer stops working, interior falls to pieces. Servicing massively over priced compared to other cars, cambelts cost a fortune, suspension bushes go way too quickly. Its not easy to work on, replacing the cambelt for instance requires the front of the car to be removed to get at it. Economy isn't that great 45 ish in normal driving, though if i rigidly stick to 55mph for an hour it'll return 60mpg. Handling is awful. naff all ground clearance. overpriced 2nd hand due to VW badge engineering.
water leak from where?

rear washer is a known issue, was later changed to a metal bracket version 04/05 rollover.

my local indi is a great guy changed me £120 for a full service, showed me all changed parts and installed genuine VW PD oil to boot.

hmm cambelts are a sore point i suppose later cars like the one he is looking at require less changes, my 03 one needs a cam belt ever 80k hardly regular. cost at an indi.. £200.

only cheap replacement bushes go quick, if they do it's a £15 a bush job and none takes more than two hours to swap in pressing in and out. Genuine VW bushes on mine and my GF's she's covered over 100k before hers were replaced. i swapped my rears at.. 60k ish and one was going the other was fine. Also lowered golfs are more prone to destroying bushes.

mine for the highest power TDI pulls regular over 51 my old focus (55 plate 136bhp tdci) couldn't get over 43 mpg on the same run!

handling is a mood point, fit a rear anti roll bar and i promise all your handling issues will be gone. the golf was front heavy and needs a rear ARB to get it handling flatter.

not noticed any ground clearance issues, odd was considering dropping mine 20mm for a lower stand / COB.

wouldn't say they are that much overpriced personally BWM's are overpriced, vw's are high priced.

the build quality of our '00 Passat is streets ahead of our 55 plate Golf, the passat is on 170k and doesn't have a single rattle or squeak. I'd be very surprised if the golf does that well.

that said, the passat is on original clutch

the golf (assuming it's the 2.0 GT TDI) is great fun to drive although the brakes are over servo'd

if the motorway is slow (say 50ish) i can get 65mpg on the 30 mile drive home but average about 52mpg on a more enthusiastic drive