I need to rep,ace the saloon with a bike friendly hatch for 3 years, looking for respectable yet cheap so – 06/07 Golfs 80-120k 2.0 TDI are my thought – what to look for/avoid?

Only ever had them as hire cars for work occasionally, but lovely cars, especially with the DSG box.

iirc 3000 rpm in 6th is a very comfortable 100mph… 😳

what to avoid?

Just google the letters:

2.0 TDI

Had a few of those and were superb great fun to drive and fantastic MPG.

Fine if you like heamoraging money through the nose to keep it on the road…..my parents merc bits were cheaper than our shity golf…i know which id rather have.

bearnecessities – Member
what to avoid?
Just google the letters:

2.0 TDI

Not with you?

Sorry. I looked into a car quite a while back with the VW 2.0 TDI (PD) engine. I think it was inquiring here actually that shed light on what a nightmare engine it can be.

I’m sure there will be some that say they’ve done 200k with no oil and no problems, but the problems are there, and very widely reported. (from memory something to do with a naff hex bar or somethingoranother)

The ‘inferior’ 1.9 is the one to have by all accounts.

Save your money and go for a Mk4 1.9 TDI 130 BHP for the reasons above.

Mk IVs were notorious for lots of faults eg electric windows failed, door locks, coil packs, engine fan modules. One of their more unreliable periods….

Similar position 4 years ago. Picked up a 54 plate with 90k. So on top of regular services. Four new abs sensors,new break disc and two new rear hubs and a power steering failure. The central locking on the passenger door is temperamental which appears to be a common issue. It currently has 125k. Great to drive and will do Brighton to Carlisle on half a tank. Really do like it and can’t see changing it for a while.

That shopping list sounds familiar pguy78

Add rear calipers , rear disks and pads , high level brake light and a set of head lights as the options pack hids were not mot legal when the new rules came through ….

Injectors are £750 a pop. And they go pop a lot… Brother in law had one and sold it for a Nissan Quasquai as he got fed up with the repair bills and crap service from VW.

I have a GT 170 great car no big problems the injectors where replaced FOC by VW as a recall. Few problems with seized calipers otherwise OK.

The 170 has a DPF which can cause problems the 140 does not.

The 140 is also cheaper to insure and more economical and not that slower then the 170.
It’s a job to work out which is which the 170 has a tailpipe visible at the back the 140 does not.
Hope that helps.

I’ve replaced the Turbo on loads of them, another fault of that engine. Very pricey repair.

Wouldn’t touch one IMO

So the 1.9 is the one to get? I may have to look at something else, the GT was dull, those are even duller. 😐

Perhaps just swapping the BM saloon for it’s Touring brethren.

Injectors are £750 a pop. And they go pop a lot…

Some were dodgy, VW messed around with sort of doing a recall and replacing some in goodwill, it’s not exactly a common problem with them though, by now I’d expect them to have gone if they were going to!

They’re not £750 each either.

Ive got an 80K, 2008 2.0 170 in my Leon and its still going strong. No DPF issues as long as you drive it as intended, ie not only 4 miles to the shops all the time. Mine gets a good mix of commuting in slow traffic in town and the odd country lane/motorway blast and its still going as well as it did 20K ago. Injectors were recalled but so far are fine, local garage advised me not to get them changed unless they needed it so Ive not. For £5K its a lot of good car, Id happily have another.

We had a ’07 MkV 2.0 GT TDI for 3 years. We bought it from a friends company where it had been used by a sales rep and had covered 77k. During that time it had the turbo replaced under warranty and nothing more than regular servicing/tyres.
In the 3 years we had it we covered about 30k without any issues whatsoever. It was fast and fun but still returned an average of about 46mpg over that time with 90% of the trips being school runs on country lanes.
Sold it for about £5k I think. Ours was a great car.

I’d back the posters who have recommended the 1.9 tdi

I had a GTi TDI PD150 (the full name for the 150bhp 1.9) mk4. I also had the 2.0TDI in Audi a3 guise. The 140bhp is no where near as good or reliable as the 1.9. It’s also not as efficient.

The mk4 is build like a tank but with uninspiring handling. The a3/mk5 on Golf has been considerably cheapened – to the point that a friends Kia pro’Ceed felt better screwed together with a nicer interior.

If you go for a mk4 there are lots of the 150bhp models with leather interiors. It’s worth searching out the recaro leather upgrade. Seats are amazing, and heated. The recaro leather is tough too. Put up with me firing bikes in to the back on a regular basis without getting scratched up.

Got an 06 2.0 TDI and have done 120k in it and nothing has ever gone wrong. Bit worried now!

Got an 06 2.0 TDI and have done 120k in it and nothing has ever gone wrong. Bit worried now!

Don’t be the injectors would have gone before 120k if you had the dodgy batch.

Just to provide some balance to the 2.0 TDI haters, we have the 140PS 2.0 TDI in our 2010 Scirocco. Hasn’t missed a beat in almost 4 years, and even with my relatively heavy right foot, we get almost 50mpg from the tank. Will do 55mpg+ on long motorway stints. I drive conservatively and efficiently when traffic and conditions dictate, but give it the beans when I can. Would be more like 55mpg if it was only ever driven by Mrs PixelMix.

I’m not sure that all 2.0 TDIs are equal, but I don’t think there are too many complaints about the more recent ones – presumably the early issues were ironed out.

I have had mk4 150 and 130bhp 1.9 tdi’s and the latter mk5 140bhp DSG tdi.

The easiest to get on with for me, was the 130bhp tdi, I preferred how it delivered the power, it never went wrong (the 150 was not that bad either), we did nearly 180k in the 130bhp, returned on avg 49mpg overall.

handled like a boat mind ;-0

Pixelmix – yours is the newer common rail engine not the PD that had the issues.
Having said that my A3 has the 2.0l PD 140 engine and has done 110k without problems. It’s a popular engine used on many cars so more issues will be moaned about on forums.
The DSG is nice too.

Just to provide some balance to the 2.0 TDI haters

Its the early 2.0TDI’s (05/06) – similar stories about the 2.0TDI in the Passat of that era. Plus how do you spot the injectors have been changed?

Why not get a 1.9TDI? Love that engine.

+1 the mkiv 1.9 …. mine’s a gt tdi pd 130 on a 51 plate with 225K so
far. Still does 50+ mpg, original clutch (not looking forward to
replacing that !!!), and had almost nothing go wrong in 12+ years. had
the aux drive belt tensioner failure repair under warranty, 1 dashboard
computer failure and lots and lots and lots of diesel 🙂

Defo handles like a barge though ….

Colleague has the later mkv (??) 2.0 and has had all sorts of issues
with electrics

OP
If you need any space or have kids then maybe think again,the boot size is rubbish.
When it comes to holiday time or bike transporting ,you really need to go to the world of roof box or tow bar land.

Hmmmm, thanks you lot. I was really happy with my 2008 MK5 2.0TDI GT 140 now I am waiting for it to explode and kill me.

If you need any space or have kids then maybe think again,the boot size is rubbish.
When it comes to holiday time or bike transporting ,you really need to go to the world of roof box or tow bar land.

It’s fine 2 kids and a dog here never had much of an issue.

05-06 Mr P.

Why not a Seat Altea 1.9TDI? I had one- drove it from Germany, Belgium, France, up to Manchester in one am all on one tank. Comfy as and I kept forgetting to stop.

It’s fine 2 kids and a dog here never had much of an issue

.

Well done Drac ,you must pack light or we take too much crap .
I still think the golf boots seem too small 😉

Sensible packing.

No bikes were taken fasthaggis.

2 bikes filled our golf.

More likely to strap the kids to a rack than my bike….hence why i got rid of golf

I had three adults, one childseat+a toddler and one push chair in a Citroen C1.

Seems all a bit academic, if you knock out all the lovers of the 2.0TDI to that of the haterz it’s a ratio of 1:3 love’em. Why not just change your big Beemer for a Beemer 2.0D Sport Touring and possibly get it chipped?
Lots of really good examples form 53-06 plates with all the spec & service histories. I know of a few mates that still run 53 plate 2.0D Sport Tourings (they bought them from their companies when they became available for changing) Two have them chipped (or the booster thingy) and one left his alone.
Cracking car IMO

handled like a boat mind ;-0

ARBs were too soft, if you fit the R32 ARB it made a huge difference.

Sorry to hijack(ish)……..

I’m looking at replacing my car (2003 focus 1.6 petrol zetec), has been a superb car, but I’ve hammered it, it’s been thrashed through forests, carried building kit, car parts, farm stuff etc, done 135k now, 90k of those in the last 4 1/2 years, and is getting pretty tired, so it’s time to go unfortunately. I need something reliable, practical and fairly economical for work.

I have the option of a 2006 Golf 1.9 TDI SE (104bhp). Girlfriend’s mum had it as ex demo, 6 months old, never missed a beat, then sold it to other daughter in ’09, since then it’s been serviced as scheduled & had cam belt kit, no breakdowns or problems in that time either. Is now only on 70k miles.

I know it’ll be pretty boring and uninspiring, but is it a good move? Guessing it’s worth around £4-4.5k

Core – sounds good. £4.5k might be pushing it a bit though, I assume you’d get it a the going rate on Autotrader minus a bit.
Cambelt needs changing about now.

It had cambelt either last year or year before, so presume it won’t need another for a while?

Price has yet to be negotiated, but potentially could be Autotrader minus quite a bit, as the last sale was nowhere near real value at the time……..

EDIT – can stick £1k on top of what I was thinking for Autotrader prices

bikebouy – Member
Seems all a bit academic, if you knock out all the lovers of the 2.0TDI to that of the haterz it’s a ratio of 1:3 love’em. Why not just change your big Beemer for a Beemer 2.0D Sport Touring and possibly get it chipped?
Lots of really good examples form 53-06 plates with all the spec & service histories. I know of a few mates that still run 53 plate 2.0D Sport Tourings (they bought them from their companies when they became available for changing) Two have them chipped (or the booster thingy) and one left his alone.

This has crossed my mind.