Worth noting that alongside checking the tyre tread depth, with 68K miles on the clock it could well be due another set of discs and pads. A £500+ job if needs be. I usually average around 40K miles before they need replacing and that's with very little motorway driving.

It's easy to check how well worn down the discs are, by feeling for the lip created around the edge of the disc by the pad pressing against it.

A full VW history is no guarantee of it having been well looked after . It only tells you it might have been serviced by VW . It does not tell you that it might had it's arriss ripped out by the one very careful owner's offspring every Saturday night down at Maccy D's .There are quite a lot of non-franchised garages that are just as able to service VWs . Besides that . A stamp in a service record is exactly just that . A stamp . It is not proof that the vehicle has ever actually had a spanner raised in it's direction . Trust me on that one . I have had first-hand experience of such matters . There are people that work in dealerships that will stamp your service book for a few beers . (not myself by the way ) I have seen some cars that have had a 'dealership history' that are in a absolutely shocking state of repair . It is usually a good sign if it has dealership stamps in the book , but be careful .
Fleet cars are usually the best buy . The fleet operator can usually provide a printout of everything the vehicle has ever had done to it and is much more difficult to falsify . Although they usually have higher than average indicated mileage they tend to be much better looked after as the vehicle keeper is not the one who has to cough up for maintaing it . Of all vehicles' previous keepers I think the best ones are the Mobility cars . I am not going to divulge why as the reasons could be libellous . But if you can find an ex-mobility car then you are almost guaranteed to be onto a winner .


£500 for a set of tyres ?
There really is no need to spend that kind of money on tyres . Unless you are just wanting a well known brand of tyre then you are better off buying a higher end 'budget' tyre . It will lower the cost to around £300-£350 . I can never understand why people spend such vast amounts on tyres . Even the cheapo bargain basement tyres are more than up to coping with a 70mph speed limit . A set of them could lower the price to around £250 , although it would be worth checking that it won't void your insurance if you were to put a set of tyres on that are only rated to 105mph . There must be a good argument against that . Why should you have to fit tyres that are rated at 150mph ? It is over twice the national speed limit .

£500 for discs and pads ? It didn't cost that much when I recently fitted discs and pads all round on an RS4 . You must be making that one up . And yes it was OEM parts . At 68k miles I would guess that it will have already had at least one set of new brakes . Dealerships are never shy when it comes to breaking the news that you need new brakes . The mrs had a mobility car for three years . During which time a local dealership replaced the brakes twice .They also replaced all the tyres at 7k . It only had 15k on it at the end of the three years . And believe it or not they actually replaced the exhaust . I had checked the car over a time or two and there was nothing at all wrong with the car whe it went in for servicing .

Which is where auctions come into their own. I know SMA in Leeds get a lot of ex Motability cars their way. Usually VW Polos & Golfs but they do look immaculate and have relatively low mileage.

I'm toying with the idea of getting a Golf/Leon with the 170bhp diesel engine so I've been scouring various forums for information. On these forums there are threads that are years old complaining about it but recently it's been mentioned that VW, Skoda, Seat, Audi are now replacing the injectors for free. Some have had them replaced even though they've not had the problem and some are having them replaced for free once they've failed. It seems that there's some differences between brands and dealers but the upshot is they will be replaced.

One of the cars I've thought about is the Octavian Vrs but I'm struggling to bring myself to get a Skoda. Very snobby of me I know.

Most (in fact all but one), of the cars that have been through my hands in the last 12 years have been ex-fleet cars. I've never had a problem with high mileage, providing the vehicle's been serviced on a regular basis. I know what you're saying about dealer stamps but anyone with a new car would be a fooking idiot to trust "Joe Underneaththearches" over a franchised dealer in the first three years of a car's life.




Again it's an experience thing. Experience has taught me that most German cars operate better on Continental tyres than any other, they laso last longer. The tyre is the last point of contact between me and the road and I ain't about to compromise that by fitting some Chinese or Indian budget model. Tyre speed ratings and load indices are maximums, they are not guidelines. They are set to compensate for other contributory factors to potential failure such as ambient temperature, tyre pressures etc.

I ain't about to compromise my safety and the safety of others just to save a couple of quid on a set of boots.

Thanks for all the advice and warnings, but, I will not be buying the car I had my eye on.

Went to see it earlier. Bodywork was in excellent shape, was very pleased with the interior, and the boot was a decent size. But, on starting up, the exhaust was a bit smokey, car did'nt seem to pick up in 1st or 2nd as quickly as I thought it would, and seemed a bit sluggish. ( maybe because of a cold start, though the outdoor temp was in double figures).

Was out for about 15 mins, and exhaust was still a bit smokey on return.( Possible sign of forthcoming damage?). The car did have the VW service history, but not much work had seemed to have been done on it when it had had it's 3 services. Though, on the 3 services, on the " yes" section, replacement had been made 3 times, forget what it was though. Oh, and the spare tyre was worn.

Probably the best option.

Mine smokes on initial start-up but that's usual and is just the burn-off of exhaust system moisture but it's gone within a couple of miles. I used to get some black smoke if I booted it but that disappeared once I had it chipped. As for performance, mine accelerates hard through every gear but then it is a 175bhp.

I'd still keep a Passat in mind over most other available cars on the road.

Definately. Got my heart set on getting 1, but not a 2.0, want a 1.9. reviews I've read suggest the 1.9 to be the better option, have read of too many expensive faults on the 2.0.

Looking at paying 6-7k, how much discount could I realistically expect when paying cash?

Depends on the dealer and how bad they want to shift the car and use the cash for more stock, don't forget that they are likely to make more profit on a finance sale than a pure cash exchange, if its a model that will sell quickly they might feel its better to wait a few days for a finance customer.

Do you mind if i ask where you got that done?

The BMW stealers have quoted me around £570 for mine front only

I have shopped round and manged to get a quote of £240 for non OEM (Pagid) Disks and pads fully fitted, which i am relativity happy to pay. If i can knock a few quid of that i would be more than happy to travel over the Pennine's to get them done.