Thinking of buying one of these two cars, advice needed!!

[Mɐʇʇ]

I bought a genuine, full, one from Gendan. About 3 days after I bought the car. About 3 days too late....
There's a lovely button to scan everything in the car, switch it on, go for a cup of tea, come back, see what's what.

I dunno if the cheapies can do what you need or not, someone else will need to advise.

[blm70]

Had owned mine for about a month when it needed a complete gearbox rebuild plus the TCU was faulty. That'll be £4k thanks very much. Currently having the timing belt etc. done and have recently replaced the rear calipers, discs & pads, 4 new tyres, windscreen and had the headlight washer jets & self-levelling mechanism fixed for the MoT.

At least the DRC had been replaced with Bilstein PSS9s by MRC (who also did the mapping) and it had new front calipers, discs and pads about 18 months ago.

Whilst it's a great car, the maintenance is the killer and you can't run it on a hot hatch budget.

[IanH755]

VCDS is only the software and is free from RossTech. However you need a proper lead to connect to the car to be able to use VCDS. The cheap £10 leads will only scan the very basics so get a proper Ross-Tech lead from Gendan (only UK supplier) and you can do a huge amount more to your car.

Yes, they are initially expensive (£300 IIRC) but they don't drop in price for a 2nd hand unit so when you move on you can re-sell the lead for virtually no loss so don't think of it as spending £300 for a lead. Plus they are a god-send when you've got one!

*** https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VCHU.html - is the one you want as a minimum & costs £270!***

[Mɐʇʇ]

Yeh - that's the one I've got. A godsend!

[Rstoney]

I wouldn't be worried about the 5+ owners. I think most people decide to move on when they get a big bill. And they don't want that bill again in another 4 years time. Slamming £4-5k on these cars makes some people think twice (especially if their other half finds out!) where a outs are you located? Someone might be able to provide you with VCDS and a cable? Failing that they may come and look at it with you?

[Mɐʇʇ]

Agreed - on a 12 year old car, IMVHO no. of owners is no biggie.

Condition now and receipts for recent work done, is however...

[HYFR]

The C5 is the £1k car.

Something breaks = £1k

And ALOT of things break.

(Former C5 owner x3)

[bam_bam]

I disagree, it's a £1.2k car, I think you're forgetting VAT.

[Mɐʇʇ]

I do all maintenance myself. So in my case it's the 500 quid car.


Unless I screw up, in which case it's the 2000 car.