Buying A Used TT

Which is more important when evaluating a used car, all else
being equal. Age or mileage?

--
Life is too short to play cheap guitars.

Steve Daniels wrote:
> Which is more important when evaluating a used car, all else
> being equal. Age or mileage?

Both, sort of.

I think it is widely accepted that deterioration occurs through both
high use and time. The moveable components will obviously suffer wear
and tear if used a lot; everything from the crankshaft to door hinges.
Perishable components such as hoses, seals and bushes deteriorate in
time. Plastics and rubber become hard and brittle, the effectiveness of
lubricants can diminish and rust can set in, over time.

In terms of evaluating a used car, I suggest that one should first
consider not only how many miles it has covered in relation to service
intervals but also the way the car might have been driven (e.g. riding
the clutch), in order to assess what is likely to need replacing. Then
one should add to that the possible need to replace perishable parts,
depending upon the environmental conditions.

One last factor if a car is more than a few years old, of course, is to
consider the future availability of spare parts.

--
Dave N

N.B. Mail sent to "nospam" will be rejected. The Reply-To address works.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:34:58 GMT, Madesio >
wrote:

>On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:13:51 -0700, Steve Daniels >
>wrote:
>
>>Which is more important when evaluating a used car, all else
>>being equal. Age or mileage?
>
>On that particular engine evaluating the condition of internal sludge
>buildup should be one of your top priorities.

I'm also considering buying a MkI TT to replace my 325i (I think
the Audi TT and BMW Z4 would make an interesting combo). Couple of
questions: One, is there a good book on the TT people recommend? Two,
I'm more interested in the 3.2L version - that doesn't have the above
weakness correct? Since it's non-turbo, the attendant high-temperature
issues aren't a problem.
epbrown
--
How can you know where I'm at if you haven't been where I been?
Can you see where I'm coming from? "How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill

On Sep 6, 4:34 am, Madesio > wrote:
> On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:13:51 -0700, Steve Daniels >
> wrote:
>
> >Which is more important when evaluating a used car, all else
> >being equal. Age or mileage?
>
> On that particular engine evaluating the condition of internal sludge
> buildup should be one of your top priorities.

Sludge was only a pervasive issue on longitudinally-mounted 1.8T's,
like the A4 and VW Passat. This had something to do with oil capacity
(the transverse had a bit more due to crankcase design) and turbo/
exhaust routing.

I think that if you were looking at a 4-year old car with, say, 10k
miles on it, I'd be concerned about the 'lack of use' factor - i.e.,
were oil changes done based on the mileage or the time between
changes? But generally, having just purchased a used car for my son, I
would look for some balance between the two. We bought an 8-year-old
car ('99 Subaru Impreza RS2.5) with nominally 150k miles on it, but
with an engine with about 40k miles on it and all of the major
components serviced/replaced.


Dan D
'04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6
Central NJ USA