Hi everyone!
I've had my MK2 GTI for 4.5 years now, it was a great first car and I love it but due to a change in job I barely drive it any more. I don't want it to just sit on the road and rot, and somebody else will have a great time with the car.
I'm after a bit of advice on how much I should be asking for when I do sell the car - I have never sold a car before, let alone one this old! I don't have any pictures but can take some if that would be easier. For the meantime I'll try and detail the car as best I can below:
The basics
H reg
Full service history
3/4 owners including myself (I need to check this)
5 doors
Power steering
Bought for £3500
Cosmetic (exterior)
The car is red but has faded - nowhere near as bad as some that I have seen which have basically been pink cars! It has seen better days but could easily be revived and brought back to it's shiny former self.
There are a couple of rust patches, the most significant is along probably along1/4 of the driver's door at the bottom, maybe a couple of centimetres tall. It also has the usual rust patches from stone chips but no other large patches of rust.
BBS alloys.
Small dent in the corner of the boot, just above the left light cluster (reversed into a skip)
Cosmetic (interior)
Interior is generally in good shape. The driver's seat has a hole in the side nearest the door, apart from that the seat fabric is pretty much immaculate.
Headlining is slightly coming away but nothing some good glue won't fix.
All fascias in really good condition, no scratches etc.
Mechanical
Sunroof in working order and doesn't leak.
Manual windows.
Windscreen wiper stalk is dodgy - I have cardboard shoved in the gap at the moment as otherwise the windscreen washer is constantly going off.
No other mechanical problems. I don't know a lot about engines but this car has given me no problems in all the time I've owned it. It has never broken down, it did have a problem with the fuel pump/immobiliser connection but that has since been fixed.
That is a rough overview - being as unbiased as I can be I would say this would be an ideal car for someone who wants a project to do up cosmetically but isn't so confident with engines etc. It has treated me so well and it really makes me sad to sell it, but I also know that someone else would have a great time doing it up to its former glory.
If anyone has any suggestions of how much they think it would be worth I'd love to hear it! (and if anyone would like to buy it then please contact me - I live near Bristol)
Thanks in advance!
All you get asking for advice is varying opinions which invariably vary by hundreds of pounds... Do the research see what they are selling for an decide on a price you are happy to accept and someone might pay
My opinion, for what it's worth...
Road worthy and road legal, i.e. MOTed, GTIs in average to good condition seem to be between £3000 and £5000, 3 doors tend to fetch a little more than 5 door, but there are plenty of people out there that want a 5 door so don't worry.
In my view anything over £5000 needs to be already sorted and pretty much spot on throughout, needing nothing more than regular servicing and maintenance to keep it fresh. You see some listed in the £8k+ brand, they need to be the kind of car you can drive straight into a show and shine and be fairly confident of a lot of attention at least if not a runners up prize.
Red looks great when shiny and bright, so when you said about it being faded I was thinking it might be worth paying a couple hundred to get the car machine polished, it would look great and help you sell it and you should make your money back, but then I read on about the rust and dent. In which case maybe the car is more of a rolling project hard to tell without pics.
It's good in a way if the car is all original and not resorted or touched up, a buyer will be bale to see what needs doing and judge the car accordingly. I sounds like you might have a good honest car with low ownership in need of restoration. In some respects I'd rather see this than a car with fresh paint as I'd be wondering about the quality of the workmanship below the shiny paint.
The underneath of the car is also crucial, jacking points, subframe mounts, rear beam mounts, fuel filler neck support and rear turrets and front chassis rails can be problematic. Being H reg I assume this is big bumper, the disadvantage there is the arches and sills are covered with plastic prone to trap water and dirt. Chances are you wings are shot and you'll need rear arches and sill repairs.
If you can post some pics that would be great, you say you paid £3500 for it 4.5 years back, that seems like strong money for then, but prices have risen in recent years so you may get your money back - if you've made it sound worse than it is. Which isn't bad really, when you think any modern car you buy, drive and sell on for a loss.
Couple of things you may want to add (only skim read it so apologies if it's on there) is the engine (8v or 16v) and the mileage of the car. These can both impact the value drastically.