How expensive is it to maintain a 2nd hand VW Golf?

Can you be more specific? Which generation of Golf? GTi or TSI? Which year? Mileage? Any modifications? Where do you plan to service?

TSI, five years car, no modification. Dunno anything else? How is the gear box longevity of Golf?

I dunno about TSI, but I have a GTI Mk 6 MY 2012 which I bought 2nd hand in 2016 and it's still running strong in 2020. Maintenance is typically

a. Oil change, filter change, spark plugs. Each service is about RM600-700 every 10k kms.
b. DSG gearbox oil changed once about Rm800.
c. Tyres - very personal but if you're already a car owner you should know roughly what you pay for.
d. Wiper blades replacement
e. Battery - coincidentally am changing my battery tonight, waiting for the CarBateriMalaysia boys to turn up - RM380 every 1.5 - 2 years
f. TSI engine sips petrol being 1.4 turbo

I've since put close to 100k kms on it, still running strong. A lot of people think continental very expensive to maintain but not my experience so far.

This post has been edited by SpiderMon68: Feb 9 2020, 08:29 PM

vw mechatronic once die, min also need 3.5k for repair.

Gti however is more reliable than Tsi. TSi is the one that people stay away from due to the dry clutch gearbox.

TSI or GTI?

VW is common brand in German la, those expensive to maintain are those luxury brands like merc, beemer, audi, etc

Continental are expensive to maintain because it breaks down easily and expensive to maintain. For those usual maintenance like engine and ATF oil, tyres and etc, it's more or less like Japanese cars.

Try find out which year model. Earlier batches had more problems.

Also depends how the earlier owner maintained it.

We used to have 1 golf tsi. Earliest batch. Been recalled a few times to update the clutch pack. After 5 years warranty expired, we were offered another 2 years on gear box. We maintained it well right up to its 7th year.

Then we decided to replace it to another tsi. No joke lol. Golf tsi mk7.5. Well, been using it for over a year. Lots of improvements, compared to the old one. Just that it's not as fast. But great handling, better than bmw, sometimes. No major issues so far. No regrets.

However, the golf that we sold earlier, ran into problems just 1 week with the new owner. The car was just too powerful and nice to drive. The new owner might have treated the car like a proton, haha. For continental cars, you need more tlc. Most cars very sensitive.

My advice to you, if it's already 5 years old, better get the newest one. 😊

Would like to add..

It's not cheap to maintain it. 😔

how about suspension & bushings?

If you must buy one get one with the wet clutch instead of the dry clutch.

The company I was attached with had a fleet of VWs for its pool cars, included were the Golf TSI, Tiguan and Passat as well as several Polos.

The Tiguan was very reliable and it had the same engine as the Golf GTI and was told it was a wet clutch DSG. One of the Golfs when it was 3 years old had its engine replaced and was off the road for 4 months. Another of the Golf had its engine and clutchpack replaced at 3 years as well but the company had to top up close to RM2,000 as the engine VW provided but labor we had to pay half. 8 months later the same car needed a new engine again.

The other thing with it that is expensive are the ABS and wheel speed sensors.

I'm quite thankful that company choose to buy VWs for the pool fleet as not long after having my first child I was involved in an accident in a VW Passat, was hit by a Honda City that did not know how to use a roundabout. I walked away from the crash without any injury whatsoever.

Havent changed them yet. Was quoted OEM RM400 for engine mountings, RM800 for original VW.

I knew it - BS comments out VW common car in europe la, etc irrelevant apalanjiao comments. I'm just stating my own view point sticking to facts and not a fanboy. And I did qualify to say I dont own a TSI.

TS asked if expensive to maintain and I'd say somewhat like a japanese car. If you're unsure, just go for a pre-purchase inspection report (GermanTech Motors at Kota D'sara's Leo Sachetto does it, Google his workshop). Costs you RM450 and you know what needs to be repaired/replaced and higher chances of avoiding a lemon.

Maintaining a VW is somewhat like a Japanese car? I would say you are far off the mark. Either you have been very lucky with your VW or you don't know the average cost of maintaining a Japanese car.

The expensive part is the parts only right.

My friend own a TSI Mk7 1.4. Only once mechatronic failed, still under warranty and another case was sitting his car on a road tip, suddenly aircond not cold, breakdown at R/R, found out alternator fail cost 1.4k to replaced. Now still using it. Almost 6 years 170k km.