VW "new" beetle owners?

mfc2006

hiya..sorry if i ramble.
quick question(s). we need a 2nd car that will last us about 1-2 years until we're done with school & can buy a new one. i had a Rodeo that died not too long ago & I was able to get a good amount from a private sale. my wife & i decided that would be our "2nd car" fund. while looking at our budget, i decided to slice that amount so we can put more in Savings towards a down payment on a house.

so, we have about $4000 to play with. we've been looking & looking for about 6 weeks. we've been to too many used lots. as a matter of fact, a guy tried to sell us a 1998 4Runner that had 5 bullet holes in it just yesterday!

ok..back on topic..
today i saw an ad in the paper for a 2002 VW bug (auto, leather, sunroof, mid-range model) for $3300. it has 125K on it, about 3/4 of which are highway miles. i just got home from looking at it & it's the nicest car i've seen in our price range. we just need the 2nd car to get to/from school & work in town. no road trips for this car--that's what our '09 Scion xB is for! it has some minor paint damage & is missing the stereo b/c it broke & he put the replacement stereo in his new car. i talked him down to $2900.00. my wife still hasn't seen it, but we're going back there tomorrow.

so...
is this a good deal?
do any of you own VW beetles?

again, sorry for rambling. i'm going to call my father-in-law in a bit b/c he knows a lot about cars & their life expectency. just thought i'd ask here as well. thanks for reading. any info would be appreciated!

Matt

mookeywrench

VW are well known for their maitenance issues.

Personally, I wouldn't consider any kind of VW car that has above 70 k miles.

On the other hand, if it's only $3300, and you only want it for 1-2 years to drive around town, that leaves you with $700 left in your budget for repairs and maitenance which is what is you might risk spending as long as nothing major happens to the car. So it might be a good option for you as long as your being honest with yourself about needing to have it for only 1-2 years.

oh, and my mom's bug has basically zero trunk space, FYI.

mfc2006

actually, it's $2900. i talked him down a bit. and yeah---it would only be for 1-2 years tops. i've looked at too many cars to count lately...and most of the are crap.

bmwweirdoguy

NO NO NO - the 01M Automatic transmission is a HUGE point of failure on automatic VWs of that generation and VERY costly to repair...with that amount of mileage (even highway) it's essentially a time bomb...

Edit - also - VW's reliability ratings have come a loooooong way, but yes, they still have a ways to go...
(VW owner for life, here)

arq

I heard the maintenance problem too before, I had a mitsubishi mirage 1999 with 90k miles and I put on that car 90k miles in 3 years and the only thing the car needed was oil and gas, i paid for it $4000 for it, my advise look for a old mitsubishi those car are well made, or at least mine was

mfc2006

good advice...i also talked to my brother & my wife's Dad---they're both big car guys. the said no way in hell. my wife still wants to go see it tomorrow....but i don't think we'll be purchasing it. thanks, everyone.