2003 VW Passat w/ 80,000 miles for $12,000.....?

Question

Should I buy it?

Answer 1

That seems like an awful lot of money for a car with so many miles on it. I bought my 2000 Jetta in 2006 for $7,000 and it only had 10,000 miles on it. You can definitely get a better deal. Try to negotiate for a better price. Shop around online compare prices print them out and when you find the lowest price, take it to the seller and negotiate for that price. Good luck!

For the person below me, I bought it from a little old lady who took it to the grocery store and back a few times a week. She is 95, the car was driven regularly just not far. The car is basically brand new, and I gave the price I paid for my car just as an example, that she may very well find a car for a lower price. I have had the car for a year and have had no problems.

Answer 2

Is this passat a diesel? If so, then halve the amount of miles you see when you consider it's mileage impact.

80,000 miles on a 4 year old car is a lot, however, a diesel is just out of it's break-in period at that time!.

As stated by another user, keep in mind that you are due for a timing belt job, RIGHT NOW. So, that's an additional $500 or so (depending on where you live, you might end up paying more)

Is it a fully loaded passat with sunroof, leather, and 6 disk changer? or is it a cloth base model? Your amount of information is too little for me to make actual advice to you as to should or should not.

Depths...
You are saying you bought a 6 year old car with 10,000 miles on it? That makes me worry. A car with VERY low miles might have been sitting for long periods of time.. Either way, however, a 6-7 year old jetta for $7k versus a 3-4 year old passat for 12k aren't even a comparison.

Answer 3

That seems like a lot of miles for a 2003. I look at a lot of cars for sale at www.vwvortex.com and you can get pretty good deals on there, compared to a car from a lot or person who isn't really into Volkswagens. I would keep looking around, you can find that same year of car with less miles thats also a good deal since the new body style is out. Good luck!

Answer 4

since the car has 80k on it you will have too do the timing belt soon, you don't want too put it off because it will ruin the engine if it fails.if the car has a 1.8 turbo engine you will also want to ask the owner what kind of oil he had run in the car because if he had ran conventional oil rather than synthetic there are many issues with oil sludge building up in the engine and causing engine failure, when you look at the car remove the oil cap and see if there is a gritty buildup on the bottom of the cap. if there is i would avoid buying this particular car because the engine is running on borrowed time.

Answer 5

If you like it and can afford it, buy it. But make sure you do your due diligence and research the car.

You can get pricing info at www.edmunds.com. Put in the options on the car and the condition and see if what they are asking compares to what Edmunds says the car is worth. If they don't jive, beware.

You can also get reviews there too. Make sure to spend the $20 for the Carfax report, and get a mechanic to look it over if there are no red flags on the report.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Hard to say with the way warranties are written. Some include wear and tear items some do not. Only way to know for sure is call VW and ask. Axle boots are wear and tear items so they may not cover them but I would bet they will.

Answer 7

It's a 4 year old car (came out in 2002). That's around 20,000 miles a year. More than average. I'd try for under $10,000 unless it comes with at least a 2 year warranty.

Answer 8

Not when I just looked at one last weekend with 32K miles and they were asking $16,5K.

Answer 9

No engine issues? Yeah, go for it. It's a good deal.