88 16v in Tyler

[haygood at myway.com (Brian Haygood)]

Boy, there are a lot for sale these days.  I'll add one more to make that, what, 4 Mk2's for sale this week?



There is a clean red '88 16v FS in Tyler, TX. It isn't mine, but the guy lives like 4 blocks away from me.



Nice red paint would buff out to SUPER nice. I went over the body pretty carefully and found two tiny dented in points near the hatch, and didn't find anything else to complain about. That makes it the stratest body I have seen in a while. Vinyl/Cloth seats are nice but has the usual tear in the driver's bolster. 97k miles, 5psd shifts alright (needs shifter bushings, but workable as is), sunroof doesn't work.



I didn't crawl under it, but I will check it out more if anyone is interested. It is all stock with nice teardrops.



Cons: 1) The steering column has the rattle in it that indicates that the lower bearing has fallen out. It has been like that for 2 years and is pretty loud. I don't like ignored problems, but oh well. 2) There is a separate switch installed under the dash next to the A/C to turn on the compressor, since it wouldn't come on when the normal levers are pushed left. A/C is said to work. 3) A local air-cooled guru installed what the owner described as a "power booster" on the engine side of the firewall. This was to fix a hot start problem that is almost certainly caused by the cables to the battery (by the looks of them) or maybe the starter. I don't know what the thing they did is, but it looks like a fancy relay. Anybody know anything about this? 4) sunroof worked until a few weeks ago when some people took it for a test drive. Before they left the driveway they came back in to tell him the sunroof was stuck open. The guy 

paid $160 to have the dealership close the sunroof and not fix the mechanism. 



Pros: Clean body. Guy says he changes the oil himself every 3k miles. Low mileage (97k - shows 60 something on odometer that was reportedly replaced at 30k). 



You decide: new muffler from local shop 1 year ago.



Other Con: $1995 price. (Price is never a pro unless its free, right?)



Overall: I think this is a nice well-meaning owner who honestly loves driving his scirocco, but just can't keep throwing money to the dealership every time his 'rocco acts up. Who can blame him - the guys in town here do pretty poor work and charge a lot for it. The weird repairs done to the A/C and starting problems seem to be evidence of that. I wish I had met him earlier and could have helped with some of this stuff. It is pretty obvious that this guy is trying to take good care of his car to the extent that he knows how. 



So why don't I buy it: I bought Patrick's silver 16v last week and I'm married. Figure it out. I'd love to have the car, but I paid under half what he is asking for a similar car that has one fixable dent and a few minor dings, but is otherwise on par with his. Both are good straight Texas cars. Heck, I even got an extra interior and door in my deal. Three cheers for Patrick. The only reason I would want this one is because it is red instead of silver. I offered him $1000 for it (I think without insulting him) because I don't want him to lose all faith and trade it in for $500 or something to some dealership who is probably going to scrap it. Personally I think that is a fair offer, but it takes two to tango. If he accepted my offer I'd probably clean up the silver car and sell it to the first responsible buyer I could find (that might take a while). I just don't need 3 16vs because I only have one right foot and two other cars besides. 



So it's not up to me to tell you what it is worth. Somebody buy this thing and I'll be willing to help with the transaction. I can store it at my place as long as it needs to be stored. I'll also check it over more thoroughly if anyone is interested. 



Drop me a line and I'll send it his way.  I don't have his e-mail address as of yet.



Brian











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