I took the afternoon off to go and see a Scirocco in Hampshire. 180 mile round trip, 2.5 hours each way.
I'd communicated with the eBay seller, asking pertinent questions without being overboard and he knew my interest in VW's. Here's the description:
"This beloved car has been owned by ourselves since 1999, and has mainly been used by my wife for travelling to and from work, as this is our secondary car. Two years ago we started a family and getting a child seat and toddler into the rear of a Scirocco is not practical, we now own a four door secondary car and for nearly the last year this car has been stored in our garage. I am only now finding the time to sell the car. The car received a new MOT which will expire on 10th April 2008, but the Tax has expired.
The car is a rare commodity! Firstly it has only done 81,000 miles as it was originally owned by a disabled couple for about 10 years. Each year the car was serviced (full service history available, along with original purchase documents), having completed between 1,000 and 2,000 miles per year. The subsequent owner only owned it for one year and we have owned the car ever since (8 years)
Secondly the car is an Automatic, which is a factory fitted option, it also has power steering which was also installed pre-delivery, This makes the car very easy to drive. There is decent power and kick-down in the auto gearbox, and the power steering was reconditioned about 2 years ago. The car also has a sunroof and 10 CD Multi-changer with Cassette.
Remembering that this car has not been used since June 2006, the following have been replaced (invoices available):
April 2006 - one tyre, one shock Absorber, exhaust centre section,
November 2005 - Fuel tank, Battery
March 2004 - Front & Rear exhaust sections
Payment
Payment needs to be made in advance or cash on delivery. I will accept payments from PayPal, by cheque (car cannot be collected until cheque has cleared) or cash.
Delivery
I am willing to deliver the car to anyone within 50mile (approx) radius (as the crow flies) of Winchester, Hants for the price of 20pence per mile (as driven) and 2nd class rail fare back to Winchester from the nearest main line station. For me to provide this service the car must be paid for in advance
Bidding
I am very busy and cannot accept bids from time wasters. Therefore unfortunately eBay users with less that 10 feedback against their name or anyone who has feedback suggesting they have not paid for any item will not be allowed to bid for my precious car. Bids from Scirocco fans meeting the above criteria are especially welcome."
All seemed rather good and certainly not to be missed. On arrival I found a car with an excellent service history and a smooth engine and good gearbox.
But I also found:
A very wet engine - possibly just the rocker box
A petrol leak
It might have been Tornado Red - once upon a time
Large, penny sized, chip out of the roof paint
Broken fog light
Large dent on n/s wing
Rust on n/s wing
New-ish o/s wing (mis-matched paint)
Deep scratch in drivers door
Several small dents in the drivers door
Perforated stone chip holes on the leading edge of the bonnet
Impact dent in sunroof
Rot coming through from inside on the n/s roof channel
Wet boot floor
Serious bumper scuffs
Damaged parcel shelf
Torn and badly stitched drivers seat
Couldn't adjust the driver's seat (I'm 6'4")
Original Scala alloys, but so badly corroded they looked beyond repair
Window glass fragments in the n/s sill trim
He lied about it being broken into, asked me why I thought it had...and then came clean
And the final gem. I went to see it at 2pm. Driving back I gave Sally the good news that I hadn't bought it. She was online and told me it had ended under 'Buy It Now' at 11:26am. WTF
Quite disillusioned - I think I'm going to give up looking
Whinge over.
Gaz
