Huggy bear 0 Posted June 28, 2007 Hi all, My first post (after finally making it through the registration process) so go gentle on me ! I'm currently in the hunt for GTI not bothered to be honest if 1.6 or 1.9 because at 37 I get a decent insurance price... I'm currently a Lotus elise driver but want to add a Pug to my collection as I had one in the early nineties and I have wanted another one ever since.I also want something that I can tinker around with ,my Lotus needs to be done by a specialist so I have nothing really to get my hands dirty with so a nother good reason. So far I have checked out the really helpful link about what to look for when buying which is a big help but I still a have few questions please: Are all the GTI's running on leaded fuel,are any converted,what do you do if not do you use an additive or something whats the norm ? High mileage cars ,whats a better option in peopls opinion somthing for example that has covered 120k which has had an engine rebuild recently so you know it should be ok for a while or a low'ish mileage one with around 70k- 90k which hasn't had anything done so you know to expect it sooner or later. I only have a budget upto a £1000 as I have the lotus and a family car to maintain but I would like to get something for around £600 in Black/grey that I could spend the remaining £400 on ,cambelt ,fixing little faults etc ... So any help,advice would be very very welcome Apologies for lengthy boring first post Cheers Jay PS The car will be soley for pleasure on Essex roads,tracking maybe a possibility in the future Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grim.Badger 15 Posted June 28, 2007 Welcome to the forum You can run a GTi on leaded if you really want to, but they have no problems whatsoever with unleaded as standard. However they should be run on super unleaded as it has the same octane rating as leaded. A lot have had their timing retarded to run on standard unleaded but you lose performance if you do this, the 1.9 is especially dull and lifeless on standard unleaded. I would chose one with a rebuilt engine any day of the week as 70-90k miles is nowhere near low mileage. You won't get anything special for that price, in fact you would be better off getting one that looks tatty and maybe needs a service but is otherwise okay. Check for rust as some are starting to get quite bad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huggy bear 0 Posted June 28, 2007 Welcome to the forum You can run a GTi on leaded if you really want to, but they have no problems whatsoever with unleaded as standard. However they should be run on super unleaded as it has the same octane rating as leaded. A lot have had their timing retarded to run on standard unleaded but you lose performance if you do this, the 1.9 is especially dull and lifeless on standard unleaded. I would chose one with a rebuilt engine any day of the week as 70-90k miles is nowhere near low mileage. You won't get anything special for that price, in fact you would be better off getting one that looks tatty and maybe needs a service but is otherwise okay. Check for rust as some are starting to get quite bad. ahh ok,for some reason I thought unleaded engines didn't come out til after the GTI was introduced so leaded was mandatory... that's good news for starters anyway ,one less thing to worry about !! As for the milage advice you gave I will certainly take that into consideration.... Will update when I have puchased my new toy ... Cheers for your help Jason Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pug_ham 244 3 Cars Posted June 28, 2007 You can use unleaded petrol in either the 1.6 or 1.9 but the 1.9 performance suffers from it where the 1.6 it makes hardly any difference at all. (unless you get a late cat equipped 1.9 that is). They have an all alloy engine so the cylinder head already has hardened valve set fitted from new. Like Hugh said, its best to use 97*ron minimum in the 1.9 GTi, people on here have done back to back tests between running the 1.9 on 95*ron u/l (with the timing adjusted to suit) & 97/8*ron sul. The results showed that the extra money spent for the sul originally lands back in your pocket as it uses less of the stuff & the drive's better. (Ahl did one test iirc). Graham. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars Posted June 30, 2007 If your looking to get your hands dirty and have some space I would consider buying a £3-400 non runner with a tidy shell then use the extra for a newer engine or possibly a 16v engine. As you say insurance isnt an issue and I reckon for under a grand you could have a tidy little mi/s16/gti6 converted 205 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anulfo 22 Posted June 30, 2007 Fuel- my advice Shell Vpower or failing that tesco 99 octane!!!Also from personal experience i'd rather buy a bit of an old smoker and get the rebuild done myself so you know its been done properly!!I know its saturday night and maybe i'm talking b*&**it but thats where i would spend my hard earned. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
