Do you know or have knowledge of a good VAG specialist near you for servicing etc. ?

I use mine as my daily and commute a few days per week.

 

I’m based in Sandhurst Berkshire if anyone has any suggestions for specialists?

 

Depends what you are planing as an alternative if it’s spend £10k+ on a newer car that will depreciate a lot more than the TT it leaves you £5k+ to spend on any problems you might run in to
Find a good one with FSH and bodywork (should be easy with your budget) make sure the haldex has been serviced (oil every 20k oil+filter 40k) and the cam belt/water pump changed in the last 5 years 60k

 

Hi Mark, Welcome to the TTF.
My standard reply for would be Mk1 owners

Service history is very important.
Cambelt/water pump 75K miles or 5 years which ever comes first.
Dash instruments (dashpod) read correctly & coolant temp reaches 90 within a couple of miles & stays there.
If it has xenon headlights, make sure the headlight washers work, MOT fail. N/App in UK now. Excl N.I.

3.2 V6 no turbo or cambelt to worry about, so should be more reliable & a nicer exhaust note.
V6 Chain wear can be checked using VagCom, very expensive to replace.
DSG may be weak link, unless you can find a manual. Expensive to repair, but probably no more expensive than a manuals clutch.
Check no delay when pulling away & no juddering when reversing slowly while turning up an incline or into a tight parking space.

Don't rush into it. A good TT is a wonderful car, a bad un can be a money pit.
Plenty of good uns out there, but probably more bad uns, so as I said don't rush into it.
A bad TT, could be the most expensive car you've ever bought.

Roadsters, check roof operation thorougly & carpets for damp, especially in the rear. Roof drains block easily & damp can cause lot of future probs in rest of car.

Hoggy.

 

Don't be put off by high mileage, buy on condition and service history. I use mine as a daily, being handy with spanners will save you some money but it's no more expensive to service than most cars at an independent garage consumables for them are reasonable. But some jobs on them can cost as much as the purchase price of the vehicle and one issue the Mk1 TT is now facing is parts being unavailable. Have you considered a mk2 TTS, not as pretty as the Mk1 but overall a better package and possibly easier to live with as a daily.

 

I’m looking to buy a 225 Coupe as my everyday car. I only commute I day a week and do less than 5k a year. We have a modern Audi as a family car.

My plan is to buy a tidy car for £2.5 to 4k and the £5-6k left over that I would have spent on something more modern, will be a slush fund to keep the car in good condition.

My only concern is I’m not handy with spanner’s am I crazy to run a 20 plus year old car as my everyday car without being able to fix problems myself, albeit will be used very sparingly and I’ll have money set aside for maintenance?

Sing it with me, "...I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell..."

Not crazy. I became handy with a spanner on my 2001 225 coupe. I don't/can't do all of the maintenance on my current 2002 but I try to do as much as possible. With the Bentley Service manual and utube and this forum to guide you, you could easily do 50% of the required maintenance. Since you only need it to commute 1_day per week, that leaves 6 days for sorting issues.

Just my 2p.,

Bob.

 

Mine is a daily, plan is for 6months of the year. Self improve it for a couple of months in between.
I do have another vehicle in reserve if she gets stubborn.

 

The fact you are setting aside 6k to keep a 2k car on the road seems frightening.

Just buy a decent 5k car that'll stay on the road without any work..

My TT cost ~2k and I spent about 5-7k on mods.. its always been a project to modify and one day, I'll get it back on the road.. the only reason I bought a TT is my S3 was too far gone (the clutch slave cylinder had gone, needed new wings etc) so I bought a TT because they were cheap for the same Mark 4 Golf platform wideband o2.

To me... it's lunacy to have the TT as a first car... you'll need another car to buy the parts to keep it on the road

If i could do all the S3 / TT business again, I would have just bought a B5 S4, they are free to map to 400 bhp, then you can start replacing the 2 k03 turbos to k04s and start from there, to get to a decent 650bhp .

 

B5 S4 - sorry but the best with a safe map is about 320bhp. And K04’s are an engine out job so budget for £12k or so unless you can do it yourself which is PITA without a ramp etc. Time was when £4k would get you K04’s professionally fitted but not anymore.

 

I have been driving my TT 225 for nearly 3 years since the rebuild, nil issues at all, but it's manual though, I love it.

Service every year nearly 8k KM, don't do more than 10K.

 

My 2000 TT roadster has been my daily since I bought it in 2003. It's had the usual basic maintenance, when I bought it I was doing about 12k per annum, now down to about 4.5k. I think the main issues it's had could have been prevented with better maintenance, though maybe not through the standard service schedule even if it had been still going to a main dealer. As I have another car, and don't have to travel to work, it's not the end of the world if I go out to it and there's a problem. I do fix it myself, but you just need to find a local garage that you trust if that's not your thing.

 

I have a 225 APX 2000 TT coupe which acts as my daily and gets driven to/from work on average four times per week.

It was in reasonable mechanical condition when I bought it and I have cambelt, routine servicing etc done.

It has been off the road voluntarily a few times so that I could do some repairs and mods myself:
-Dashpod LCD repair
-Fuel and temp gauge motor replacement
-FIS-control installation
-Installation of puddle lights
-Car door speakers replacement
-Dash and centre console removal for A/C blend door repairs

It’s in pretty good shape now and is great fun to drive. However I have a copy of VCDS ready to go cos it will occasionally throw up a problem but usually easily fixed by consulting YouTube and the forum.

Admittedly, our family having a 3rd car takes a lot of any potential stress out of the equation as life just continues while I get to the TT. Not sure how I’d feel if we only had the two.

 

I have 3 MK1'S 2 are daily the 225 van is used for work had it 8 years I put 45000 miles on it now 175000 been to Spain4 times only had a timing scener go and a temp scener o ring and change the tip and a cache can had the roadster 1 year just a tyer so if you get it right You Can daily them

 

Mines been a daily for 7 year. Needed a few things sorting when i got it and i keep on top of things that need looking at. Today i have just replaced 2 broken rear springs and shocks that i fitted when i got it, i got 60k miles out of them. Only thing that actually caused an issue was when the clutch pedal broke.
MOT next week, see what that throws up.

 

Clutch pedal snapping is a common fault I’ve had nine welded to strengthen it as have many others

 

I bought my 8N in 2020 as a summer car and at the time had an 8P (Mk2) A3 as a daily.
Whilst for me having a TT meant it absolutely had to be a Mk1 (I mean just look at it) I soon found that it felt like a car from another era when driven compared to the A3.
The biggest differences were the brakes (they just feel wooden on the 8N compared to the 8P which were fantastic) and the steering which is nicely light (electric rack) on the 8P and pump-assisted but still rather heavy on the 8N.
Whilst I admire the hardy souls that run an 8N as a daily I can‘t help but think that looks aside an 8J would be a much nicer & easier car to live with as an everyday car……

 

Where I live and around, much of the road surfaces quality is pretty dire. Add that to the roads speed restrictions everywhere it does a little take the shine off my 'enjoyment' of my TT ownership, based on 7 years driven daily.

The fact that it's been a model of reliability and practicality I believe will continue to keep me loyal to the car. I agree with others, the brakes are a little bit wooden; the steering a little heavy and getting in and out although ok for me doesn't seem to suit some of those given rides to. The heated seats are great. Its looks (imo) are still hard to beat . With 130k miles on the clock the ride isn't the most refined.

Costs wise, mine's been through many of the age related repairs associated with the mk1 ( dashpod pixels, a/c radiator leak, corroded power steering pipework, SAI pump fail and more). Including service/maintenance the car so far has been one of the most economical cars I've owned.

If a prospective owner can find an example that hasn't had too hard a life and has paperwork supporting it's had money spent on it when should, together with a 'slush fund' put aside ,maybe a mk1 could still fit the bill as a daily driver

 

@davebowk and @YELLOW_TT I have a spare pedal after mine snapped and had it replaced. Would any checkatrade type welder be able to put a few extra welds on for a few quid ? I don't know a welder so need to find one.
Cheers.

 

@davebowk and @YELLOW_TT I have a spare pedal after mine snapped and had it replaced. Would any checkatrade type welder be able to put a few extra welds on for a few quid ? I don't know a welder so need to find one.
Cheers.

Yes it’s not a big job