1996 VW Golf

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benderblitz, May 5, 9:03am
Have been offered to swap my car for a 1996 VW Golf 2000cc manual.

What are they like! Any good! Would it be worth swapping with mine and on selling it!

I know that they look ugly as hell.

Cheers
thejazzpianoma, May 5, 9:08am
They are a properly decent vehicle, great being manual too as its a lovely box and the auto ones had a stupid Japanese "sealed for life" unit that caused trouble unless serviced.

What engine does it have in it!
There is a huge difference between the likes of the 16v GTI and the8v units. I am wondering if its a GTI given its a manual one. although there are regular manual Golfs around too.

Oh and what are you swapping for it! Can't tell you if its worth while if we don't know the other half of the equation!
benderblitz, May 5, 9:13am
For a 1997 Nissan Stagea (one i got listed)

I am not sure, all the guy said it was black 96 golf 2l manual.
thejazzpianoma, May 5, 9:18am
O.K,
Well if it is a GTI (and perhaps not if he did not mention it) they were an amazing vehicle for their time. Fantastic handling, excellent power, fabulous transmission and surprisingly very economical despite their performance.

However, if its a standard 8V car its not really going to have any great performance. Its a nice simple to work on and reliable engine coupled to a good solid car but its just not in the same league as the GTI. Fuel consumption is O.K being a manual one but only as expected for the level of performance and not any better than the GTI.

Also. MK3 standard Golfs are not worth a lot of money although being manual helps. I don't follow what Stagea's are worth but its possibly worth more.

I guess it really just depends on what you are looking for in a vehicle. I guess after the Stagea either version will seem super economical but the standard Golf may be a let down performance wise. Still a good everyday car though.
thejazzpianoma, May 5, 9:21am
Oh and in terms of parts and reliability. The big expensive parts (like engine, transmission and bodyshell) are great. Super bomb proof and the body is galvanised so tends not to rust.

What you will likely get though is the odd niggle (as with any older car) such as their tendency to break electric window winder mechanisims.

Parts are surprisingly easy to get and affordable from the likes of Qualitat in Auckland who will overnight you any genuine part you want at a great price. You can also buy cheap stuff online and even the likes of BNT stock a range of the common bits.

Hope that helps, take if for a drive and see what you think. I suspect whether you like it will come down to what sort of spec and shape its in and what you are looking for in a car.

Best of luck!
benderblitz, May 5, 9:25am
Cheers Jazz

Is not many manual's ones on trademe for sale, If i did end up swapping it, Would be going on trademe to sell. Other people have them listed from $4000 to $8500.

I dont think it worth any more then what the Stagea's are. Stagea's can be a hard car to sell at times, Some have been on trademe for month, month and months now
phillip.weston, May 5, 9:27am
No way. the Stagea is worth more in my opinion and probably far easier to sell. What's the reserve on the Stagea!
benderblitz, May 5, 9:32am
Reserve is $5000 with the mags, Will sell cheaper without the mags. Only really be put up to see what i could get for it,
a.woodrow, May 5, 9:37am
A piece of advice. If you are only going to sell whatever you swap for, just keep to selling the stagea. I've been caught out a couple of times, swapping cars to something that I thought would be easier to sell, only to find that people are wary because you haven't owned it long, or you end up needing to fix something on it, or it might have some other resolved issue. It's not often that you'll come out on top if your sole purpose is to sell whatever you swap for.
phillip.weston, May 5, 9:40am
It's a nice car but I think $5000 may be a bit too steep even with the wheels. Unfortunately $5000 can buy you something newer than a 15 year old wagon. On the same token a 1996 Golf, whichever model it is wont be worth much over $5000 either - even if it were the glorified GTi or even VR6. I sold my '96 Golf VR6 5spd manual with leather interior and 180,000kms for just over $4000 approx 18 months ago.

I think you should make your start bid the same as your reserve price, and drop the reserve down to $4500 with a $4800 buy now. Hopefully it should generate some more interest due to the lower reserve (and someone may hit the buy now anyway), and it will also remove the ambiguity with your reserve price given your start price is miles away from the reserve at $1000 - no doubt you're bound to get people txting you silly offers of $1500-2000 with your start price set the way it is at the moment.
thejazzpianoma, May 5, 9:44am
A Manual Golf will always be fairly popular if its tidy. However, its a MK3 which came out in about 1993 and as you noticed is looking pretty dated now.
I havn't been following MK3's of late like I once did but would have thought it to be a circa $2500 car if you wanted to sell it in a reasonable time frame. Its hard to be very accurate without condition and km's though.

Like the other poster said, sometimes its better the devil you know too. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

EDIT
Do check in case its a GTI though, that changes the game a bit on price and desirability. As PW said below though, still not worth a fortune but perhaps an easy 4K or so and a properly decent car to drive in the meantime.
thejazzpianoma, May 5, 9:45am
+1 Well said, on all counts.
trdbzr, May 5, 10:12am
$5k is pretty steep, you'd be lucky to get around $3500-$4000 with mags. Rust around their side mirrors is a common problem for them.

The Golf isn't worth much either. I very highly doubt you would be able to get the amount of $$ for the Golf than what you would for the Stagea. If you're swapping and just plan to re sell the Golf then you shouldn't bother.Too much hassle and what-ifs.

Also the cars that sit on here for months and months are the ones that are unrealistically priced. If its priced right then it will sell fast.
benderblitz, May 5, 9:28pm
$5000 might be abit over price for it but I won't be selling it any think under $5000 with the mags. I am in no hurry to sell and i am more happy to wait till i found a buyer who will pay for what i want for it.

Would only swap for the Golf if it could sell faster and abit more. Not fan of them or euro cars anyways

Cheers guys :)
phillip.weston, May 5, 11:56pm
Sorry to say but if you aren't going to drop below $5000 with the mags then you may as well pull the ad altogether and get used to hanging onto it - because it just will sit and sit and sit and sit. I'm sure you get the idea.
trdbzr, May 6, 2:18am
$5k is ALOT overprice for it. You will not get anyone willing to pay that much for it. Even $4k with mags will be hard to sell. Best to just keep it and use it until it becomes uneconomical to keep in a few years.
kazbanz, May 6, 5:45am
OP whewee where to start.!
Im sorry but a 97 stagia needing rust repairs,at least a cut and polish and running badly is worth apsolutely MAX $3000.
Now if YOU pull your finger out and sort that stuff out then it might be another $1000. To broaden the market apeal Id also put the back plate on straight.-Keep n mind most buyers are pretty conservative.
Your advert.== Gosh mate you REALLY need spellcheck and to take some better pictures.Id drop mention of the new screen too -it gains the buyer nothingThe advert really is pretty bad.
Sorry if this sounds like I'm slamming you. I sell cars for a living so I'm offering professional advice.
benderblitz, May 6, 6:02am
What is a stagia!

Who said it running badly! Where does it say that!

You sound like a asshole anyway so any "professional advice" you got to give, You can stick up your ass mate.
a.woodrow, May 6, 6:21am
You say on your add that it has a stutter on overdrive
jmma, May 6, 6:24am
Kaz not saying what you want to hear, welcome to the MB twit.
matarautrader, May 6, 6:33am
Hey Benny Boy You have only been on Trade Me a month and you are throwing insults at Kazbanz. He is probably the most honest car dealer you will ever come across and has many years of experience.He gave you the best of advice.and you felt that not only would you ignore it, you would bad mouth him.
I suggest you pull your head in and listen to the experts.
michael.benn, May 6, 6:48am
Oh dear, you must be new here.

Kaz sells cars for a living, he knows what he's talking about.

You said:
"It some times have a stutter when it in overdrive, I don??
vr4_legnum, Sep 23, 8:35am
Hahahaha thought i let you guys know that the Stagea talk about in this thread, sold today without the Diezel D1R mags and got $4300.00 for it.

Sure it did take awhile to sell but got the price I wanted for it.

Sorry to say but you guys don't know everything.
a.woodrow, Sep 23, 9:04am
Nobody cares about your car and what you sold it for. Trademe might care about your multiple usernames though
kazbanz, Sep 23, 10:31am
Yup and the car I had at the same time I cashed up at $3k. turned the 3k over 4 times whilst you've been waitingso I ended upwith $8k in the time it took you to get "the money you wanted"
Wonder if the stutter got fixed! but of course thst wasn;t allowed for cos its all pure profit.
But wadda I know!