$4,500 for a heavily modified 15-yr-old car with 300k on the clock. Hell no!

Sellers seem to think that performance mods retain their value during a sale. They do not. As a buyer, they signal to me that you really like to drive fast and it's highly likely that the car has paid dearly for every single one of those miles. How many miles on that clutch (and a lightweight flywheel can be a real pain as a daily driver)? How much meat on those pads? Does it need new tires? Can you stand whatever he's done to the suspension?

Don't have any real guidance on what you should offer... I guess ask yourself how much you'd pay for his nearly-new engine and his wheels. Most of the rest (unless it's similarly new) are parts of a car with 300k on the clock and therefore not worth much. He still is trying to sell a car with, say, a 15-yr old wiring harness, cooling system, interior, electrical parts, etc.

Why's he selling after only putting a few miles on his expensive custom engine?

 

All things I thought, brake pads are ok, not great, tires are new, he claims he's only selling it because he bought a 2015 car. Ill probably offer $2000, doubt he'll take it but who knows. Thank you for the second opinion !!! I've heard wire harness's and cooling systems are especially expensive on these cars, so 15 year old parts isn't to desirable.

 

If he bought a 2015 car just a few months after fitting an expensive brand-new new custom engine in his car, there's either something seriously wrong with the car, or he's seriously not very bright.

If you do choose to bite, even for $2k, take it for a Pre-Purchase inspection with a good VW/Audi indy for a thorough going-over before agreeing to buy; I'm pretty sure most mechanics will do one for under $100. If he refuses a PPI, take your $2k elsewhere.

 

Whether or not you should buy it depends on your situation. Is this your only car? Are you okay with the possible headaches that go with owning a car modified by someone else? Do you have the money to fix the problems that will undoubtedly arise from owning a modified car this old? Do you know anything about modified Passat's, and if not do you have a trusted mechanic that does? Are you okay with driving a 16 year old car? etc, etc.

 

I wouldn't buy it under any circumstances, at any price. Buying a modified car, you're trusting the previous owner's engineering to be perfect and never fail; it's sure not going to be repairable by the "book." Spend less on an un-modified car and set it up to your own taste.

 

I agree with the other posters that this is not an auspicious purchase: a modified engine in a 16-year-old body, with a whole lot of "he says" and "he claims" by the seller. How do you know what he did inside the motor, beyond what he says? How do you have any idea of the quality of the work that was done? The answers are...you don't.

If you need a car for transportation, it'd be a terrible purchase. As a project (i.e., you have money to throw at it, time, space to store and work on it, and don't need it on the road) then go right ahead.

I wouldn't buy it on a bet.

 

300K miles on a B5 Passat don't just happen if you don't maintain the car, so I'm inclined to believe the person has done a lot of work to keep it running for that long. But I agree with other members, I would not take it. It's strange to sell it so quickly after doing all that work, but people have their reasons, legitimate or illegitimate (up to you how you choose to interpret them). There are several members here with significantly modified cars, so nothing wrong there. But if you haven't done them on a car that you knew well prior to the changes, you will have a hard time figuring out problems once they come. If you can do work on it, it's a huge plus, since as mentioned before, very few mechanics would touch it. Unless you are specifically looking for those mods (doesn't sound like), look for a stock (or near stock) car. I have done several mods to one of my Passats, it runs great, but if I were to sell it, I'd need to write a booklet for a buyer to explain everything, and as the buyer I honestly would never want to deal with that.

 

I would say only buy it if all these conditions are met:
1. you really like it
2. it will be your toy, and not your daily driver
3. you get a ppi and can be confident he's not hiding anything
4. you can afford it and the annual maintenance that will come with it

 

This is a really scary deal. As everyone has mentioned, selling a highly customized car with 300k miles on it right after doing all of these modifications is really concerning.

 

I'd have walked away when I saw 300k on the odometer. The new motor and the bells and whistles are nice, but there's no guarantee the rest of the car won't disintegrate after you buy it. You can buy a newer model with much lower mileage for less.

VWs can be expensive to repair, but not so much if you maintain them properly. Regular maintenance heads off a lot of problems and prevents expensive trips to the repair shop. Learn to DIY and you'll learn to save money as well as have a greater appreciation for the car. My '99 1.8T has about 182K on it and I'm looking forward to 250K and beyond.

 

Coming from someone who has taken a lot of VWs to over 300K, my experience is that it's rare an unknown-to-you person will take care of one all the way up to 100K, let alone three times that.

I buy them at the 120K-140K range and EXPECT I'm going to have to change something major in the next 25K. It's ok because I have new parts for it... say, for the front end, because I've bought a kit. That's why the previous poster says to have an appreciation for the car, but better yet - brush up on your DIY skills.