Scirocco R with performance mods - Yay or Nay?

R

Raevinn

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
762
Reaction score
0
Location
Joh'burg
In the market for a "hot hatch" and found a decent deal on a 2012 Scirocco R with 27 000km on the clock.

When I went to test drive the car the salesman told me that the car has the following modifications to it:

  • Down pipes that are decatted
  • Cold air induction
  • Stage 2 software
  • R8 Coil pack

When I drove the car, the engine light came on. They told me that it was the engine modifications that caused it to come on. The car was insanely fast... My previous car was a Navara 2.5d, so it's like a whole new world to me.

The service book was also missing, so I took down the VIN number and went over to the VW dealership where it was serviced. They told me it was in for an oil change just 2 months earlier, and everything looked fine, the guy actually said that the car had "hardly been ridden". The car is according to them still covered under warranty, but when I asked the guy about whether the modifications void the warranty he said that any modification usually voids it but sometimes people get away with it. I have heard mixed stories about this.

The sales agent told me the mechanic next door, who had apparently done the mods, was willing to put the stock parts back in if he could keep the current parts.

The last weird thing was that although the car was advertised as a 2013 model, the VW technician assured me that it was a 2012 model that had only been registered in 2013. Kinda sneaky...

I am not really a street racer, and I feel like the standard car has more than enough power for me, but if these parts are valuable then i don't want to just give them away for free. Stock parts are not included if I buy the car as it is.

So what do you guys think?
 
Agreed. This does sound extremely tempting, but rather go a safe route. A stock Scirocco R will still blow your mind without the worries.
 
Is this the one at capital auto?
Not a bad price if its that one.
 
No history, no idea how it's been driven and it had an engine warning light come on? Don't touch with a barge-pole.

Buying a modified car can be done, but only if you know who did the work, what parts were used, and then if they looked after the car.
If you don't know this then it is a massive liability.

Also the warranty is definitely voided, so if anything breaks, you will have to pay for everything.
 
I'd want the stock bits refitted, and a clean bill of health from a VW dealer before I'd even consider it. Just as an aside:

Raevinn said:
...

The last weird thing was that although the car was advertised as a 2013 model, the VW technician assured me that it was a 2012 model that had only been registered in 2013. Kinda sneaky...
Click to expand...

Nothing terribly unusual or sneaky 'bout that. We don't operate on set model years like some overseas markets, and cars are routinely registered in the year following production. Date of first registration determines model year for all practical intents.
 
HapticSimian said:
. . .
Nothing terribly unusual or sneaky 'bout that. We don't operate on set model years like some overseas markets, and cars are routinely registered in the year following production. Date of first registration determines model year for all practical intents.
Click to expand...

Just a caution on this : Warranty runs from date of production, so, whereas the car might be registered as a 2013 model, its warranty runs from 2012, so the OP might just find himself a year short of warranty too if he was under the impression that the warranty runs from year of registration. I found this out the hard way with the previous car when I bought a 2008 model that was registered as a 2009 model. Had to to fight with the dealer for warranty repairs when, in actual fact, the warranty had run out. Took it all the way up to the manufacturer's head office, who then agreed to pay for the repairs.
 
VernD said:
Just a caution on this : Warranty runs from date of production, so, whereas the car might be registered as a 2013 model, its warranty runs from 2012, so the OP might just find himself a year short of warranty too if he was under the impression that the warranty runs from year of registration.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they told me the warranty is valid till the end of this year.
 
Raevinn said:
Yeah, they told me the warranty is valid till the end of this year.
Click to expand...

And you're prepared to take the car like this? Kind of risky, especially since it's been modified. If anything breaks after the warranty period, it won't even be a standard job to fix it, translating into more hours of labour, for which you will be charged.
 
Even if you return it to stock, the dealer will never be able to give you an accurate gauge on the condition of the car - you'd have to get all the critical parts stripped out and inspected, and even then you'll never know.

Modding the car above factory spec is going to put strain on the turbo, injectors, gearbox, etc - and you can be sure the previous owner did some hard driving in those 30k km so I would absolutely stay away from this car.
 
There is no way a modified car, especially when this includes turbo mods and software changes, will be in any way still under warranty. They are lieing to you about it still being under warranty and just want to sell the car.
 
VernD said:
Just a caution on this : Warranty runs from date of production, so, whereas the car might be registered as a 2013 model, its warranty runs from 2012, so the OP might just find himself a year short of warranty too if he was under the impression that the warranty runs from year of registration. I found this out the hard way with the previous car when I bought a 2008 model that was registered as a 2009 model. Had to to fight with the dealer for warranty repairs when, in actual fact, the warranty had run out. Took it all the way up to the manufacturer's head office, who then agreed to pay for the repairs.
Click to expand...

No, date of sale.
 
Pox said:
There is no way a modified car, especially when this includes turbo mods and software changes, will be in any way still under warranty. They are lieing to you about it still being under warranty and just want to sell the car.
Click to expand...

No turbo mods on this one, and the warranty will only be voided if VW actually look for reasons to void it, from experience.

Those mods should not trigger the engine light, though.

PS - this is not heavily modified. :D
 
VernD said:
Just a caution on this : Warranty runs from date of production, so, whereas the car might be registered as a 2013 model, its warranty runs from 2012, so the OP might just find himself a year short of warranty too if he was under the impression that the warranty runs from year of registration. I found this out the hard way with the previous car when I bought a 2008 model that was registered as a 2009 model. Had to to fight with the dealer for warranty repairs when, in actual fact, the warranty had run out. Took it all the way up to the manufacturer's head office, who then agreed to pay for the repairs.
Click to expand...

Nope. Warranty is incepted once a vehicle is reported to the manufacturer as sold. Normally this coincides with the purchase date, but deals are cancelled and dealers do often times pre-report cars to reach targets set by manufacturers. In such cases warranties might predate date of sale by anything from a few days to a few months, sometimes spanning across change of year. That said, date of first registration would still be used when determining a car's current value.
 
Pox said:
There is no way a modified car, especially when this includes turbo mods and software changes, will be in any way still under warranty. They are lieing to you about it still being under warranty and just want to sell the car.
Click to expand...

Well, I went to the VW dealership that serviced it. They said it was serviced 2 months ago and everything checked out fine.
 
By the way - downpipe R5k, CAI R2-5k depending which you buy, software you can't give back, and R8 coilpacks = waste of money ;)
 
Thanks to this thread, I have decided to back out of the deal. Thanks for showing me the light :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X