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What to look out for when purchasing a VW Lupo


Karnipex
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Hi all,

I've been looking at buying a Lupo, preferable a 1.4 or higher, for almost four months now and I was wondering what I should be looking out for when inspecting one. Atop of this, what does should it feel like to drive a Lupo and - again - is there anything I should be looking out for when test driving one of these cars. 

Many Thanks

Edit: Also once I have purchased the car are there any "standard modifications" that I should add to improve driver comfort, such as purchasing a new gear stick with an increased amount of length. 

Edited by Karnipex
Added additional information to my post.
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Well there's a wiki at the top of the page that answers some of that but it's been down now for a while for some reason.

Personally and i am very biased get a TDI. No pedal box issue, no weak 085 gearboxes, easily and cheaply tunable to 100+HP, £30 tax if Y plate or newer.

if you want petrol and power get the 100hp sport or the GTI, if you dont care about power get the 75hp as it will be cheaper and more available just dont expect to be able to tune it much or cheaply.

085 gearboxes are weak, 1.4 petrol engines are prone to wear rings and burn valves. Look for signs of those. Lowered they handle like go carts and are great fun cars. Same as any car really look for one that has been cared for if paying good money for one. I only ever buy knackered heaps so not too relevant then really.

Edited by Sausage
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On 12/8/2018 at 1:58 PM, mk2 said:

We need that wiki back up and running... loads a good info in there. @MattyB where are you? :)

 

Err...yeah about that....😰

We moved hosts a few months back. I thought I'd copied everything over, and I left the old host running for 5-6 weeks to make sure. Everything seemed dandy, so I deleted it (along with the old backups,  as they're attached to the old account and non-transferable) and it was costing to run both.

That old host delete happened about 4 weeks ago, then I saw your message in the 'issues' forum, and I still can't figure out why it wasn't copied across as I was convinced I'd copied it all, and I've no idea why I'd skip the Wiki bit. I *think* I've got the database for it, but I can't find the actual files at all :( So what that means is, if I can restore it from my local backups (as I don't have my remote backups now) we'll have content, but no pictures.

Anyway, I might have dropped the ball on that one. I'll let you know once I've got the database back and we'll see whats in there...

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Oops. Took ages to put that together... fingers crossed.

oh, and while you're still alive, how do users change their status colours? Uh, just noticed this moment while looking at my status... I've gone green! Cool. Can I be I dunno, orange? Like Kermit says, it's difficult being green. Great post whoever did that (can't remember...)!

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On 12/8/2018 at 1:49 PM, Sausage said:

Well there's a wiki at the top of the page that answers some of that but it's been down now for a while for some reason.

Personally and i am very biased get a TDI. No pedal box issue, no weak 085 gearboxes, easily and cheaply tunable to 100+HP, £30 tax if Y plate or newer.

if you want petrol and power get the 100hp sport or the GTI, if you dont care about power get the 75hp as it will be cheaper and more available just dont expect to be able to tune it much or cheaply.

085 gearboxes are weak, 1.4 petrol engines are prone to wear rings and burn valves. Look for signs of those. Lowered they handle like go carts and are great fun cars. Same as any car really look for one that has been cared for if paying good money for one. I only ever buy knackered heaps so not too relevant then really.

I disagree that lowering a car on cheap coilovers makes it handle better. Expensive coils yes, but some of these nasty cheap ones you can buy for £40 a corner.... the ride feels like ****, they don't handle significantly better...... maybe in the dry they'll handle marginally better, but certainly not when there's any kind of condensation on the road.

Everything that has already been said.... If you're looking at an S model, electric window switches are occasionally prone to problems, although it's more of a problem on the really old Lupo's.... If it is just a switch, it's an easy fix. Best way to test is to put the key in the door lock barrel and turn hard in the direction of open and hold it for 5 seconds, which rolls down the windows. If it doesn't roll, it's the regulator and that's a bit of a tedious job. Not hard.... but tedious and fairly long winded.

Central Locking can be hit and miss, again, more of a problem on the older models. The car should lock and unlock, obviously, but also there's an anti-hijack button. Check that. If there's any kind of jumping up and down, when locking or unlocking then there is an issue. Aftermarket central Locking mechanisms are about £15-£20 delivered and fitting them is easy enough. Check the door lock barrels as these are prone to seizing up in winter. If the car has a second key than this has probably happened and it's fairly common. If it's a CL Lupo, then you might just want to fit remote central locking.

Check the boot lock solenoid. If the car has central locking, the boot opens on the central locking. If it's opening from the key only, the solenoid is probably nailed. Fairly simple job.

Depending on which model you're looking at, if it's an SDI, try and get a Y or newer, as it's £30 tax, not £255. Don't be surprised if it vibrates more than your normal diesel experience, SDI's are agricultural out of the factory. Tutorial here to smooth, if it bothers you: 

 

Other than that, they're great motors and you can't really go far wrong.

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43 minutes ago, Skezza said:

I disagree that lowering a car on cheap coilovers makes it handle better. Expensive coils yes, but some of these nasty cheap ones you can buy for £40 a corner.... the ride feels like ****, they don't handle significantly better...... maybe in the dry they'll handle marginally better, but certainly not when there's any kind of condensation on the road.

Very true, but i was generalising and being non specific, plus mine is on Konis and Eibach.

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