Hello, I'm looking for some words of advice...

Im currently in the process of buying a used 1998 VW Bug from a private seller (who lucky for him, happens to be a mechanic). It has 76,000miles on it and auto transmission. I was told a new battery and new brakes were just installed. The air bag light is on, and was told that it just needs to be reset by the dealer. (also something was breifly mentioned about the radio needing to be reset). Also, the key doesn't fit the trunk!

It doesn't have any plates so I wasn't able to take it to a mechanic and my test drive was limited to a few blocks.

I'm in really bad need of a car, and it's in my price range and the car I want, but I don't know what to do, what else to look for, or how much it will cost to get these things 'resset'.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appriciated!!
Thanx

 

Ask him to fix those things, and then you'll buy it. The radio is prolly in safe mode, which mrans you prolly won't have tunes until that gets fixed. Airbag is a problem in the beetles it seems like.

 

The airbag may be an expensive fix. I wouldn't buy the car with the airbag light on since it'll likely cost as much as the car's worth to fix it. As for the radio, it's in safe mode and you'll need to pull the radio out and get the # off the back then talk to a dealer and see if they can get you the unlock code. Nothing big there.

 

Thanks for your advice!

The guy said he'd only sell as it (which is def shady, and if that airbag light wasn't so pricey to fix why wouldn't you do it before you sell it?)I think I'm going to pass on it. I was reading more about '98's and their eletrical/wiring problems and the airbag light, and I don't think it's something I want to get myself into.

I've moved on to looking at a 2002, this time from a dealer. Any quirks with that year of Beetles? Do they all suffer from the same kind of wiring/eletrical problems?

 

Not having a lot of time in the seat of my '01, I found out that most of the Beetles with low mileage were problem children. They just weren't driven because of all their faults, so people would get rid of them instead of fixing things. Mine has around 100,000 on it, but runs, and drives great. Good move on your part. I agree, sounds shady to me too. At least if you buy from a dealer you have some recourse.

 

GETA WARRANTY!

My GF got an '03 with 68K miles on it. We keep having issues here and there with it. The fuel door/trunk switch on the door was the first thing to break. Then the blinker relay went bad. In and of itself not uncommon to happen to a car BUT the relay is part of the hazard switch so I had to replace the whole switch to replace the relay ($25 for the part). the blinker on one side blinks faster but there are no burnt out bulbs... Now the inner tie rod end on the driver's side is going bad.

Otherwise it's a great little car. Decent gas mileage and looks all right (I'm more of a fan of the older bugs and the angled 80's sports cars). Just know what you are getting into and get a warranty to cover your backside.