Know your VR6 running costs?

[StuartFZR400 0]

Was just trying to get an idea on the running costs for the VR. I tried to gleam some information off this old thread back in 2004, but wanted to ask the question again to get a better idea and more up to date of cost (got the impression that some of those guys were spending nearly £2k/yr). As I assume many of you are well over the 100k mile mark and may possibly have found some bigger costs???

 

It'd be nice if you could stick to running costs only, so that could be broken down into fuel(27-30pmg is fine by me), parts etc or just a lump sum per year. Do you use a lot of oil per year?

 

And can anyone point out any of the large items that crop up? Now I understand some of the niggle items for the C generally, like the rear spoiler (best done DIY) etc and take onboard its not VR related only.

 

Lastly, are there many of you who do all the work your selves and is the VR easy to work on, ie simple to do an oil filter change etc?

 

I've seen some of you guys spending the earth on your C's, but I get the idea that most of it is due to modifications (naming no names Dirty-grey-Wire) but I also get a small hint that the VR can possibly cost a fair bit to run.

 

Cheers, stu 8)

[dinkus 10]

I seem to do either short trips to the shops or 2hrish motorway journies and my average mpg over the last few months has been 28mpg.

 

You can work out how much that's gonna cost you by knowing how much petrol is and how many miles.

 

Since I bought my C at 125k miles - I've done 15k miles in 2yrs and replaced pretty much every part of the suspension and brakes (not done the hard lines yet, but it's probably gonna need doing soon) (brakes and suspension probably cost £1500 inc labour, but I have put TT brakes on and Koni/H&R suspension) and the exhaust was already done (£350ish).

 

I've done oil and filter changes every 6 months myself/with other people's help - it can easily be done on a driveway and doesn't take long.

 

Between oil changes, I've used 1-2 litres of oil, but I've not been doing mega mileage.

 

The chains have already been done on mine, as has the clutch (£700ish job), so shouldn't need expenditure there any time soon.

 

I've had quite a few electrical issues, but that's mostly been down to various chimps splicing crap around at many stages during the poor car's previous lives.

 

The other potentially fairly expensive part is the coolant system - I've replaced the radiator (£150 for the part!), the water pump (£40ish), Aux water pump (£100 ish) and before I bought it, most of the water pipework had been replaced too (potentially £150ish for a whole set of pipes).

 

The belt pulley tensioner bearing can also die too and if you're buying a whole new tensioner from VAG then that's a £70ish part too.

 

So essentially - it all boils down to how much has already been done on the car. As a general rule of thumb - if the part involves rubber and/or plastic and some kind of load/heat cycling then it's gonna need replacing at some point...

[Jim Bowen 1]

some quick facts about mine

 

-owned for 7months

-bought on 130,000 with FSH

-i normally get around 27mpg

-have spent £1600 in those 7 months on repairs (brakes, bearing, droplinks, mainly suspension/steering components)

-probably spend about £60-70 on fuel per week

 

i have got a whole file at home with every part thats been replaced and a cost for each bit

[dinkus 10]

Yeah - worth expanding that my suspension work was top mounts, ball joints, wishbone bushes, axle bushes, ARB drop-links, springs and shocks.

 

I also have a receipt for every single penny spent on parts in a big folder at home, but the thought of actually adding up all those numbers scares me far too much.

 

Just doing a quick tot-up while writing that last post was bad enough - let alone including all the odds and sods I've forgotten about :lol:

[StuartFZR400 0]

Good feedback guys. Ok Dinkus, yu dont have to bite the bullet, but as its a Cost thread, any typical costs of some of those compenents would help (help me avoid phoning GSF and vag with a long list, lol). Do you think that spotting those above mentioned steering items when buying a car is possible and also possible to negotiate a fair price, or will owners still want the 'typical' going rate.

[dinkus 10]

The VR-specific rubbery/plasticy bits in question are:

 

The 3 engine/gearbox mounts (not much different to any other C's mounts, but the front one is £70 for a VAG one, £150ish for uprated - rest are £15ish each), coolant hoses (usually £30ish a pop and there's 2 big ones that usually go), aux water pump (leccy pump that runs on after the engine's stopped and is about £100), main water pump (£40ish), possibly the oil pump (no idea), the infamous blue temp sensor (£5), the fuel-hoses that link to the fuel rail (£60 for the pair I believe!) and uuh that's all I can remember for now...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Sent you a PM with some good info mate ;-)

 

Buy one! You can always sell it if it was a bad move.....life is easy :-)

[dukest 0]

dinkus, did u really mean

rest are £15ish each

in relation to the rear and gearbox engine mounts?

 

I haven't asked elsewhere but was told VAG was about £60 for a rear mount?

[dinkus 10]

Ah not sure - I remember buying the gearbox mount for £10 - £15, and assumed the rear one was similar.

 

Could well be wrong tho.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The original hydraulic mount is, but you don't want that winky peice of crud anyway.... £20 will get you a solid rubber diesel job fom GSF instead.