VW Golf TDI Registration LT53ZCV PD130 Diesel Review

The best VW Golf  I've owned was a 130PD 2003 model MK4 TDI.

Update 2015 - I did a check on MOT for LT53ZCV and the mileage has now dropped 100,000!

I bought LT53ZCV in 2009 with 141,000 miles and ran it for over 4 years racking up another 50,000 miles on it. Photo below of a very dirty looking LT53ZCV in London after winter driving and lots of salt spray.

VW Golf TDI Registration LT53ZCV PD130 Diesel Review

The photos below are the ones I took for Autotrader when I sold the car. As a sign of how good these cars are the buyer was a dealer who travelled from Stoke on Trent to Kent to purchase it. This Golf TDI 130 gave 4 years very cheap motoring and the overall depreciation was around £250 per year in that time.

Setting AUX Input on Pioneer DEH-P5850MP Car Head Unit

How to setup the Aux/Auxilliary input for a Pioneer DEH-P5850MP

You can get a connector lead called a IP-Bus Interface Cable Cord Adapter for Pioneer DEH-P5850MP on Ebay or other site

How to setup the Aux/Auxilliary input for a Pioneer Pioneer DEH-P5850MP 

This lead will allow you to connect into the CD changer socket at the rear of the Pioneer DEH-P5850MP and use a 3.5" jack cable to connect an MP3, iPhone, iPod or any other source with headphone socket to it.

However when you turn the unit back on after connecting the cable you may find that AUX isn't shown as an option in the menus. You need to press the function button when the unit is off to enable this as shown in the video to setup the auxilliary connection on the Pioneer DEH-P5850MP head unit.

 IP-Bus Interface Cable Cord Adapter for Pioneer

Buying a Used Car - Is A Warranty Worth It Or Not?

When buying a Used Car, is a warranty worth it or not?

I've bought quite a few cars over the years and in some cases they came with a warranty. In only one case have I ever had cause to claim on that warranty and even then the repair was very small that I could have sorted myself if I hadn't had the warranty available.

When buying a Used Car is a warranty worth it or not?

The cost of a used car warranty can vary hugely but seem to be up to around £1000 depending on the model of car. In most cases although described as a "warranty" you are actually buying an insurance policy - mechanical breakdown insurance - and like most insurances policies there are exclusions to it.

Often wear and tear items are excluded which covers things like the clutch that could fail on an older car and could be expensive to replace. If such items are excluded then you wonder what benefit the warranty could have for most car buyers. The answer is not much - the insurance company need to make a profit so they aren't going to sell a policy that doesn't make them money.

Despite what you might be told when considering a warranty, cars are pretty reliable overall. Of course they need routine and regular maintenance but again those items wouldn't be covered anyway.

My personal view is that used car warranties are not worth it and it is far better to "self insure" by putting any warranty money into your savings so it's available if you have a fault on your car to pay for.