Leon 5F is 237K km too high of a millage

[RokiMKD]

Hello everyone, I'm seeking some guidance related to buying a used 2013-2016 2.0 TDI Leon. Most of the cars where i live are imported from Germany, Belgian, Switzerland and all of them are 180k+ km of millage, almost all post i found say buying anything more than 100K is a risk. I have an eye on a 2016 model 2.0 TDI 184 HP, it looks and drives solid, no mayor visual damages other than some scratches in the bumper and on the right headlight. It has quite a few options in comparison to other leon's on the market, it comes with: sunroof, Adaptive Cruise Control, Front and Back parking sensors with rear parking camera, half leather half Alcantara seats from what i understand, 18inch original black FR wheels, full LED package, additional USB ports with wireless charger i believe, 6 speed manual (which i prefer). it also has some additional body part fitted from the last guy: front splitter, side skirts, back diffuser, and spoiler, and it really looks like we was taking care of the car nicely. The problem is its 237 XXX km of millage and i don't know if it will have any problems. my current Leon 1.9 TDI has 301 XXX km, it has a remap to 150hp and has just had his second transmission replacement and i need a new car by the end of the year. the asking price is 11 900 euro but i will probably get it down to 11 000 after todays talks, and will probably do a full belt, water pump, oil, filter change which will cost me around 800 i belieave. Do you think is a wise move to but the car? below are exterior pictures of the car

 

[SuperV8]

Seems expensive compared to UK:
=7440euros.

Plenty of Leon's/Golf/Octavia's etc. with higher miles - just depends on how its been driven - usually those boy racer add-ons don't correlate to a 'gentle' driver. Aggressive launches and gear changes of course will shorten the life of any car drivetrain.
Mines on 130k miles and drives fine. Needing only new dampers.

 

[RokiMKD]

Seems expensive compared to UK:
=7440euros.
View attachment 42417
Plenty of Leon's/Golf/Octavia's etc. with higher miles - just depends on how its been driven - usually those boy racer add-ons don't correlate to a 'gentle' driver. Aggressive launches and gear changes of course will shorten the life of any car drivetrain.
Mines on 130k miles and drives fine. Needing only new dampers.

Yeah i think it costs a arm and a leg to import them here. And this was one of the cheaper ones, currently there is one for sale with similar spec 150hp going for 13k. This one unfortunately got sold this morning, so i will be looking for a new one i guess.

 

[Daz3d]

Great video. He does driving lessons in it and I passed in our Leon by watching his other channel:

https://youtube.com/@conquerdriving/videos

The comments are also interesting to see how other cars have lasted.

 

[Ken Adams]

If you want to save yourself a lot of money and headache, avoid 184bhp version of the 2.0TDI. Those engines are plagued with issues. 150bhp version is much more reliable and you can make the same power as 184bhp with a simple remap.

 

[SuperV8]

If you want to save yourself a lot of money and headache, avoid 184bhp version of the 2.0TDI. Those engines are plagued with issues. 150bhp version is much more reliable and you can make the same power as 184bhp with a simple remap.

Interesting; Which issues does the 184 get which the 150 doesn't get?

The 184 short engine is identical as the 150, same pistons and cams. 184 gets bigger turbo.
150 and 184 have same HP fuel pump and injectors.
184 gets a stronger clutch - and appropriate DM flywheel tuned for the higher torque. Also gets bigger brakes all round, rear independent suspension vs torsion beam - and alloy front knuckles vs cast iron of the 150.

 

[Ken Adams]

CUNA/CUPA engines have different pistons, injectors, clutch etc than 150.

Pistons and their rings are the biggest issue on these engines. I've had one for almost five years and I would never ever buy another one. My ended up burning around 3L of oil between intervals with only 110K kms on the clock.

Then there are issues with G13 coolant, cracking intercoolers, melting DPF sensors etc. You can find many many forum posts about these engines especially on Czech forums where Octavia RS with 184 engine is very popular.

The biggest joke is that VW managed to make the new 200 hp version of 2.0 TDI even worse.

 

[SuperV8]

No, as I confirmed above, same pistons and injectors on the 184 vs 150.
Lots of manufactures are having problems with excessive oil consumption - and its linked with the 'modern/eco' oil control rings and their tiny oil orifices blocking up - so the engine burns more oil - made worse by extended oil change intervals i'm sure.
There is no mechanical difference on this which would make the 184 worse/use more oil than the 150.
You could argue driving style may help? with 184's on average being driven faster? higher speeds/engine revs seem to make the oil consumption worse.