To buy or not to buy....A Quantum.

[Monica <mneuburg@checfs2.ucsd.edu>]

Hi all,

Well, I am finally in the market for a new car, and I would like your
advice.  I used to own an 89 Ford Tempo, a good reliable (for me anyway)
car.  Unfortunately it was hit by a drunk as it was parked on the street.  I
have only about $3000 to spend and have been leaning towards an older taurus
or another tempo. However the Taurus' I have driven so far have had various
little disturbing noises coming from the drivetrain.  They have also felt a
bit loose and I have heard bad things about the taurus transmissions.  On
the advice of my boyfriend, I tried an '86 VW Quantum GL5 [non-syncro :( ]
with 109K on the clock.  I liked it!  I am now leaning towards buying this
car rather than a Ford.  I was wondering since this car seems to have a
striking similarity to some Audis if you might be able to give me some
advice.  Specifially:

It's an automatic (I have a hard time with stickshifts).  Are VW/Audi
automatics OK or are they a disaster waiting to happen?  It felt very good,
but wouldn't kick down for highway passing, is this normal?  

Does this car's power steering use Pentosin or standard power steering
fluid?  It didn't have any leaks and it felt really good, especially
compared to the Ford's.  

The vaccum system for the locks sunroof and windows, is it reliable or will
the swiches/servos die soon.  Are they expensive or hard to fix?

The owner told me that the car has a sticky lifter, and would tap for a few
minutes when cold.  Is this hard or expensive to fix?

The A/C made a loud sucking sound when engaged.  The owner thought it was
low on freon, might this be true or might it be something else.  The sound
was coming from the dash by the passenger footwell.

The radiator shroud was disintigrating.  I noticed the temp was a little
high, is this the cause? or could it be something else?

The rest of the car seemed in very good shape.  It drove very nicely, was
stable at speed stopped straight and quickly.  The 5-cylinder was very quiet
and smooth at idle and had nice power.  My boyfriend also drove it and
thought it was similar to his '84 Scirocco (he's helping me write this by
the way)  The windows/mirrors/locks and sunroof all worked well (except for
one swich for the rear window, but the window worked), and only a bit of a
dent in the back.  Upholstry looked good (the scirocco's fell apart years
ago, I'm a bit nervous about VW upholstry quality.  So anyway, what do you
think.  The owner wants $2000 but seems willing to negotaite.  And yes, we
have looked for Audi's ;) The're a bit scarce in this neck of the woods (san
Diego) but I would like to look at a nice 86-87 4000 auto.  If you think
this Quantum is a good buy I will have a mechanic look over the car before
buying it.  TIA for any advice you can give me.

Monica

(and Jim)