How long do the Turbo's live???????

[IT King]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum.
I am looking at buying an old MK5 Golf GTI or GT or TSI, but the ones I can afford have close to 100 000 miles or over. I will look for a car with full service history for peace of mind, but should I be concerned about the turbo at that sort of mileage?

 

[GTI's]

At 100k Km not really.

 

[IT King]

At 100k Km not really.

Thanks GTI's.
I am located in the UK, so 100 000 km is only 62137 miles which makes 100 000 miles is 160 934.4 km.
I remember when I was living in South Africa, where they use km's and someone told me that a lot of people sell their turbo cars at around 100 000 km cause the turbos have had a good workout by then and most likely will need replacing.
I would then assume that at 100 000 miles or 160 000 km the turbos are well and truly buggered, and perhaps that is why there are so many turbo cars, ie. Golf GTI's, for sale. This is just how my logic works

As I have never owned a turbo car and normally just go for cars with bigger capacity to make up for not having the speed a turbo car has, I would greatly appreciate your input

 

[Eric6014]

Not sure why anyone would sell a car over a blown turbo. It's not a big deal. I blew the K03 on my MKV at around 95K. The car was stage 1 at the time. I was entering the highway from an onramp and gunned it. Heard a pop from underneath and immediately went into limp mode. Cost for a used replacement and labor was around US $950 if I remember correctly. New parts are not much more than that. That being said, I have not heard of a lot of blown turbos on these cars. If you're looking for an MKV, service history is nice to have, but most owners drive these cars hard like they're meant to be driven, so service history is only part of the picture. Have the trans checked and make sure the cam follower was changed regularly if it's an FSI. A blown turbo would not be the end of the world and is a great excuse to upgrade.

 

[vwengineer]

Thanks GTI's.
I am located in the UK, so 100 000 km is only 62137 miles which makes 100 000 miles is 160 934.4 km.
I remember when I was living in South Africa, where they use km's and someone told me that a lot of people sell their turbo cars at around 100 000 km cause the turbos have had a good workout by then and most likely will need replacing.
I would then assume that at 100 000 miles or 160 000 km the turbos are well and truly buggered, and perhaps that is why there are so many turbo cars, ie. Golf GTI's, for sale. This is just how my logic works

As I have never owned a turbo car and normally just go for cars with bigger capacity to make up for not having the speed a turbo car has, I would greatly appreciate your input

My car has 230k miles still on original turbo (with 20k oil change interval almost it's entire life). Others on the forum also have similar experiences if that reinsure you. Turbo failures are quite rare on these cars.