Fortunate to test drive 3 cars with the same engine - all manual gearboxes.

One was below 50k - beautiful to drive, smooth and quiet. The other 2 @ 60k and 90k whilst fine in motion and driving, at idle were distinctively noisier and once once settled down to idle revs in neutral, felt slightly lumpy and noticeably noisy in the cabin. Not as bad as a 3 cylinder engine, but not what you'd expect from a 4 cylinder.

Apart from suggesting going for the lower mileage car - has anyone come across these issues before? ie can the higher mileage cars be fixed or is it one of those non-traceable luck of the draw issues that you just have to tolerate depending on the car you select?

By the way, both higher mileage cars also had uncomfortable vibration through their gear sticks when driving - maybe a separate issue though.

Appreciate your advice so I can make the right purchasing decision.

Thanks.

Edited November 2, 2025Nov 2 by cav109
Just wanted to thank contributors suitably

It's inevitable that a high mileage car will probably, though not certainly, have more faults than a low mileage car. It will all depend how carefully the cars have been driven and how well they have been maintained. Nevertheless it would be wrong to generalise and condemn all high mileage cars out of hand. Whatever the faults, they can all be fixed if you throw enough money at them.

Sorry, but you must make your own decision based on the factors I mentioned and the size of your budget. A good starting point would be to ensure the cars have a full service history. Any that don't should be ignored.

Thanks for the reply. I think the issue I have is that all of them had a decent service history - at least 2 out of the 3 were main dealer - yet the issues remain. 

Just wondered if this was a common issue (and fix) that these engines experience and whether anyone else recognises the symptoms?

Can higher mileage 35TFSIs still remain smooth?