I doubt it, engine bay is really clean, looks nice.
i would go with the subaru over the vw.
but, do check about the headgaskets. with that kind of price i expect it is at some kind of dealer, in which case they will know nothing about the car.
so, you can use that as a bargaining chip. head gaskets and timing belt need to be done. if there is no record of it, it needs to be done.
timing belt is cheap, just be damn careful when pulling and inserting the bolts for the water pump, very easy to pull the threads out. ask me how i know. lol.
These guys don't have a clue, both of the CV boots are torn, they didn't know, and didn't care. There is no bargaining at this place, it's one of those joints that exploits people with bad credit by not doing any credit checks, but charges 21% interest.
Honestly, the Subaru is the one we both want, but we are entertaining other cars in the 2,000-2,500 range since that's what we have on hand, and wouldn't have to finance anything.
The Subaru's interior, exterior, and engine are all nice, but you can tell it's a 2003, light wear, but very clean. The VW's engine bay looks like a 2013, the paint is nice, except the roof, and some of the trunk were it is faded, and the clear coat is going away, however on the interior the carpet, and seats are in great shape, but all the cloth, like the headliner, and trim on the door panels, it looks like the adhesive is failing, it's all lose. And I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but there is something wrong in the suspension, there was some light feedback in the steering wheel, and it really wanted to over steer in left turns, but not in right turns.
Looking at the pictures of the VW's engine bay, it looks like it was replaced, or had a lot of work done very recently. You can see like on the fuse box how it looks to be the right age, and a couple other pieces look the right age, but most of the other parts look brand new. Maybe a good thing? Lots of new engine stuff?