Buying a used Scirocco

[Dimbit]

Hi all,
Long time reader, first time poster.
I'm after a scirocco but don't want to buy a new car and watch £6k evaporate in the first mile, so I'm looking to buy something 2010 or maybe '09 kind of vintage.
I've narrowed it down to a manual, and either the diesel (any variant is fine), 2.0 petrol or the 122. (The 160 seems to break a lot)
I've had a good look through these forums and most of my questions have found answers, but there are a few things I could still do with knowing:

1. Diesel or petrol (and then 2.0 or 1.4):
Clearly the Diesel's a bit cheaper to run, but how much cheaper? The insurance and tax difference will save me about 300 quid a year, but how thirsty is the 2l petrol engine? Since there's not too much difference in used purchase price it could make all the difference...
2. I hate the Donnington alloys (no offence!). If I bought a car with those on and drove into a main dealer with a stack of cash would they be happy to swap them or are they precious about what cars can have what parts?
3. What things should I look out for on a used one? What goes wrong? (apart from boot rattles and windows lowering themselves)

I guess I should add a disclaimer: Please don't try to sell me your car. I'm after some sort of warranty so not a private sale.
Other than that, grateful for any and all advice.

[trix]

Welcome
I think the primary question is what sort of mileage are you going to be doing over the year? if you are only doing 7k then a diesel probably wouldn't be worth it
With regard to your questions, you may well be able to find a car that had the interlagos wheels added at order stage, the factory order ruling is/was basic roc (1.4/tdi 140) comes with doningtons (17") can upgrade to interlagos (18"), gt trim comes with interlagos & can be upgraded to luganos (19")
& with the 1.4 160 i'd say don't rule it out, to quote someone else on another thread 'people will always be more vocal about bad news than good'

S

[ZephyR]

If you're thinking of a diesel and do mainly short urban runs then be aware of the DPF issues with diesels.