Those are the most bizzare looking seats Ive ever seen. Seats can be easily replaced. Rust is a big issue. Peel the carpet back and check the heaterchannels for rust. Pan looks good and the sunroof if stock, is a bonus. Doesnt look too bad to me, just a little dated. Good luck.
Yes, they ARE bizarre. Full foam apparently, no springs. Well, it being a 6 year old off pan resto(anybody heard of Lima Autobody in Victoria?) it should not have rust issues. Rust would definitely be eliminatory. And yes, some dates stuff on it I will mention it below.
If indeed it was rust free and a good car... what would YOU pay for it?
that's a loaded question. everyones idea of a rust free good car is different.
i wouldnt pay a penny over $5000 (but in reality i would keep looking because, personally, there are a few things about that car that i just dont dig...but that's just my opinion).
good luck and be thorough!!!
on another note....it's nice to see you wanting to get back in an acvw!!!
Rust free as in...well, no rust other then little red specs on the belly and usual stuff that all cars get after few years. Kind of rust free you'd expect from professional off pan resto. I agree, there are some things I don't like either. Seats, matched wheels and those center caps. Ew. I pretty much gave up on it, then realized that I can easily replace the seats, junk the center caps and at least pain the centers of the wheels silver or flat black or something. I also don't like the dual quiet pack.
My idea is to sell my MK2 GTI and buy something within 1k of what I get for that car. I should be able to get 5-6+ w/o problem. I also want to do some serious driving(perhaps driving school, did one racing school 2 years ago, had a blast!) and possibly some autocross(I did Slush series last winter) so GTI would be perfect but I'm just itching for an ac again. After all, when we were deciding where to move from Saskatoon a couple of years back, it was down to Montreal vs Vancouver. And Vancouver won, among the rest, because I could drive an aircooled year round. How's that for priorities?

With the above in mind, I should probably be looking for a late Beetle with IRS and discs, perhaps even a Super.
Anyway, here's the lowdown on the wish list...
Ideally, I want a silver, gray, or orange German looker but something Cal lookish or something in between would be alright as well. With a respectable engine if possible. I understand that I'd be probably looking for a long time to get all that to match and then it might be too much $$. That said, I can buy something close and then change what I don't like. Easiest thing is the interior and some mechanical, as I do live in an apartment and have underground parking I can work at. One thing that is out of question(I think, never say never) is a colour I don't want... like yellow for example.
With this particular car, as it is it does have some faux pas. The colour is ok IMO, but that's it. Not great, not bad. However, for example, if I sell the wheels, buy a set of Porsche cup, twist or similar wheels, paint the headlight rings and bumpers, and find a set of gray 911 seats(I know they did come in gray), it would completely transform the car into Ze German Look. It also has a 1776 in it which is one of the nice engines to balance some performance and reliability. The car would be my daily driver, however I barely daily drive, I put about 10k on my GTI in past 2 years.
P.S. Now I find out that the car does not pass aircare as it apparently states it somewhere in the paperwork... I don't know why it would have that. Does Nanaimo have Aircare? Because the current owner bought it in Nanaimo.
I postponed my ferry ride until next week. Need more time to think about this and dig details out. As it stands, I might just keep looking.
