1997 Volkswagen Golf review from North America

Speedometer/Odometer works sporadically.

Gas gauge works sporadically.

Bad fuel injector.

Erratic sensor lights.

Molding falling off.

Broken automatic door lock.

Broken head gasket cover.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love the way my Golf drives and handles. It's fun and it has some kick to it. It's almost seven years old and it still drives well.

I bought the car when it was three years old. Most of the above problems were covered under a used car warranty and were fixed by the dealership at which I bought the car.

However, there are still a few outstanding annoyances which I cannot seem to get fixed, no matter where I take the car for service. The speedometer, odometer, and gas gauge continue to give me problems. They only work sporadically, literally working one minute and then not working the next minute. It's very frustrating. I will watch the gas gauge go from half full to empty to full within seconds. I never really know how much gas I have or how fast I'm going. Somehow, I've learned how to mentally gauge approximately how fast I'm going and have never gotten a ticket for speeding. I've become paranoid and obsessive about filling up my gas tank as often as possible and so have only run out of gas twice (totally embarrassing).

Every time I've taken my car in to be looked at for these problems, the gauges start working, and therefore the problem cannot be diagnosed.

The sensor lights (check engine/airbags/etc) are constantly going on and off. I've grown tired of taking my car in every time the "check engine" light comes on. They diagnose my car and tell me nothing is wrong. And sure enough, a couple of days later, the light will shut off.

I really wish someone could figure out the problem.

I don't even want to talk about the side molding that keeps falling off and I've re-glued about 100 times.

Other than these extremely annoying inconveniences, the car has been pretty reliable. I've spent money mostly on general maintenance (tires/brakes/battery).