Faults:

Water pump went out at 125,000 miles.

When water pump went out, it took the power steering pump out too (this car was parked for 5+ years) Did not replace, a true manual steering vehicle now.

Replaced timing belt while the waterpump was being replaced.

New starter went out (bad replacement parts)

Replaced brakes, calipers, rotors at 120,000 miles.

Replaced distributor at 165,000.

Normal maintenance, tires and exhaust.

General Comments:

With all of the repairs I have made on this car - I still absolutely love this car.I have owned many different cars over the years that were new or much nicer (Jaguar, Corvette, Grand Prix GTP) and I must say that this old car is right on the top of my list.

I bought it for the mileage and consistently get 36-40+mpg. When I bought it very cheap, I never dreamed it would last this long. It has well out performed my expectations.

Seats are very comfortable and not worn.

Shifter and trans. operate perfectly.

Handling is very good (and fun).

This car has more pep than many others I have had including my 98 Jeep wrangler - will run circles around it. (Jeep is a 4 cyl)

Very dependable and gets great MPG.

Faults:

Replaced head gasket and rear struts at 265000 km.

Replaced glow plugs and battery at 272,000 km for winter.

Replaced starter at 275,000 km (old one had started grinding).

Went through several alternator V-belts over the life of the car, until eventually replacing pulley at 280,000 km.

Both outside rear door handles were useless when I got the car. One repeatedly required greasing to fix, the other was broken inside. Apparently very common.

One tire constantly lost air, even after getting a new tire on it.

Multiple electrical problems, often presented as a car that won't start.

Absolutely wouldn't start under about -10 degrees C without the block heater.

General Comments:

There weren't too many things under the hood. I'm almost surprised that so many things went wrong for how simply the car was built.

The car has pretty slow acceleration, with a fairly weak engine. However it is easily sufficient, and the car was pretty fun to drive while I had it.

The body was in better shape than all other VWs in my area of the same era. It's even better than many mk3 VWs. Most rust was cosmetic and not plentiful.

Previous owner mainly used it for highway driving, and had appeared to be driving it with all original parts (so I guess that's why I had to replace so many).

Shifting to first was tough; shifting to reverse while not stopped would result in a crunch sound; shifting to second too quickly would also result in a crunch sound. Apparently these are all common issues, and are all easy to work around.

The reliability was disappointing. There were too many occasions where I tried to start the car and got no response at all from the starter, though the starter itself was never at fault (replaced because it was grinding, but still working). I suspect these problems were all related to old/loose wires, but eventually I got sick of them and dumped the car.

Everything inside was within reach and easily visible, except fifth gear was a somewhat far reach. All windows worked, all functions inside worked, everything held up quite well inside.

I miss the fuel consumption, even if by this point it was worse or comparable to new gasoline engines, the fuel is cheaper.

I would still be driving the car if I had guarantee that it would start the next day, and if I knew that nothing else would go wrong. Running for 15 years with original parts is impressive, but I should have known it wouldn't last.