Faults:

Suspension completely worn when we bought it, replaced all 4 springs and shocks, bushings, ball joints, etc.

Replaced front brakes.

Rusty but little structural rust, only patched the sills but no replacement.

General Comments:

Ridiculously slow when loaded, this was a 2 seater wagon. We just needed a cheap wagon for local deliveries and transports, and this did the trick.

Good on gas, almost half compared to a Transit and one third compared to an Econoline (with petrol inline 6, yes the name is kind of a joke when you look at the petrol consumption).

Extremely reliable, but in the end the whole wagon was falling apart and not worth fixing.

Faults:

When brand new, problem with charging. Alternator belt wrongly fitted by the factory and fixed within the first week.

Got problems at Nürburgring Nordschleife when the car was 2 months old. My crazy step dad raced his almost new company car when we had a vacation in Germany, and again the alternator belt and alternator was replaced at a local garage.

The car was crashed when it was 2 years old in the winter due to black ice, and that was when the problems started. Little visible damage and it was "fixed" by a local dealer.

After 200 meters my step dad said there is something wrong with the front end geometry of the car. "Repaired" again. Got it back and noticed front end vibration. Drive shaft replaced. Got it back and noticed left shock absorber was defective. Etc etc.

Exhaust system fell off, probably due to previous damage.

General Comments:

My step dad's company car. 2 litre 5 cylinder injection and 5 speed transmission. Besides that not much options. Really drove this car hard and pretty fast for a family car. Not much problems besides effects after it was crashed and not properly repaired that caused a series of problems. Quite roomy and practical. Typical VW build quality from the 80ies - solid.

Faults:

Rust and then more rust.

Electronics problems like central locking.

Clutch and flywheel.

Weak suspension.

General Comments:

Comfortable, but poor quality.

Paint quality poor and anti corrosion non-existent.

Rusted out doors and trunk after a few years.

Looked like junk after 7 years.

Faults:

Nothing so far, but I feared the worst when I bought it, seeing as the car had 2 year old oil in it, and the engine sounded like a laundry machine. Oil filter and new oil, and voila, it was as good as new.

General Comments:

I originally bought this car to use it as a point A to point B car, but it has become the car I use on longer trips as well.

My first opinion of the car, was that it was just a little rat, not stylish at all.

That changed a few weeks, and 600 km later. After a long trip, I wasn't tired and deadbeat, the little "rat" as I called it proved to be quite comfy, and the look of the car was really growing on me.

Now it's winter, -10 Celsius outside, and it starts easily, every morning. I leave the car running for 10 minutes while I drink some tea, or finish my breakfast, and I'm greeted with a warm car.

The roads are slippery this time of the year, but the rat seems to have as much grip as it did in the summer.

Now and again I take it on the roads just to burn out some residue from the engine, EGR etc, which the car tells me it wants to do by creating a fairly strong exhaust smell. "Higher RPM" the car commands, and the pedal hits the metal, the car smokes for a bit, then the strong exhaust smell disappears.

The car is hilariously nice on the fuel, returning an average of 4.9 litres per 100 km of fairly fast driving.

The fuel consumption does go up a little when I've only been taking short trips with it at low speeds, but a longer trip with a heavy right foot fixes that (these cars were not meant to go 60km/h forever...)

All in all, this is a great car, and it has yet to disappoint me.