Faults:

Things that have broken since I bought it:

- Front windscreen allows water in when raining.

- Lights on heater/vent switches gone, temperature adjustment at night is done in the blind.

- ABS sensor gone.

- Front suspension needed to be replaced.

- Clutch required replacing.

- Gearbox makes rattling noise, something loose inside. Usual shoddy VW gearboxes. Won't be long before it goes.

- Transaxle and gearbox came apart while in another country. Car wouldn't move. Spent a day trying to speak Danish. Had to leave the car in Denmark. Still figuring out what to do.

- Catalytic converter rusted to pieces.

- Car still veers to left, even after wheel re-alignment.

- Front brakes wore out very quickly, even though I hardly use them.

General Comments:

Good looking car, pleasure to drive, but a complete pain to own.

Would put me off ever buying anything from VAG again.

Faults:

This Polo has one of the infamous very bad gearboxes, that starts to go after 110 thousand km or so, with whining noises in 1st and 2nd as well as problems to select gears. Only solution is to pull out the gearbox and recondition it, or get a new one. It's a disgrace that the gearbox should go so early, but it appears that VW made some very weak gearboxes around this time. And are trying to wash their hands of the problem, pretending it has nothing to do with them.

On board computer can be a bit iffy too, with ABS and exhaust warning lights coming and going as they please. I just ignore them now.

General Comments:

This car has the potential to be great, but unfortunately has a number of irritating problems. When it goes it goes very well, is comfortable to drive, and the quality of the interior is excellent and still looks very modern after nine years.

VW dealers are cheeky. The car owner manual, unlike any other one I've ever seen, doesn't tell you how to change a bulb, tells you to take it to the dealer instead. So I had to figure out how to do that by myself. Luckily it was similar to other cars. Once the wipers went and I knew I needed a new fuse, and was near the VW dealer, I asked if they could change it. They wanted 100 euros. So I drove through some drizzle to a garage and bought a fuse for 3 euros, and replaced it myself in five minutes.

Faults:

Brake system rusted to bits.

Handbrake cable snapped.

Gearbox broken; jumps a gear or two.

Backfires.

Window wipers not working.

Lights gone.

Door locks by itself when you just open the door.

Rear axle damaged.

Hole in the exhaust.

Radio not working all the time.

Front brake and springs; the whole lot rusted and jammed.

General Comments:

The 1982 model is a very good car, when it works.

I bought the car for 40 pounds, and to get a second hand one here costs 200 pounds.

I have fixed most of the problem, but it comes to about 400 pounds to get all the parts.

If you are looking for a VW Polo 82, get an 85 instead; the exhaust was made of some metal that does not rust, and so was the axle. The VW Polo 82, the metal is thinner and less protected against rust. My car is an 82, but I have all the parts in it that are from a VW Polo 85.