After 1 year of owning the car, fuel consumption went down to 35km per gallon when the air filter component was dirty and clogged with dust. It was changed and the problem solved.
Once I had to drive off road and the car started to make squeaks and rattles that were never cured.
The rubber protecting the co-driver door began to fall apart in pieces after 1 year. It seems most people rubs its body against it every time they get in the car.
The steering wheel has poor quality and it seems it gets destroyed by the sweat of my hands (this is a tropical country and you should know that)
At the beginning, the fuel consumption was usually 50kpg+ on city-driving conditions. It gets almost to 60kpg on highway drives.
After almost 2 years, one time the air filter component, sparks, oil were changed, the car did get 60kmg on city and 70kmg on highway! On a highway run the car would go much more than 900kms on a full tank! It is now on a usual 50/60kmg.
The car is not fast nor powerful, but it gets the job done. Get 4 people inside and the car will put you anywhere you want in comfort.
Nice handling, nice brakes while on my own, but a little more effort is required when more weight is on the car.
Roomy trunk.
The engine is quiet most of the time, except when you use the a/c, it gets noisy.
The car feels stable at up to 120kmh with 4 people. It gets nervous at 160kmh with just me on it.
Great lights.
Never had an electrical problem so far (1 year and 10 months with 26000 km)
Hello buddies, I am from Mexico. Maybe you know Gol in Mexico its called Pointer and has a 1.8 Gasoline Motor. I got one of them 3 months ago and I believe is a good car. I am living in the border of Mexico and the United States. I used to full my car's thank with American gasoline, (not diesel, due to the fact of there are many reasons to full the thank in USA. 1.- it is cheaper than Mexico 2. The quality of the octanes is better than Mexico, whatever. The main point here is when I bought this car 3 months ago I fulled the thank the first time, and I get approximately 750 Km per all the thank, but now I am gettig just around 600 Km per thank. Some body that can tell me something about it??. I have already been with the volkswagen dealer in my city and they told me that it is totally normal this happens, this car specially has differents gas kilometers per thank.
I was trying to get information about this car, but was not possible for my found anything, due to the fact comes from brazil.
Besides, I agree with some comments that somebody did before, about the weird noises that the car does. I took it to the car service in the volkswagen and they did not find anything. I do not know what should I have to do, regarding this issue.
Hello. I am form Mexico, too. The VW Gol (Called Pointer in Mexico) I bought performed wonderfully. The average consumption should be 13 km/liter, so do not panic.
I have read many comments regarding this car. It is not exactly well built, so do not expect a Pointer without noises. The squeeks you hear may come from the doors, which loosen throughout the normal use of the car. You can tighten them by screwing the inner screws of the doors.
Even though I sold my car and bought a 2001 Nissan Sentra, I must say that I would rather recommend you to buy something else besides this car. I was lucky to get a good car. But not everyone has that luck. Especially when the car is not built in Mexico.
Have you tried the service and the spare parts?? The service is bad and the spare parts are expensive. Some of my friends have bought them and they complain on the poor service in the agency and the bad quality of the plastics; also they complain on the expensive of the maintenance.
My recommendation: do not buy one.
Hello Guys! I am from Mexico City too... I have a 2001 Volkswagen Gol 1.8L with 64,000 km (Or Pointer here in Mexico)
I bought this car because I love Volkswagens aka. Audi, Seat or Skoda. The design is great for me, not as good as Peugeot 206, but better than a Opel Corsa, Dodge Atos or a Ford Fiesta.
The problem with the car is the poor quality involved in the manufacturing process.
My car is full of noises and the plastics seems to be cheap and very poor (they scratch very easy). Although I have not experienced a single engine problem. Pay special attention to the refrigeration system as after 50,000 km the licks become a matter of every day. Brakes are bad too.
The electrical system is one of the worst systems I have found in any car. Dashboard lights, Tail and brake lights break off very often. (Pay attention when driving in the night and count the number of Pointers and Jettas too with those lights off!!)
My car has a shortcut in the left break light sometimes its on, sometimes its off. I've go to the dealership, and changing the whole electrical system has a cost of $500.00 USD.
The car has indeed a great engine, as it is really powerful considering the total weight of the car.
The consumption is great. Almost 1/2 tank for the Guadalajara - Mexico City Highway (525 kms). In Mexico City the consumption is around 520kms per full tank. 600kms in Highway.
Volkswagen really need to focus in the quality problems in the Brazilian plants. They are horrible.
Mexican and Argentinian manufacturing quality is OK. Look at the thousands and thousands of Jettas (Made in Mexico) driving all around the country. And the great quality involved in the 9 years old Derby. (Made in Argentina since 1996)
Brazilian quality is the worst... Look at the Pointer and the Golf. (Except the GTI made in Germany)
As for me... I will never buy again a car made in Brazil.
Well, here I am again.
Most recent report of my car. 50000+ km. 3 years of owing it! I haven't change the steering wheel and now the gear change lever is suffering the same fate of "sweating hands". That is my only complain so far right now. One of this weekends I drove the car for a 200km trip and the car got an outstanding 75km/gallon on a very flat road at an steady 80-85kmh.
By the way, on payday (Monday) I will change the 4 tires (3 years old also) for the same spec: 175/70R13 and on case you didn't know, the wider the tire the more gas your car will burn because wider tires have a bigger contact area to the road.
I feel sorry for all the people who didn't get a well-manufactured car... I believe God has blessed me.
I have a Pointer 2000 with 120,000 kms, it job perfectly (I'm the first owner), but yes, the plastic materials are so bad and the service is the worst. the original brakes are good and noisy, but you can change it for another less noisy.
Well, here I am, the original poster for this car. I have had it for 5 years, 2 months and 90,000 kilometers. I still believe is a good car for the price.
The quality of the interior is starting to make things difficult for me though. Now I have a problem with the door handles, steering wheel, ashtray, glove box and the driver-side window mechanism. Most of them are made of plastic, and even if they looked cheap when new, fact is I never had a problem with them... until a year ago when everything started to fall apart. I am not disapointed because most people will tell you that every new car is designed to last without problems for 3 years only. Or that is what I heard here. Engine problems? So far, not at all. Really bad problems with the car - overall: the water pump was leaking and I had to replace it for a non-VW unit. Cheap, it now works fine. The spark plug wiring failed the same day my original battery died, on last November. Also, I had to change the particle-filter of the ac for a Toyota one (interesting to know, technicians told me Toyota sells it´s ac technology for most car makers).
I believe the car still makes 55-57kmg overall, in fact, it gets 50+kmg on highways because I usually carry 4-5 people at speeds over 90kmh, it gets worse fuel consumption with weight and/or with the ac on.
Everything else seems to be working just fine.
If I have to change the car, I would prefer a bigger VW: a Jetta TDI or something.
Next report: at 100,000 km or 6 years.
Happy motoring!
I own a 2001 brazillian GOL... With 127,000 KMS... Car works great.. runs good... I have new Tires... I've owned it for a month and its my first VW... no complaints yet... hopefull none will come...
I'm willing to do my first maintennance and I'm about to change it all,, air filter, gas filter, everything..
Hi.
I'm from Costa Rica. I have a '98 Gol... I have changed almost every piece and I still can't get it right, I have taken it to different ppl and no one can get to the problem, cuz if its not one thing its the other... I don't know what to do, I can't even sale it, cuz it will break down before I am able to... I don't know what to do?? It had heating problems before...
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