1981 Volkswagen Golf Reviews

Nothing.

A very robust car with surprisingly low fuel consumption, but I'm very glad I sold it.

When it comes to comfort it's pure nightmare (a friend named it a tractor on wheels). Imagine traveling more than 600Km on a tractor and you get the picture.

Maybe a good car to drive for short, crowded distances where other cars would take up too much fuel, but a definitely no-no car for those who want to travel in comfort or go in a vacation with their car. My next car would be a Mercedes 500 Sel or a Dodge Ram Van. I have no intention to become a farmer on the road.

Broken seal in master cylinder. (Costs too much to fix. The seal costs about 1/1000 of the repair costs.)

Clogged carburettor. (I'm using the manual chock.)

Engine coughs up oil into the air filter.

Lots of rust!!

This is my first car, but I've driven quite a lot of different cars, and I can't really say that this one ranks on top. Since it's going to the junkyard soon, I'm raping it all I can just to squeeze the last drops of life out of it. The handling is OK, but could be better. Everything is stock. The interior is quite nice and is probably what's most preserved about this car. I bought the car from an old lady who only used it for grocery shopping in the weekends and such. The engine is actually quite powerful if you stop paying attention to the economy meter and just drive by the sound of the engine.

BTW; Volkswagen tries to such every penny from you. I went to the local certified auto shop, and with me I had my Haynes manual. The manual clearly stated what was wrong (there was only one alternative) and the guy behind the counter started talking about expensive repairs and that this and that was wrong. I knew what was wrong, but the guy behind the counter claimed the manual was wrong. Later on we fixed the problem. The guy behind the counter was wrong. What an idiot.

Where do I start? Alternator, radiator, brakes, injector.. all gave me such problems.

The biggest problem was when only 3 injectors were working properly and hence running the car on 3 cylinders.

Lost fuel pressure as well and the repair cost 450GBP so I sold it as junk at the end.

Considered by some to be an iconic symbols of the "hot-hatch" 80's, but it's not worth the extra insurance premium and paranoia of it being stolen every night.

I spent a fortune getting CAT1 alarm fitted, but the only great thing this car has to offer is the 0-60 acceleration, and the looks.

Fusebox shorting out.

Dirt in the carburettor.

For it's age, the MK1 Golf runs really well, the engine is pretty sound and with only a couple of problems, it's not bad for an old car.

I suggest investing in a K & N air filter as this makes a lot of difference.