Faults:

Cassette player chewed up five cassettes in six months before being replaced.

Sunroof catch broke at 34,000 miles.

Right side passenger door handle jammed at 47,000 miles.

General Comments:

Mechanicals were faultlessly reliable despite the car being nearly five years old and having covered nearly 60,000 miles by the time I sold it.

Fuel bills were relatively low for a 1600cc petrol engine, which also gave strong performance.

Bodywork and interior trim were very good except for a broken sunroof catch and a jammed door handle.

Good value for money at £5,000 for a well equipped 30 month old medium sized hatchback.

Held its value well and sold privately for £3,300 two years later.

Ride and handling were also excellent.

Faults:

Minor, age-rated repairs at around 120, 000 kms. Some work on the brakes and some suspension. Bushings, tie rod ends and relatively low-cost repairs. At 160,000 km a leaky transmission seal caused some problems, but a very experienced mechanic was able to fix this without taking anything apart.

Poor thing was a little rusty when I got it. It spent about 5 years in Ontario (lots of salt on the roads) but I cleaned it up and did a little repainting and it's holding up fine (since 1997)

General Comments:

Very, reliable and economical to run. I hate breakdowns and this car does not let me down. Now that fuel is so expensive, I really appreciate the fact that it still gets good gas mileage.

Fun to drive and runs well at low and high speeds.

Heater is excellent is cold climates (-20 or -30 C). Starts fine up to -40 when the fuel injector starts to make a lot of noise.

I am short 5'2" and my husband is nearly a foot taller. We both drive this care comfortably.

Need to find a good mechanic that knows how to fix VWs. Most repairs can be very low cost if the mechanic knows exactly what to do. I had some very high repair quotes from chain-type garages.

It's almost 20 years old and it's still a great car. What else can anyone ask for?

Faults:

The only things that have gone wrong was the water pump after 18 years of motoring I'm sure ill let it off that one.

And also the exhaust bracket at the back of the engine to the pipe snapped, but an easy and not costly repair soon sorted that.

General Comments:

Well I really love my golf its only a little one, but it still has all the aspirations of its big brother the gti.

Its cheap its reliable and its so stylish.

Faults:

Drivers door hinge needed to be welded back in place.

Rear door handle snapped.

Boot latch rattles.

General Comments:

This car is sheer Germanic quality! It is so strong and reliable. Once it has warmed up, it drives like a new car. Although I haven't driven it for more than 1000 miles, its quality shines through. I have driven many cars. This, however, is a classic design, not just in its wonderful retro style, but in durability, reliability and economy. Oh and hardly any rust.

Parts are available everywhere and very reasonably priced. The only parts to have failed were through 18 years of use. These cars remind you of where Volkswagen's reputation was earned. I am sorry to say, it is no longer the case. This car would drive me to Sicily tomorrow if my wife would let me!