Faults:

Absolutely nothing, save the usual wear and tear items.

General Comments:

Over the last 3 and a half years, the car has performed faultlessly.

It is extremely practical, with a capacious boot and split-folding rear seats. The seats themselves are very comfortable, even on long motorway journeys.

The car is nippy around town, and can quite easily keep up with traffic. Motorway driving however shows up the lack of power in the 1.6 8v engine. Overtaking requires dropping down to 4th or even 3rd gear, and even then the acceleration is fairly slow.

The car seems most comfortable when cruising at 70-80mph in 5th gear. It remains stable and composed, even at higher speeds.

This particular example did not come with power steering, however the steering is light and manageable when parking, and completely comfortable once driving.

Feel and feedback through the steering wheel are very good, and grip levels are surprisingly high, making this a very fun car to drive quickly.

Fuel economy is extremely reasonable for a car of this age, with each 55 litre tank of petrol able to provide me with around 400 miles of town driving (including some dual carriageways). This works out to be roughly 33mpg. Motorway journeys can see the figure go up to almost 500 miles on a tank, or 40mpg.

The ride quality on standard suspension is very good, the car easily soaking up bumps in the road. The body does tend to roll a fair bit through faster corners, and to remedy this I have fitted my car with Koni sports suspension. The car now has minimal body roll, and ride comfort on the suspensions softest setting is still extremely reasonable. The upgrade has the added advantage of lowering the car by 40mm for improved aesthetics.

A full service is easy to carry out on these cars, helped in no small part by the vast amounts of space in the engine bay, and easy access to all the main serviceable components.

An oil service every 6-8,000 miles will see the car running like a dream for years on end, with the 8v engine requiring a rebuild at 250,000 miles.

Perhaps the only real negatives with this car are the lack of power at higher speeds, and the brakes.

The 1.6 Driver utilises solid brake discs, and once they are hot (after having to make an emergency stop for example), braking power is reduced considerably until the brakes cool down again.

The solution is an easy one. Simply fit the front brake pads and discs for the 8v GTI, since the discs are exactly the same diameter. The difference is that they are vented, and can therefore withstand much more abuse.

In summary, the Golf Mk2 1.6 Driver is an excellent all-rounder, with little to complain about if properly maintained. The fact that so many of these cars are still seen on our roads today, is testament to the supreme build quality of German cars of this era.

Faults:

Engine mounts.

Rear wipe motor.

General Comments:

This car has only broken down twice, and on both occasions, it was my responsibility - flat battery (I left the side lights on) and dead glow plugs (I knew they needed to be replaced).

It starts first time, every time, once the yellow glow plug light goes out.

It's comfy, practical, spacious and sips diesel in a most frugal manner, but will hold an indicated 100mph if required to do so.

Faults:

Water pump went out at 125,000 miles.

When water pump went out, it took the power steering pump out too (this car was parked for 5+ years) Did not replace, a true manual steering vehicle now.

Replaced timing belt while the waterpump was being replaced.

New starter went out (bad replacement parts)

Replaced brakes, calipers, rotors at 120,000 miles.

Replaced distributor at 165,000.

Normal maintenance, tires and exhaust.

General Comments:

With all of the repairs I have made on this car - I still absolutely love this car.I have owned many different cars over the years that were new or much nicer (Jaguar, Corvette, Grand Prix GTP) and I must say that this old car is right on the top of my list.

I bought it for the mileage and consistently get 36-40+mpg. When I bought it very cheap, I never dreamed it would last this long. It has well out performed my expectations.

Seats are very comfortable and not worn.

Shifter and trans. operate perfectly.

Handling is very good (and fun).

This car has more pep than many others I have had including my 98 Jeep wrangler - will run circles around it. (Jeep is a 4 cyl)

Very dependable and gets great MPG.