Faults:

Had a fire in the cab after the engine malfunctioned.

General Comments:

A car like this with relatively low mileage and excellent maintenance record should not have malfunctioned with a fire. If you have had any experience like the one I have described, please post a comment.

Faults:

Approx 4 months ago I had a warning light for low oil pressure, turns out the oil pump needed replacing, I was told this is very rare on VW's and not to expect a full recovery, but everything is now fine.

General Comments:

Good acceleration and responsive into corners.

However you can get a similar performance statistic from the 150ps diesel version with far better economy.

Interior is well put together and the recaro's keep you firmly in your place.

I am not overly keen on the wood effect door and dash trim.

Faults:

My gearbox blew at 95,000kms due to poor design.

The rear window demister switch fell apart due to poor build quality.

Catalytic converter needed replacing at 90,000kms.

Car would switch itself off in the middle of driving (don't know what the issue was, sold the car before it was fixed).

General Comments:

Nice car, and handles quite well. Very nice interior with the rally version, black cloth.

Very slow though in the 1.6.

However, would never recommend this car again to even someone I don't like. The gearbox problem is a known issue in this car, and I found out about it the hard way. The diff is held together with rivets and they will eventually pop off, which is why they have so many gear box issues. This car should have been recalled seeing as it's a known design fault. VW quoted me 8000 AUD to have a brand new gear box with the problem fixed, or 6000 for a brand new gear box, which could potentially have the same problem.

Parts for this car are ridiculously expensive.

My view, MK 4 golfs are the real deal lemon.

Faults:

Around 180000 km, the back door lock stopped working. Repaired for 80 C$.

At 220000 km, the catalytic converter was replaced. Cost me 450 C$.

At 225000 km, one of the ignition coils was replaced; 100 C$.

I mostly serviced my car at a special VW/Audi mechanic, not at a VW dealership (they charge so much), and also my glove box, when I bought the car as second hand, was already broken. But I still feel that is normal for an over 200k car.

I feel like maybe I am the lucky one without so many problems, as I've read so many nightmare review stories about VW cars. Maybe just because mine was German built, one not Mexican or Brazilian.

General Comments:

I like the looks of the car (mine was metallic silver) and the interior was great, excellent dashboard illuminated with red and blue color. This car design seems never gets old.

1.8T 20v engine (150hp) with 5 speed manual transmission was one of the best performing engines I've ever driven. Only 1 second of turbo lag is the bad part I can say. But engine pump power is exceptionally good at very low RPM, and just around 1500 RPM you can feel the high pulling power.

The Golf GLS is also very stable at road handling, is equipped with full ABS with vented discs, ASR (anti slip regulation), traction control and EDL. I like my car's braking performance (installed Pagid pads). And also it comes with 4 airbags; rare for a small car, even for a recent cars.