11th May 2001, 07:26

I own a 1999 VW Golf 1.6 S. VW have just told me that my gearbox has gone. There was a hole in the casing and all the oil has leaked. They do not keep such items in stock in UK and it will take 10 to 15 days to arrive from Germany!!! This is the 8th warranty repair in 14 months. Others have included rear wash wipe, jammed door locks, total replacement dash. The car has only done 26,000 miles.

4th Jun 2001, 02:08

I agree with the perception of build quality versus reality. I have had my car two years and have got to the point where it's time to offload it. Squeaks and rattles particularly from the dash, rear parcel shelf and doors (despite several readjustments), water comes in through the drivers door, I have a rattle from underneath the the car that VW cannot trace, the gear stick vibrates in 4th gear at approx 2200rpm, and now the suspension has started to squeak. Many of these faults also apply to my fathers Golf as well. It's the last one I will be buying.

11th Jun 2001, 06:16

I have owned a VW Golf 1.6 Comfortline for just over a month.

Second gear is difficult to engage and it rattles... it is driving me mad. The doors, door panels, air vents and stereo!!

I want my money back. My old Escort was a lot better. The most overrated car on the market. I am glad I am not alone.

2nd Sep 2001, 12:29

I thought I was alone or going mad. VW have a totally overrated reputation for build quality and the dealers have long had a reputation for being useless. I have had my GT TDI PD for 5months and have had it in 8 times for rattles and squeaks with persistent problems from the centre console and seats. Everytime they solve one problem they create another.

8th Sep 2001, 17:20

Talking about V.W. products, I have owned a new Seat Toledo TDiSE for just under two years, and I now have done almost 48000 miles with it. The car has always been 100% reliable and there has never been the slightest rattle or squeak. My Seat was made in the V.W. factory in Belgium and it is a credit to whoever built it. A superb car!

6th Feb 2002, 04:01

VW pulled off one of the greatest advertising feats ever with it's "If only everything was as reliable..." campaign. It has stuck in peoples minds so well that a lot of people buying a VW automatically expect it to be reliable.

I think the car magazines, which (certainly in the UK) are a bunch of biased and useless rags, some of them written by general journalists whose last job was on a computer games magazine, have a lot to do with the problem. They continually talk about something called "quality" of VWs. Maybe the plastics used are better than in other cars, but when it comes to reliabilty and trim falling apart, they are no better than anyone else (it specifically mentions many trim problems for VW/AUDI in the old JD Power surveys).

12th Jul 2002, 06:49

I have had the pleasure of owning and driving a 2000 Golf 4 1.6 Comfortline for the past 2 year. It has been a pleasure to drive and have had no major problems. It is a solid vehicle with excellent roadholding and driving ability. It is also economical to service and good fuel economy.

19th Jul 2002, 23:15

I own a 2001 Volkswagen Golf 1.6 in Perth, Australia.

I'm quite surprised to find this website with owners of VWs have particularly same problem as mine.

My car has now done 19,000 Kms and I think I have brought it for 3 times to fix the defects!

Since the first day I owned the car, the illumination in the dash come off, and there are paint defect too, same again, the dealer was SO hopeless.

It is a solid build quality car, but even so.. my previous car, a Daewoo Matiz has run for 30,000 kms,before I sold it without ANY problems.

3rd Sep 2002, 15:38

Most Seat Toledos were assembled in Belgium, so they tend to be much better. Mine certainly is!

4th Jan 2006, 16:38

Hi

I am very surprised to hear all these negative comments. Over many years I have been the owner of five Golfs (all Mk 1) and have found them all to be excellent. My current car a 1982 1500 auto I have owned for two and a half years and has only required routine maintenance-despite having been bought for £400!.VW's reputation was obviously built on these early models- they must not build them like they used to!

Cheers

Malin.

30th Jun 2007, 13:45

I own a 1.6 VW Golf Final Edition 1994. Just over 3 years old, only 29,500 miles and the clutch has gone. I would not have expected this to happen. Has anyone else experienced similar problems, or is anyone aware of any published production line faults?