1995 Volkswagen Golf VR6 from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have had no faults with the car so far.

This is my 4th Golf and my second MK3. The VR6 engine makes the vehicle exceptionally easy to drive, lots of low and mid range power mean frequent gears changes are eliminated.

Handling and ride are good compromise between sports and comfort with very little road noise penetrating the cabin.

In 5 door form the car is proving to be very practical and the increase body size offers much more comfort for rear passengers than my old MK2.

I'd recommend this car to anyone who can live with the fuel bill. Running costs are higher than the smaller engined version, but the smile on your face more than makes up for it.

I wrote this review sometime ago, not too long after buying the car and after living with it for sometime thought I would add some further comments. The car is still putting a smile on my face, but like all new toys it has now lost it's shine. The running costs of the car aren't as bad as what I had anticipated. I've had to renew the front brakes (disks and pads) but at £88.00 GBP for the parts and couple of hours with the spanners I was quite pleasantly suprised. The average fuel consumption for the last 2000 miles has been 24MPG which I think is reasonable. This car has left me in a bit of a dilema though, when the time eventually comes to replace it I will have a difficult time. What else will provide the same levels of performance and refinement at such low cost?

I have a 1995 VR6, which I bought in 1998 with 22K miles.

I'm not very nice to cars to be truthful, and this car has had a pretty tough life - apart from the odd dealer service:- (2 in 7 yrs).

It has only ever needed; v pulley belts (2) oil, plugs, disks and pads and a few tyres. Now it has 68K on clock and doesn't miss a beat.

One of the back windows hasn't worked since I owned it and the driver seat is a little worn now, apart from that its still clean and tidy, however the BBS wheels are a pain to clean. I have always given it stick (when and where I can safely and away from the scameras) and it still cheers me up big time :)

The handling can be a bit tricky to call, the back end will pitch and roll when showing some anger under braking, the front end will understeer when going hard into corners, but a little balancing of car and some more gas it will get you round the corners and generally send the corners of your mouth upwards..

It is roomy enough for the family (2.4) and still pulls like a train up hills when fully loaded with the family and clobber.

Q. But what should I replace it with? as its getting on an lookin a bit dated.

MK4 GTI?

MK4 V6-4M?

MK4 R32?

None of the above I'm afraid!!! - far too many gearchanges, heavy and the handling (i thought) was a bit too stale considering what vw should have learn't from the MK3 VR's.

This is looking more like a suitable canidate though!

2005 GTI 200PS.

I took one out the other week, to be truthful I didn't want to like it, in a way I wanted to hate it - to reassure myself the VR6 was old, but still better that the newer models and to keep the cash stashed under the bed! However, the throttle respone was immediate - no real lag to complain of. It pulls from 2k all the way up, the exhaust note was very nice - slightly boomy. The steering is responsive and the handling felt extremely agile. This is far more of a hot hatch than the mk3's and mk4's ever were.

The only thing I need to decide on now; before I place the order is whether I like the SEAT Leon back end on it or whether or not VW will lauch the R36 in 2006/7?...

Decisions, decisions!!!

Dedub.