Electric window fell down and would not come up twice because the clips broke. This is a common problem with the Golf I am told.
Heavy fuel consumption (~28 mpg). Dealer said I was driving it hard, but this is on the motorway also.
Also uses a lot of oil.
Pulls to the left all the time. Dealer has tried to fix 3 times, but failed.
CD player broke
Paintwork chips easily on the front
Cold start temperature probe went
Fuel injection recalibrated
Remote locking works intermittently and have to be very close to the car
Rear dampers needed replacing due to leaks
Rattles from drivers door caused by loose locks.
Great on the motorway, but goes a bit pear shaped on twisty roads. Poor handling really.
Very comfortable, but heater is a bit weak and demisting poor without the air con.
Not very good build quality although it looked great at first. Primeras are built much better.
Very disappointed with the reliability although all problems fixed under warranty.
Dealers very poor and don't really care. Service and parts very expensive.
Going to get rid of it soon because I am fed up with it.
Expensive car for very below average performance and reliability.
Similar to my experiences. There is a good car in there spoiled by poor build quality of many of the minor parts and systems compounded by poor assembly standards. The Golf is vastly over-rated and overpriced.
Ours has been in the dealer so often for warranty work that they think I'm on the staff. All I can say is be grateful you don't have a GTi 1.8T like mine which is still off the road after 3 weeks awaiting parts. Allegedly modified ones are being sent from Germany, but there is a waiting list.
Volkswagen quality is a joke. The car is great when it works.
I've had the same problems with my 1998 Mk4 GTI (125bhp version).
The windows on both sides have fallen into the door because the plastic clips have broken (this was on both sides).
Two tips to avoid this are, 1. Don't try abnd open the windows until ANY POSSIBLE ice has melted inside the door frame during cold weather. 2. Don't shut the doors when the windows are open.
The car pulls to the left when accelerating.
There is a rattle from the cupholder/stereo area. This happened on my friends Bora too which has exactly the same dashboard.
I own a golf and I like it a lot. its has torque and for me is reliable. although it seems reliable because I always put my own parts in it before they may brake. I have a cold air intake two strut bars new exhaust system and it only put premium gas with full synthetic oil. I believe if you take good care of the car it is a great drive and reliable.
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