2001 Volkswagen Golf SE from UK and Ireland - Comments

It is not possible to open the doors when it is cold. The door seals appear to be porous resulting in retained water freezing the door shut. This is just straightforward bad design, poor product development or lack of testing prior to launch.

Having got into the car it refuses to start. It went back to the supplying dealer and an alternate dealer in a 2 week period in December 2002 and neither could find a fault. The car then refused point blank to fire on 27th December and the RAC were unable to start it as well. It went back to the supplying dealer who announced that the diagnostics were clear so there was nothing wrong with the car! There has still been no intervention for this problem and it is therefore certain to return.

The engine runs badly as it has from day one. This has been reported at every service without the dealer being able to address it. I am fairly certain that this is related to the above problem. I have queried if this is related to the 800,000 vehicles that VW are recalling for coil faults, but I have been told this is not the case. I wish I believed them.

Just prior to the first service the ABS warning light came on, but the VW diagnostics again failed to diagnose a fault. The system then failed catastrophically a few weeks later with the ABS cutting in way too early and lights flashing all over the dash. Thanks VW, I really appreciated that experience.

I decided on the Golf based on its' reputation and its' undeniable showroom appeal. However the reputation is based on a model that has been out of production for years.

This particular model is a dreadful car with poor reliability, hopeless diagnostics, terrible dealers, demonstrabe underdevelopment, and dangerous manufacturing faults. Where is the quality VW?

At least I have not been afflicted by the build quality recalls affecting the front suspension welding on this car. Having the wheels drop off would be the final straw.

VW electrics are notoriously unreliable at present according to our local VW Audi specialist (non-franchised). 1.6 Autos have many problems, some of which are gearbox rather than engine related so engine diagnostics show clear, but car won't run properly. Coil problem only affects 1.8T engines so the dealer is right in that respect. Try a non-franchised specialist outlet.

We got rid of our Golf 2.0 a week before the warranty expired - it cost VW over £1500 in warranty work over 3 years and 40,000 miles and was in the dealers 9 times in 2½ years (other than routine servicing). The attitude of both the dealers and VW UK is appalling to customers. I recommend voting with your wallet. We have just bought a Saab instead.

I owned a VW GOLF 1.6 petrol between 1999 and 2000. Bought from new and covered 28,000 miles in one year. Only fault was a leaking steering rack, which was replaced under warranty at 7,000 miles. Several of my family and friends either own or have owned Golfs and I have never heard of any particular reliability problems - unlike say the Opel Astra of Ford Escort. I will say that the dealer service in the Republic of Ireland leaves a lot to be desired, especially with the Dublin based MSL garages. I have to stand in defence of a really good car, with top level quality, image and resale value.

I would back up the top two comments above from experience. VW build quality on the Golf is truly appalling. Whilst some are very reliable, a lot are not. Whilst the engine on mine was excellent, many of the ancillary bits were not - in particular the fuel injection, engine management sensors and body assembly were all faulty.

Since I use my car for business it is essential that it is reliable and my Golf Mk IV 2.0SE was definitely not. My old Golf Mk II had less problems in 7 years and 140,000 miles than the new one did in 2 years and 35,000 miles.

There are several well known design faults on the Golf that have been highlighted in the media such as security, ignition coils on the 1.8T engine and front suspension, but others are also known about in the trade such as the window mechanism (although I never had any trouble with mine), the water pump and the engine management system.

The JD Power survey 2003 shows the Golf below the Ford Focus. I would comment that build quality is very variable on the Golf, some seem to be really good and others are complete dogs. Perhaps they have one shift at Wolfsburg that doesn't care about quality.

One thing that most people seem to agree on is that customer service is terrible across the range. I found two dealers that were bad and one that was good although all were very expensive. It is extremely unlikely that I would buy another Golf on this basis.

Doors stick because of poor fit between top of door and door frame. Sometimes this can be corrected by adjusting the door hinges - a dealer job, don't try it at home. You could also try a tiny smear of silicone grease along the door seal. This will stop water penetration.

Golf electrics are pretty awful and build quality is variable between cars. I have had 3 (a 1.6, 2.0SE and GTI), two were OK, but the third (GTI 2.0) is lousy and has been in the dealers more than out of it. The latest fault is the alarm and central locking. They say it is being affected by mobile phone signals!

Dealers are very expensive and can't fix anything properly first time in my experience.

I agree with the fact the dealers are hopeless.

I have a 2000 1.9 GT TDI.

The drive door still rattles when the car is moving, every winter I have to get a new door seal (warranty) because water has penetrated the seal and frozen, when I open the door it rips the seal.

The rear brake disk shattered and was rattling, it took 5 visits to the dealer to rectify. On each occasion they repaired something different saying that was the fault. But on a 5 meter drive out the dealer the rattling noise could be heard. They obviously never took the car out on a test run!

They fitted a new exhaust due to a broken bracket (A common Golf design fault the dealer told me), then they fixed the front suspension bushes, then they replaced coolant hoses in the engine, before the service manager took the car out and found the fault straight away!

Will not be buying another VW not because of reliability, but due to the fact the dealerships are hopeless and less than friendly!!

Update from original:

The Golf goes at the end of August, having spent 6 of the last 10 weeks in the dealer.

Won't be sorry to see it go, and will never have another!

Hi..i currently own a 1.6 vw golf mk 4 1998 model... i have not found any major fault wit it yet and there is 70000 on the clock, and I hope nothing will go wrong:)..great car to drive, smooth,, feels very safe, very comfortable, good handeling,, i jus put a set of size 18" wheels on it, and since then I've noticed something rattling in the dash when on uneven surfaces,, but hey its not the end of the world! its very strange to hear all these faults listed above, and they are on new cars.. no problems wit door seals,, no water getting in,, not cutting out,, electrics perfect,, granted the idle speed is a bit varied, but I'm hardly going to sell it because of that! :)... all I can say thank god it doesent have all them problems that other people say theirs hav... plus my car has had 5 previous owners,, and nobody I know or hav met ever listed a problem to me.. if they did believe me I would have stayed well away,, all I can say is do ur own research.. thanks,,bye.

I have a Golf 1.6 SE (W reg 2000). I bought 2nd hand from a Vdub dealer and it had 22k miles on the clock. I was very impressed with all the extras the SE model had plus the original owner opted for CD, Climate Control and Alloys. I was very happy with the cars performance and especially, the looks.

Unfortunately end of September 2003 I started getting problems. The first problem I had was driving up a dual carriageway doing about 65mph when the car shuddered, it felt like a fuel starvation/temp power loss and the dashboard display came up with "STOP" with the audible warning pings.

I pulled over and turned off the car in quite a panic!! I looked through the handbook and the suggested reasons for a "STOP" light were ABS system, Oil level or a few other things, but I could not associate these reasons with the power loss. I checked the oil level, cables etc and turned the ignition on and no warning lights appeared, so I started the car and all sounded fine so I drove very slowly to my destination.

I rang the VW garage and they said bring it in so they can plug it in to 50/51 diagnostics check (£50). No problem was found and the technicians report came back saying sporadic dash display fault and the shudder was due to wheel balancing!!

I argued the point that no way was it wheel balancing and so they agreed that I should monitor and if I need another 50/51 test, it would be free of charge.

So I drove it for the next month with the stereo down low (which introduced me to a whole heap of worrying noises from around the car), every time the car juddered I panicked as I was not sure whether it was a bad road surface or the car playing up, but no warning lights so on I went.

Then a definite rattle from the engine started. I took it to a local garage guy and he found that a tension wheel on the cam belt had broken (the plastic surround on the tension wheel), fortunately the belt had not come off, and I had the tension wheel and belts replaced and the timing all set up (£450 - But cheaper than VW garage).

I mentioned my duel carriageway experience to the mechanic and he felt the problem may have been then belt slipping a tooth and that VW should have checked it when they looked it over and had they done so, probably would have noticed the wear on the tension wheel!

When I got the car back I was hoping all my worries would be over. But I still felt the car was on occasion, hesitant upon acceleration, and I could feel a strange dragging sensation when I was at partial throttle i.e. going along in traffic in 5th gear with the peddle ever so slightly pressed just to keep me up with the traffic. Also on occasion the stand still idle rpm was just over 600 when it was normally just over 800.

So I had the diagnostics done again which identified a sluggish O2 (Lambda) sensor. I looked this up on the internet and all the symptoms described as a result of a faulty O2 sensor seemed applicable to what I had been experiencing. So I had it replaced (£120).

The car felt better, but, on occasion, I still had this low 600 rpm. The idle did stay at a constant level, but it was notably lumpier when the rpm was this low.

A few days later I had starting problems, the car would start, but cut out straight away. After 3 or 4 attempts, it would start. Then on occasions, when I was coming to a stop, the car would stall!

Back to the mechanic who checked/cleaned the throttle housing as best as one can as VW have designed it so that they would normally just replace it as no settings can be modified (which I understand is £700 to replace).

It still seemed the same so my mechanic suggested he take it to a VW dealer for me and have the ECU reset to its base setting, the throttle recalibrated and he discussed at some length with the VW technician the problems I was having. Fortunately my mechanic, (who has become a v. good friend over the past months, probably due to the amount of contact we’ve had and money I've put his way) was able to negotiate very favourable rates with the VW garage.

The garage also suggested changing the temperature sensor as this has been a fault on some VW’s where, when starting the car from cold, the temp sensor sends a signal to the ECU saying the water temp is 80c and therefore the ECU does not mix the air/fuel to simulate choke. I thought this to be a reasonable explanation as to why the car starts, but cuts out straight away and so for £25 for the sensor, I had it done.

I driven it for two days since this and day one was great, rpm stayed at 800+, no stalling, smooth in fact, I was almost tempted to part ex it that very day!!!

Today however, the journey stated fine, but having put on the front window demister for a while and then turning it off, when I came to my next stop, the rpm was at 600 again. "Oh dear" I thought.

The thing is, I don't know whether it's coincidence, but I have noticed on some journeys that if I've had to use the front window demister or put the climate control on high, its after I have done so, that the low rpm problem can occur.

Normally, once the car has warmed up, the idle is around 800+. If I turn off the climate control then the rpm drops to around 650 (as one would expect). If I turn the CC back on, the rpm raises to 800+ (again, all well and good). However when the car decides to have a low rpm, it makes no difference whether the CC is off, on, high or the demister is on, it remains at 600+. Then I drive along for a bit more, and when I come to a stop the rpm can be back at 800+!

I am coming to a conclusion that the CC unit sensor may not be sending the correct signal to the ECU and therefore the ECU thinks the climate control is not on, even though it is and hence the rpm has dropped to 600-650.

Has anyone else had a similar issue with intermittent low rpm? I Would love to hear from someone with possible causes or tests I could perform to identify the problem. Having read the Haynes manual, I reckon other possible causes could be Engine speed sensor, Throttle position sensor or dirty throttle. I guess due to the problem being intermittent, the diagnostic equipment does not pick anything up. Very frustrating.

Your comments might have some credence if I believed that you, or any of the other Japanese super crate owners who have written reviews on this web site actualy own a VW. It is absurd to think that someone is criticising VW designs when they have sufficiently low enough standards to go out and buy a Toyota.

Although it's a much older car, I had a 1996 Golf that had a problem with stalling intermittently.

The idle speed regulation was faulty and the problem was solved by removing the throttle housing, cleaning it out and replacing it.

This cost £45 back in 2001 - it could be a similar problem to yours.

I own 1.6 se 2002 reg, nowt, but a bag of spanners, had the same old problems time and time again. I'm on my 3rd vw in 3 years (due too many problems) and it will definately be my last. Will probably px for a focus, which I might add my company car is an 02 reg with 110k on the clock and it has never had a fault or even a rattle. Anyone from vw listening.??. seems a shame to lose a vw for a ford. Oh my what is vw comming to these days.

With reference to the person that left the comment on 10th February doubting that I own a VW, the answer is that you are right - I do not own one any more, and never will again.

However, I did own the one to which the above faults relate and at the time of ordering it was as deluded as you about VW's quality. After all everyone knows that VW is a quality brand right?

There is no doubt that the Golf has excellent showroom appeal, and the perception of quality oozes out of the car - from the seating material, shiny paint, appealing design of alloys etc. What I should have done was over-ruled my heart with my head and questioned why this car was 104th in the JD Power survey. I now know the answer to this.

With respect to name calling other car manufacturers - this really is a bit juvenile. If you don't like Toyota or Honda, Mazda or whoever then you don't have to buy their cars. I am merely trying to pass on my experience with other marques. Bottom line is my wife has run a Toyota for 4 years, covered 50,000 miles and not had a single problem with it - not one. I can honestly say there has not even been a blown bulb or fuse, we just put petrol in it, service every 9,000 miles, and tyres when it needs them. This might be more important to other readers than some biased childish nonsense from someone who has probably never owned a Japanese car.

For information the car I replaced the Golf with was NOT a Toyota, but when I have had it long enough to form a proper opinion I shall let you know what it is and what I think of it.

I think that real opinions are important for people who spend their hard earned cash and want to gather data before making their purchases.

Hi, I've got a 2001 (51) 1.6 Golf in silver. However its absoultely mint. It has a full Pipercross Induction Kit which gives it that V6 4Motion sound along with the performance, it has a full performance exhaust system, I have also added a super chip and I am now running 170 bhp (this trashes 1.8 turbos all day long). I have also put coilover suspension along with 18" BBS RC alloy wheels (the ones on the 25th Anniversary). I must therefore correct all the above negative comments. my vehicle also has flushed bumber mouldings to give it that amense look. I have also changed the rear lights. I have instaled 2 rockford fosgate amps along with 2 kicker subs to give it that punch. the only problem I have had is one of the coil packs decided to die, but I replaced with uprated ones giving a more responsive feel. my car has only 30k on the clock and is the best example around. its up for sale on the autotrader website for £8500 ono. I hope you enjoyed this thank you!!!

I have a 51 plate 1.6 petrol VW Golf. I've had it since May '04. The only problem I have experienced, and its quite a major one, is the loss of power that sometimes occurs. To start with it was about once a month, but lately it's a couple of times a week. You can be going along the motorway at about 70-80mph and suddenly the revs drop from 4000 to 2000 and then immediately pick up again. Last November the car actually lost power and never picked up again, it stalled, a bit frightening considering I was in the outside lane of the M20 at the time!

It's now very scary driving whereas when I first got the Golf, it was a dream to drive.

"It has a full Pipercross Induction Kit which gives it that V6 4Motion sound along with the performance, it has a full performance exhaust system, I have also added a super chip and I am now running 170 bhp (this trashes 1.8 turbos all day long). "

Ha ha. Thanks for brightening up a long and boring day!

170 bhp from a 1.6 Golf with a chip, exhaust and induction kit. If it's making 115 you'll be lucky mate.