2001 Volkswagen Golf GTi 1.8T from UK and Ireland - Comments

I had 2 coils changed after 10000 miles, apparently this was a problem across the range, which also affected Skoda, Seat and Audi; all the 1.8T engines. The after that I have had 1 lambda sensor changed. 1 EGR Valve changed, Some parts on the injection were changed after a very strange whistling sound was coming from the turbo. Recently I have had 4 more coils changed after the car was misfiring badly once again.

This car is easily the worst I have ever had.

The reliability is 0, I have worked out that it breaks down every 3 months without fail.

I bought the car because I thought VW had a good name for reliability, but I am not sure what went wrong with this model.

It looks good and feels comfortable when it is working, but you really do not know what you are going to get when you start the car in the morning and that is not good enough for a car of this age and price.

VW customer service is horrendous, they simply do not care and they are very expensive.

I agree with you 100%. I own a 2001 golf 1.8t and have had nothing, but problems with it had to have the coils replaced under a recall and it seems to run worse with the new ones. the car has skipped every time it is started up cold and continues to skip until it warms up. the dealer tells us we have been driving it to hard or have been putting too many miles on it. the check engine light has been on since 20,000 miles and the dealer can't seem to figure out why. overall this car has been the worst quality car I have ever owned in my life. I have a 1984 honda civic with over 300,000 miles on it that is more reliable and runs better than it.

I disagree with you. I have a Volkswagen Golf 1990 1.8.

Although I have had a few problems which is normal for an old car which has done a lot of mileage. It hasn't broken down. It is better than the cheap Japanese cars.e.g. KIA.

KIA is Korean, not Japanese.

I agree with every comment in here. I have a 2003 gti 1.8T I bought used. Upon doing so, I was given a receipt showing the new mass air flow sensor, new set of plug coils,and a replaced stock turbo.

Since then I have only put 5000 miles on it, and have had to replace the coils 3 times, the mass air flow sensor is going bad, and the bearings in my turbo are starting to grind.

This is truly the most unreliable car I've ever owned.

First off, you want the advanced german engineering, you pay the price.

Second, you wanted turbo charged to go faster, then you get a faster motor that breaks faster too.

German cars are expensive to maintain and should never be known as reliable simply because the Japanese cars are untouchable. And turbo cars are just so picky and this and that...

I thought I was the only one encountering problems after problems, replaced all my coils with rs4 ones, nearly everything in the car is new, gotta replace coolant temp sensor tomorrow... I only have 46xxxkm haha, but I'd just be as equally satisfied if I found out I was having problems sooner than everyone else because I drive my car hard and race with it, and simply because it is making over twice the amount of horsepower it came with :D (modded out)