2002 Volkswagen Golf SE review from UK and Ireland

Generally very rattly esp passenger side dash and front doors.

Front brake Discs warped and replaced by 12 000 miles.

Like every other vw I know, had 2 ignition coil packs fail resulting in 2 seperate breakdowns.

Central locking not unlocking all doors.

Rear wash wipe water pipe fell off 4 separate times resulting in water leaking into boot lock and setting the Cat1 alarm off continually every 15 - 20 minutes regardless of it being armed or not. (ongoing issue)

Rear thumping noise when on uneven road surfaces, sounds like a hollow knock.

Car makes some weird squeek/mild grinding noises when cornering anything, but lightest corners.

Basically I think the car likes to go back to the dealers on average every 2 to 3 months.

I am on my 3rd vw, after having a lupo sport (complete lemon) for a year. It was exchanged (free of charge) for a new 1, great customer service. Only to have the same problems with that 1 to exchange it for this golf... hmmm why did I bother I ask myself??

Engine seems quite noisy on motorway on any speeds above 60mph.

On a good note when the car is working with no faults it's a great drive, very smooth, great dials, competent 1.6 engine, and very good brakes and ABS.

Seems to get better with age, but don't think ill keep it long enough to find out if all the bugs disappear for good.

Residuals are good, but new mk5 could change that a bit.

Build quality seems to have slipped a bit from previous mk2's and mk3's.