Brake servo hose split.
Anti roll bar bushes wore out.
Brake discs and pads replaced (general wear and tear).
Air mass meter faulty.
I thought it necessary to add this review given a lot of the bad press the Mk4 Golf has received on this site. I am not a short-sighted devotee of VW, this is the first one I've had, but I like what I see.
The problems above are nothing major, and quite normal for any car of this mileage.
Compared with my old 306 the Golf is light years ahead in terms of refinement and comfort. The TDi engine is gutsy, quiet and economical. I have several years experience of working in the motor trade and believe that the Golf is a great balance of solidity and style.
Yes, maybe there are better cars out there, but the high resale values reflect the continued demand for these cars. If they had become so bad this would have inevitably changed by now.
My car has not been troublesome. It has had far fewer problems than my last car and I work it hard, covering upto 20K miles a year.
Come on people, give these cars a lot of the credit they deserve. Yes, slate bad examples, but don't be shallow enough to over generalise. There are some excellent ones too.
As I understand it, it depends very much where individual examples are built. The South African built cars are truly dreadful, with countless common faults and build quality that is best described as slapdash.
The German built cars are much more in-line with traditional expectations of a VW. I suspect yours is German built. I had a South African built example which was without a doubt the worst car I have ever owned.
I don't think another car exists with such variable quality, and as such I wouldn't recommend it. All rivals are much more consistent.
I originally wrote the review above. The car has now covered 132000 miles and drives very well. I had it remapped over 3 years ago (Revo) and it transformed it! Still loads of power and very refined to drive. Very little work has been needed other than routine discs and pads etc.
My wife's 306 Hdi handles far better, the Golf going round corners more like a side board!
Given the mileage and continuing tidiness I think I'll hang onto the Golf for some time yet. It is withstanding the mileage far better than my old 306 D turbo did.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site