1986 Volkswagen Golf review from North America
"I am going to keep this car until it totally falls apart and the cops make me take if off the road!"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Minor, age-rated repairs at around 120, 000 kms. Some work on the brakes and some suspension. Bushings, tie rod ends and relatively low-cost repairs. At 160,000 km a leaky transmission seal caused some problems, but a very experienced mechanic was able to fix this without taking anything apart.
Poor thing was a little rusty when I got it. It spent about 5 years in Ontario (lots of salt on the roads) but I cleaned it up and did a little repainting and it's holding up fine (since 1997)
General comments?
Very, reliable and economical to run. I hate breakdowns and this car does not let me down. Now that fuel is so expensive, I really appreciate the fact that it still gets good gas mileage.
Fun to drive and runs well at low and high speeds.
Heater is excellent is cold climates (-20 or -30 C). Starts fine up to -40 when the fuel injector starts to make a lot of noise.
I am short 5'2" and my husband is nearly a foot taller. We both drive this care comfortably.
Need to find a good mechanic that knows how to fix VWs. Most repairs can be very low cost if the mechanic knows exactly what to do. I had some very high repair quotes from chain-type garages.
It's almost 20 years old and it's still a great car. What else can anyone ask for?
Recommended reviews
| If you get one (new), take care of it, because it will outlive you |
|
| Cheap reliability refined to an art form |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Model year | 1986 |
| Year of manufacture | 1985 |
| First year of ownership | 1997 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2005 |
| Engine and transmission | Gasoline Automatic |
| Performance marks | 9 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 10 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 7 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 10 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 100000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 180000 kilometres |
| Previous car | Honda Civic |
| Date of Entry | 23rd July, 2005 |