2000 Volkswagen Golf GT TDI from UK and Ireland - Comments

Two glovebox catches have failed. A common problem, and necessitates replacement of the complete lid, as the catch is "sealed in".

Lots of squeaks and rattles inside, particularly the parcel shelf, glovebox lid (on the rare occasion it will actually latch closed), and centre console.

Mass Airflow Sensor at 31,000 miles (warranty)

Glowplugs at 36,000 miles (not covered under warranty!)

Uses a litre of oil every 900-1,000 miles! This means an oil top up every time it is filled with fuel! Told "it's normal"

Lovely car to drive, and excellent TDI engine giving barely believable economy, with good, useful performance. I drove both the 115 and 130PS versions and thought there was very little in it, although the 115 PS is not quite as refined under load.

Unfortunately, despite its strengths, the ownership experience has been spoiled heavily by poor build quality, so-so reliability and unsympathetic dealers. I know all engines use oil for example, but find it hard to accept that the oil needs to be topped up at every refuel to avoid it dropping below the "MIN" mark on the dipstick. The dealer isn't interested and fobs me off.

"VW Approved Used" warranty has weasled out of paying for both the glovebox catches that failed, and the glow plugs which made starting a nightmare through the winter of 2003/4. The former is particularly irritating as it is a known fault on the mk4 Golf. My father's year newer 130 and his work colleague's 1.6 petrol have both had the same problem.

Although it seems to be a quality machine when you sit in it, the mk4 Golf somehow lacks the "hewn from rock" feel of the mk1-mk3 Golfs. Although the interior is comfortable and constructed from expensive looking materials, the standard of fit and finish, not to mention durability are well below what I expect from a so-called "quality" brand. My brother has a Focus with twice this mileage which has fewer creaks and squeaks inside.

After a Mk1 Golf, a Scirocco, two mk2 Golfs, and 2 mk3's, this will be my last VW. I didn't mind paying a price premium when I was getting quality, but now I feel they have been caught and overtaken even by mainstream brands. A shame, as the car itself is lovely. I'm not prepared to risk a mk5 however.

VW made a "mistake" in that lots of cars were filled with fully synthetic oil from the factory, which didn't allow the piston rings to bed in.

The oil they should have used was supposed to be drained at 1,000 miles and replaced by the normal recommended oil.

Consequently, they never sealed properly and the result is high oil consumption.

You need to do some research into this.

Such oil use is clearly unacceptable.

Mind you, you should consider yourself lucky, since this particular engine (1.9 PD 115) was infamous for its defective (piston) rods and in some rare cases porous engine blocks (source: The special edition of "L'automobile" magazine on the 2nd hand best buys - no I'm not french). Yeap, an expensive looking cabin doesn't necessarily mean overall first class engineering...

Author of the original review here. Two very interesting comments indeed - I knew nothing of any inherent weaknesses in the 115PS engine. Clearly neither do a lot of other people judging by the fact that VW dealers are still asking (and getting) UKP 9,000 + for even higher mileage used examples. I've never understood why these cars hang on to their value as they do.

All I can say is the engine seems in good health apart from the oil consumption. It pulls well, makes no odd noises, does 50 mpg average, idles perfectly evenly and starts instantly in all weathers (now the glowplugs are fixed). I cannot understand how it could "use" so much oil and not be showing any symptoms of low compression or rough running which are normally the first signs of ring problems on diesels.

I still feel very disappointed with the car as a package though, and these comments are not exactly slowing my increasing will to part with the car. No idea what to replace it with though.

Cheers

The public perception of a brand is something that takes at least 20 yrs to develop (and billions of $$ as Toyota found out with its Lexus brand). Just browse this site for Golf IV/Jetta (Bora for us Europeans) owner comments: Quite a lot of them relate the VW image-of-quality to the... beetle days. That's why VW is getting away with it for the moment. But they are clearly living on borrowed time (from the Golf I/II era...) so they have to be quick and adapt the quality of their products to their brand image levels. Fortunately, it seems that the Golf V is a leap forward on engineering terms if not on the quality of the interior plastics. But, it remains to be seen how it passes the test of time

This is badly broken. A healthy PD engine uses no oil whatsoever. I never have to even top mine up, and not does any of the other people I know with this engine.

Thanks for the comments all.

Sick of being fobbed off by VW dealers and disillusioned with ongoing problems caused by appalling workmanship standards, I part-exchanged the Golf for a new shape Honda Accord 2.2 i-CDTi Sport.

I'm sorry to say this, but in terms of build quality, the Accord makes the Golf look like it was knocked together by a bunch of amateurs on Scrapheap Challenge. Tiny, perfectly even panel gaps, a slick well oiled feel to the controls and the car just oozes engineering excellence. The dealers are also helpful, and the i-CDTi engine makes the Golf's clattery old TDI PD engine sound and feel like something out of the ark.

I won't be back to VW! There are so many better cars out there!

Lol - forgot all about this site and the review I wrote above. The Golf is a long forgotten and rarely missed memory these days, although looking back on the review, I am reminded what an awful car the Golf was to own.

I still have the Honda. Now on 39,000 miles during which time it has needed two sets of front tyres, three services and a headlight bulb. The VW PD engine is definitely more frugal than the Honda's common rail, but can't hold a candle to its refinement, power or sheer "petrolness".

I now understand why the Japanese car industry walks the customer satisfaction surveys year on year, and I will not be returning to VW or any other European make for that matter any time soon. Utter reliability and quality that extends beyond blue lighting and expensive looking trim into the whole design of the car.

I am not too sure about Japanese build quality these days. Being in the trade I have seen a number of Honda Civics (around 2002 year model always around 30000 to 40000 miles) with manual gearboxes needing a rebuild the same goes for 1st generation Toyota Avensis and Yaris. I have also heard many times of the VVTi engines in the new Avensis and Corollas knocking. They are still probably less troublesome then the Golf, but these are worrying issues which you do not expect from Japanese cars. It seems these days all manufacturers are cutting corners to cater for the masses.

I agree totally with all the above. I love the look of my mk4 GT TDI Golf, but it's been no end of trouble with power loss issues (very very common with the 1.9 TDI) and fuel injection and turbo problems. It's like dating a model I guess; looks great, but it's a fake with massive issues. I'm gutted as it looks great, but guess I'm gonna fix it up and part ex for something half decent instead of just good looking. I bought a vw because I expected reliability and even more so from a diesel. Total let down in that area.