2005 Volkswagen Golf V review from Romania
"Not a hint of the former German glory"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
From the day we got the car it had a strange behaviour: sometimes when turning the AC on, it lost way too much power and was barely dragging along.
At around 600 km, the fog lights were full of rain water. Dealer refused to repair them under warranty saying I shouldn't have driven through water (?). After the repair the incident did not happen again.
At around 2000km, airbag control light went on... and stayed on. Dealer fixed it under warranty (said a cable under the seat went loose, but I checked it for loose wires under seats before submitting it for repairs and it had no such problem)
At around 5000km, various squeaking and rattling sounds started emerging from under the dashboard. Even today the car becomes noisier by the mile.
At 12300 km, AC stopped running (no cool air). Went to dealer (a different one) and they say it's the AC compressor. It is covered by the warranty otherwise it would have cost around 1200 Eur (1500 $ US) to fix (parts only).
General comments?
The Golf V is a comfortable ride. The 1.6 l Petrol engine (102 HP) is not very fuel efficient nor fast.
Running costs are very high.
The build quality is poor even though the plastics in the interior are of better quality than the competition.
The price/quality ratio for this car is at best dismal.
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| Absolute rubbish car and service, will never again buy VW |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Year of manufacture | 2005 |
| First year of ownership | 2005 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2006 |
| Engine and transmission | 1.6 petrol 102 HP Manual |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 4 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 3 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 2 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 11 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 12600 kilometres |
| Previous car | Dacia 1310 |
| Date of Entry | 30th October, 2006 |