Faults:

Connector on exhaust pipe just below the CAT (Don't know if it's meant to be there) decayed and leaked.

Distributor, I was told it seems to go in all of them.

But that is it.

General Comments:

For reliability this car could nearly be awarded top marks, in the space of time I had it, there was very little (low cost) things that went in it.

This car is a very bad handling car, nearly lost it a few times and I wasn't speeding. I was talking to a man that owns a large scrap yard, he said that it is very hard to get second hand front panels (i.e. bonnets, wings bumpers etc.) due to this reason.

The worst problem I had with this car was the fuel consumption, maybe it was the amount of miles on it, but I have a 1.6 car now and its lighter on petrol.

I wouldn't of minded this as much if the car was fast, but it certainly wasn't, it wouldn't pull you out of bed with its 45BHP.

All in all I can't complain too much about this car because it owed me nothing in the end. I got around (expensively) in this car with little problems.

Faults:

The car started to get very noisy with quite bad vibrations, and was a very bad started. We replaced the glow plugs, fuel filter and oil filter amongst other things, but nothing solved the problem.

It is still like this unfortunately... possibly worn engine mounts?

General Comments:

The polo is probably the best car I have owned.

It is a good looking car, which hasn't dated at all in my opinion.

The interior is comfortable, cosy and modern, with rear head-rests.

It is incredibly economical, doing over 50mpg.

It's quite slow, but nippy enough around town and at higher speeds ie on the motorway. The acceleration is poor which is the downside to these cars.

Faults:

The car rattles a lot and there is a loud vibration at certain revs. It is fairly annoying, manifesting itself through the gearbox into the car. After taking the exhaust off the car the vibration disappears, but can't drive without an exhaust! This is the only niggle I've had.

General Comments:

My previous car was a Honda Prelude 2.2VTEC, which was amazing. But when running the car became too expensive, I decided to opt for a cheaper, smaller economy car. My first car was a VW Golf, so, after looking at around 20 or so Honda Civics and finding them all to have been badly neglected, the Polo seemed a good second choice.

The car gets around 33-35mpg day to day which really isn't all that impressive for a little car. The upside to this however is the car is very cheap to maintain, so long as you avoid main dealers.

Apart from having rattles and the engine being quite noisy, the car is actually pretty good, for what it is. It handles the job of being a reliable and sturdy run-a-round very well. It starts first time even on very cold mornings, and warms up quickly.

The gearbox has a very short ratio, but once up to higher gears, bags of torque from the 8 valve engine mean you don't really need to change gears at all! A lot of people mention the bodyroll, but this only occurs at back-off speeds. If you actually drive it slightly harder than you think you can, the handling sorts itself out. Very strange sensation, but quite safe.

The GLX is very comfortable and well kitted out. The seats are Recaro style, with height as well as back adjustments. You also get electric windows and mirrors which is a nice bonus. The only thing wrong about the driving position is the pedals. They are a little too close together, with obtrusive panels either side. This means the accelerator is sometimes hard to get, and there is nowhere to put your left foot after you lifted off the clutch. Very annoying!