Faults:

I've had nothing but trouble with this car - avoid at all costs. Although my dealership have been quite helpful and met us someway with some major costs, and undertaken some diagnostic tests for free, this has not really compensated for the worry, stress and inconvenience caused.

The mileage is still under 25000 miles, and the list of problems is as follows:

From the first drive at 0 miles the brakes squeaked. I tried to get this sorted and was told it was just dust on the brake pads - this lasted for 6 years and is still going on, although only in wet weather now.

Engine warning light appeared first in 2005, the dealership told me it was dirty fuel. Over the next 6 months the light came off and on many times, and the car went in and out of the garage. Eventually the car totally broke down and had to be towed to the garage, where I insisted they find out and rectify the problem. They discovered it was the lambda probe (apparently a known fault on 52 Polo's) but the damage had gone deep into the 2nd cylinder which cost £1000 to fix. Happily the dealership met some of the costs, but the light has returned many times, and I am just waiting for another major problem to occur.

After the garage fixed the cylinder, mould grew and covered the whole of the car - under the mat in the boot, through the seats and up to the drivers door. This took over the car in only a few weeks, so I paid out and had this problem rectified.

The passenger door no longer centrally locks or unlocks reliably - it decides how it feels that day!

On the last service I was told the wishbones had snapped - this seems a very serious problem to be occurring after such little driving. Again it cost me a lot of money to fix the part at the dealership garage.

More recently the car grinds when it is put into reverse, now the clutch has gone "springy" and can't reverse any more (I'm 41 weeks pregnant and had to push the car backwards outside school this morning!) The car can no longer slide into gear easily, so this is the next item on the list to be fixed.

I have had all but 1 service done at the dealership, but would never never buy a VW car again. There have been many more little incidents with this car which have been forgotten, but I'm convinced this is a "friday afternoon car" with a dodgy engine, leaky sills, worrying clutch and no end of hassle for a busy mum and part-time teacher to sort out. AVOID AVOID AVOID. I can't even sell it because I would hate to pass on all the problems.

General Comments:

WARNING Don't buy one. STOP, AVOID, It looks good and doesn't feel tinny or boxy, but is rammed with hidden problems which cost major money to sort out.

Faults:

I bought a 02 Volkswagen Polo in July 2007.

I only had it about 2 weeks when the EPC light started coming on the dashboard causing the car to lose power and stop. I returned it to my dealer 4 times in the first 6 months with the same problem; each time I got it back I was assured the problem was fixed, but it was always sure to happen again.

In January of this year the problem reoccurred yet again. I decided to call a local Volkswagen dealer; I explained the issue and they advised me that it would be 6 to 8 weeks before they could even look at it. I thought this strange, but proceeded to another mechanic who cleaned some filters.

The problem was resolved, but of course a number of weeks later it happened again. At this stage I had had enough. I went online and was horrified to learn what I did. I learned that there is a fault in the 02 computer system and that this is a common issue. It advised on the website that to resolve it, to disconnect and reconnect the battery to reset the computer system. I started to do this and it worked, I was glad as it wasn't too much of a inconvenience, it had to be done on average of twice a week.

Only in this past few days that has failed to work, I have now had to get taxis to work. I am disgusted as I recently tried to contact my dealer but to no success, I have now been told by a mechanic that my car needs a new computer system. I am in the middle of paying for my car loan, it's my first car, I have reported it often enough to my dealer, but have constantly been fobbed off.