1991 Volkswagen Polo G40 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing apart from parts expiring after 6/7 years which you would expect. Oh and criminals mistakenly thinking it belongs to them, and that they must have lost the keys.

Genuine pocket rocket. Very light - high power to weight ratio (160 bhp/ton after rechip). Very smooth supercharged power delivery. Very quiet considering. Standard brakes are crap - replaced with upgraded - much better. Mine was rechipped 45k miles ago by AmD - has been fantastic since. Needs GOOD tyres to really perform well - Yokohama A510 are the best I've used.

4 years with this car were all great.

I used to own a 1991 G40 "coupe". Yes it was fast, rare and head turning. But I sold it after having to wait 6 weeks for a new exhaust manifold to come from Germany (The UK Volkswagen dealers - mainly LEX could not source one in Britain). I was also charged £350 for the part and this didn't include fitting!!! Also charged £120 for a timing belt change at a main dealer, the belt itself cost £14!!!

Volkswagens are too expensive to own for what they are. I haven't bought one since and never will.

I have personally had a G40 for 6 years. Apart from the gear-box needing replacing once, I have just had the standard services. This car is truly amazing - it handles like a true sports car and has so much power that it can out-accelerate cars with up to 2.5 engines. Very comfortable to drive, highly responsive, very easy to speed in!

If you can find one, buy it!

I live in Ireland and I bought a red G40 1992 last week. It is a great motor with savage power. Great fun to drive.

I cannot believe how rare they are. I was lucky to find one. It's in perfect nick and was quite cheap.

The clutch is very, very stiff.

Hi I'm a a 1.3 GT polo driver (i.e a G40 without the charger), we went for this one cause I couldn't get a mortgage to pay for the insurance, a bit older now, I'm desperate for a G40 and am finding it hard to find one that aint been raped.

If you have one please consider yourself lucky.

Even my 1.3 GT out accelerates most 1.0-1.8 8v engines with a 0-60 of 10.5 seconds, it's as fast 0-60 as my bosses BMW 520i.

I started on a 1.0 Polo and I've never looked back, so glad my dad didn't buy me a Nova

With regard to the first comment - why not change the timing belt your self it's an easy job, and then all you have to pay is 10 quid for the belt itself. If you have to get other people to jobs like this for you, you will have an expensive time no matter what car you own!

I've owned a G40 for 3 years now, and after looking for one for about 4 years I found this minter!! alpine white 60,000 miles ,service history, and it was mint, if you can find A GOOD ONE because most of them left now have been abused, buy it, don't worry about the insurance because if you do then you shouldn't be buying a sports car anyway!

Hi I am a Volkswagen specialist and have my own garage. In my town there are three G40,s and I look after them all. And in my opinion they are one of the most underrated cars of all time. I have tried to buy them off the customers, but they aren't having any of it. My friend has lent me his from time to time and I can honestly say with a stage 4 charger pulley and chip they can whuppp an Impreza with a chimp driving. They are a dream to work on. Timing belts are easy. But make sure it has good services. Always let them warm up and cool down, get a manual, you can't go wrong. When one comes up I will buy it!

Have had a G40 for five years, brilliant little car. One mentioned earlier about gearbox going so did mine, common fault perhaps? Had my back box go Volkswagen wanted £200 for new one, in the end got a full stainless for £220. If you actually ask the maker to keep the noise down they sound the same as standard and not like a jump jet.

Do you recon it is easy to put a G40 engine in a 1.0l polo saloon?

Hello! I have owned a g40 for the last 3 years. It has now done 140,000 miles.I'm now in the dilemma of should I sell it reluctantly!or hang on to it. Looking through the service records there is no mention of a new charger and I haven't much money to spare! should I sell?

Keep it!!! just get the charger re-built by pitstop developments or jabba sport I think its about £200-300.

I have owned a 1991 Polo GT Coupe for 3 Years now. I purchased it with 54,000 miles on the clock completely standard and very well looked after - I have taken this to 108,000 servicing the car every 8,000 miles. A truly reliable and fun car to drive.

I have no wish to sell the car, after 13 years it still gleams when polished (black) and the doors still shut in the original Volkswagen style - lacking on many new 'tinny' cars.

Is there anywhere I can obtain drawings of the exhaust system so I can have a new one made in Stainless - removing the CAT and expanding the life beyond the standard components? Also if I wanted to overhaul the engine by gas flowing the head, fitting a high lift cam, and re-chipping the fuel management who would you recommend (I'm based in West Yorkshire).

Hello everybody

I'm writing from Serbia and Montenegro, (province of Kosovo, ex Yugoslavia), I was looking for a small and fast car, and a colleague of mine offered me a VW Polo G40, at first I couldn't believe that it has 133 hp out of 1.3l. I'm thinking of buying it. It was very difficult to find some web page with specifications of this car. Before buy it I wanted to know what is the compression in the cylinders (so that I could compare it with the one I want to buy). I'll be checking this site one of these days, and I see that many people are commenting. I'd be grateful for any comment on the matter that interests me.

I own a G40 which is one of the last few made on a L plate (i think there were only 27 made for the UK markets). Its mariner blue with a top of the range 'Supersprint' chrome ended oval tail-pipe. Its in need of some overhaul soon - g/box + charger service (nearing 100k miles). I was thinking of selling up - BUT, a VW enthusiast has assured me to keep the car as I will miss the driving experience + the fact that it is one of the very few on a L registration & much sought after. So, looking to re-vamp the car in the near future!

I am lucky enough to own two g40s and they are exceptionally fast for such a small engine. Unfortunately, one of them is in bad shape body-wise, but has some very good parts on it. So I'm going to put all the good bits onto the other one as the body has been very well looked after, but I don't need the engine. So if anyone out there wants to convert a 1.0 into a g40 with r1 charger chip and pulley, please email me @ willdevenny@hotmail.co.uk as I don't need any of the engine parts or lower suspension parts. However, I will never sell the good one because I love the look on hot hatch drivers when a 16 year old car wastes them from the word go.