1983 Volkswagen Santana review from Australia and New Zealand

Great car when I first got it, but due to i's age, slowly things started breaking down one by one, mostly little things that didn't stop you from driving the car.

Odometer stopped working.

Boot lock didn't always open easily.

Buttons you pull up to unlock the doors from the inside, broke off one by one.

Front passenger window wouldn't wind down anymore.

Switch for air blower on the dashboard was stuck on full blast and you couldn't switch it off anymore. Only solution was to remove the fuse, but that meant you couldn't de-fog the windscreen anymore.

Electric aerial worked intermittently and sometimes not at all.

Car would shake for up to 20 seconds after you'd switched off the ignition. Mechanic wouldn't set the timing until I'd bought a seal for between the manifold and carburetor, costing $270 New Zealand Dollars (double that figure for American Dollars).

Seats have started to wear badly, but that would be due to its age.

Due to the age of the car, some of the problems I had were not surprising.

Otherwise it was a great little car that was bought very cheaply, and was very cheap to run.

There was almost no rust whatsoever, and for a car this age that was very very impressive. Probably the German steel living up to its reputation.

Parts were on average more expensive due to it being a European car.