Reverse Light indicator failed - £20.
Distributor cap & leads packed up, can't really blame the car for this, they were 10 years old.
Apart from this, only mid section of original exhaust has failed. that's it!
I wanted to hate the Scirocco, a change of circumstances led to me driving this car, after 5 years in new company cars.
However, 3 years on I am still driving it and it still refuses to break down.
Performance is good, surprising in fact. The engine is very flexible, pulling from low revs in high gears. It does become harsh beyond 4000 revs - so there's no real incentive to drive fast.
Handling is interesting... somtimes entertaining, usually just dull and heavy (no PAS). Swapped the aging Michelins for Avon ZV1, this made a huge difference to grip and feel of the car.
Steering is very heavy with little feedback.
Ride comfort is not great, you certainly know about the imperfections of the road beneath you.
Economy is superb for the performance - av 37mpg over 3 years.
Rear seats are for toddlers only, but boot is huge & rear seats fold.
Brakes are a joke - bit apparently this is normal. Beware when you drive a modern car again, you'll be sending the passengers through the windscreen when you brake for the first time.
To summarise, it isn't a great car, but it is fantastically reliable, absolutely everything still works. They are ridicuosly cheap second hand and cost little to run (except insurance which is high).
Be prepared for back to basics motoring though - no PAS, ABS electric windows, central locking etc.
Having been used to 5 years of Company 'boxes' and from your comments I suspect that you are not a 'driver' of cars rather a 'user' of cars.
I'm surprisd that you feel no feedback through the wheel yet you feel road imperfections and I suppose compared to nice light hydraulic or electric PAS, designed for granny to manoeuvre the car in the car park, it may seem heavy. Did you drive any cars prior to the invention of driver aids?
The brakes are a known weakness of the car and apply to all VAG cars of that era, the car was designed as LHD whereby the master cylinder was positioned directly in front of the pedal box, obviously RHD means a more convoluted routing and so performance is lost, having owned 3 though if you bleed them and check the calipers they should be fine just a little wooden. As for ABS, find me a car where the ABS doesn't cut in too soon i.e. you take longer to stop than if you use your brain and load up the front tyres and progressively increase braking pressure.
I fear you've missed the point of the car and may be better suited to your beurgois aspirational BMW.
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