1997 Volkswagen Golf GTi 2.0 8v MK3 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Regular stalling.

Broken airvent.

Heating control light not working.

Bad judder on start up.

Excessive (i feel) fuel consumption.

Previously I had a Peugeot 306 xsi (see 'faster than you think'thread). Got a bit fed up with the rattly interior and general feeling of the poor wear and tear of the car. Got to its 4 yr anniversary and the final straw was the £1,200 bill for assorted work such as cracked master brake cylinder, corroded radiator, rusted exhaust and a few other minor bits and pieces - all at 25,000 miles! not good. So I thought change to what I thought was the paragon of reliability - the VW Golf GTI.

The peugeot had fabulous handling and performance, but the go kart like nature of it wore me down so I didn't mind changing to an 8v golf gti. It's a 97 R plate with full VWFSH. Oh dear. This car is really a GL with a bodykit. I expected it to be slower than the peugeot, but its slower than almost anything. I had trouble overtaking a Fiat Stilo 1.6 on the motorway.

Its quite torquey for town driving, but sounds very rough over 4000 rpm. Its handling is nothing special with bad understeer and it runs out of steam at 120 mph.

When I first got it, it kept stalling (whether hot or cold) when the revs decreased in neutral or changing gear, but I sorted this out through the VW dealer. Turns out it was a dirty throttle valve housing. The airvent also broke and there was no light behind the heating controls. all sorted and minor, but very irritating.

At the moment its got a very poor rough running idle on first start up which might be normal in the cold weather, but its just had a full service and just sounds like its 15 years old, not 5.

The interior is very hard wearing and is in better shape than my peugeot was and that was a year newer with 35,000 less miles on it! It's a smooth relaxed drive with a great driving position and a nice solid feel to it.

The fuel consumption however is really poor. no more than 23 mpg (as per the trip computer) average and I get about 210 miles out of a tank (50 litres I think) - 60 miles less than I got out of the peugeout and I used to cane that.

Of all these points though, it is still a nice looking, solid car which drives OK, but is far too overated, and especially for a gti, too slow.

Overall, I love the new VW Golfs MK4 and would have one of those as they look great and seem better made.

I wouldn't buy another MK3 unless it was a VR6. Hmm, I wonder if I could buy my peugeot back?...

23 MPG? that's not good. You should be getting about 36 average. Could be the coolant temp sensor keeping the map on the cold start cycle. Would also explain the stalling.

I am a little surprised at the number of faults with your car. I have owned for 2 years a 98 r-plate mk3 gti 8v, with 84K miles on the clock, apart from the odd rattle over potholes I have had no problems/trouble with the car. Also on a motorway run (steady 70 - 75mph) I get around 38 mpg, combined motorway/town driving around 35 mpg, so why you are getting in the 20's mpg I do not understand.

Did you not test drive the car before you bought it? If you are so unhappy with the performance, why did you buy it? True, the golf is not 'true' hot hatch (I used to own a 205 GTI so I know how a good proper hot-hatch should drive), but the GTI's lack of driver appeal has been written about many times over the years by road testers and owners since the mk3/mk4 launch.

VW should have badged the MK3/4 golf gti as a 'gt', the insurance group 14 for the mk3 is also way too high for a car of it's potential performance.

The MK3/4 GTI is not built for point to point blasting down B roads, so try and accept it for what it is; a good all-round performer, with great build quality and image.

You've not been very lucky! I've also recently bought a 97R GTi 8v - its not as slow as I expected (but still not a very fast car!) However parts seem easily available and not too expensive.

Well finally got all the issues sorted. It was the temp sensor and the throttle valve so all sorted (for not a lot) and the cars a million times better. I actually quite enjoy it now and its relaxed nature. Its still slow tho...

Hi my mk3 gti also felt slow untill I had my injectors cleaned by a company called ASNU. After they had been cleaned the car was more responsive and it felt like a new car with a new engine. I suggest you look this company up and find your nearest garage with a ASNU machine it made all the difference. If you think about it when your car has a service your oil filter/air/fuelfilters are changed, but you never have the filter basket changed in the injectors, give them a go!!

Hi. I bought my 97 Gti 8V about 2 years ago. I changed from a 1.8 8Valve Laguna the first time I gave it meat I thought it was the fastest thing on the planet. Since then it seems to be getting slower and slower!! I changed the coil cap and rotor arm and it also got an engine flush and a full service. Made a big difference I also fitted an air filter and exhaust to try to get more power. This made it better, but from time to time when you empty it up throught the gears @ 4000rpm it seems to die if you put the clutch in and rev it it clears and goes OK again?? Don't know what to do been to VW dealer they said there is nout wrong, but you know your own car and when it not right. I tried getting timing set, but this made no difference.

I am thinking of selling it as a result which I really don't want as it only has 70k and is in otherwise perfect order :-{

Any ideas??

I've got a '95 306 2.0 Sedan and I thoroughly enjoy humping Golf GTi's on a regular basis - even the 1.8 T is a bucket of lard. A tip for all Golf owners out there; get yourself a decent motor - get a Pug.

I'm having a similar problem with my 8V golf GTI, I'm only getting on a town run about 24 to 26 ish MPG and on a good run on an open road tops about 30.6 MPG, I assumed this was just the norm with it being a heavy car and such, I'm considering looking at the temp sensor after what you guys ahve been saying as I have also noticed recently my temp light on the left hand side of the dash comes on and flashes, only when the engine is left to stand and has cooled down though, once it's warm I don't get the light showing. Where is this temp sensor located?

If you ever get a VR6, don't get one older than P reg, it will cost you an arm and a leg in maintenance to run and repair. Believe me, parts are astronomical for the VR6.