My Friend has had this car from new and has had no trouble with it whatsoever.
I have had it for 6 months and the Radiator had three heavy leaks and had to be replaced £150 but not a major problem, after owning a Probe I'm use to problems.
The truth is the way this car performs and drives problems do not matter I have never driven a car with so much focus and ability, bearing in mind I have driven many so called GTI's and you cannot even compare them to this.
Firstly I must say the build quality is superb, maybee this Gti was built on a good day.
Everything is well bolted together no squeaks or rattles the car feels sold to drive and interior is still looking like new.
For a 2 liter this car is very fast and I Could safely say it is faster than my previous 2.5 v6.
The low down power it produces is very similar to a 6 cylinder and the gear change is rapid, The cars engine sings full flow in all of the gears and its top end power impressed me the most it rips past 125mph in fifth and goes on well past 135mph in 6th and it gets there quick!!
Handling and brakes are fantastic very sharp and feels smaller than what it actually is.
The car is fast, practical, refined with all of the toys you could wish for and suede/leather bucket seats along with air con add to the sporty feel.
Economy isn't brilliant, but noticeably better than the 2.5 v6.
The downsides I have noticed so far with this car firstly is the Clutch... very very stiff, but apparently they are all the same.
It is hard to get it into first and second when the car is cold... its not a big struggle, but not smooth.
In response to your comment about the clutch stiffness. I noticed that it was the case with my 306 GTi 6 when I first bought it, however I have recently fitted a new clutch to it. While I had the gearbox out I wire brushed and copper greased the top and bottom of the clutch fork ends and their white lugs. After I put it all back together, the clutch pedal feels just like an ordinary car if not better! A clutch cable is also good to change if the clutch pedal starts to become really stiff!
Note: A Comments RSS Feed 
is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site