2003 Volkswagen Gol Highway from Brazil - Comments

Noises from the front suspension

Gearbox is making loud noises when shift the second, third and fouth gear

Reverse light does not work

Indicators light refused, to cancel

CD Player drained the battery four times.

Driver's seat squeaks

Oil leaks

Water leaks into the cabin when it rains.

My recommendation is: Do not buy a Volkswagen Gol.

It's a nice looking car, but that's it.

I cannot understand all those negative reviews about the VW's Gol. Here in Brazil it's one of the most reliable small cars we have. It seldom falls in motor or electric troubles, having a low petrol consumption as well. The replacement pieces are easy to find out and usually having accessible prices. I got one of this car since 2002 and it never has been in significant trouble.

You can consider yourself as a lucky guy.

Because these cars sucks.

Buy a Fiesta, Corsa or a 206 instead.

I wonder if we are lucky or is it you the one unlucky?

I have a 2002 Gol and has had very if any problem. None related to the car itself, but the way I cared it and where I drove it.

I would buy another if I have the chance.

I bought one of that, and it's driving me nuts!

I lot of problems, like air conditioner, the stuff to fix the driver's seat broke many times, it makes strange noises, one of them I discovered that could be the Water Bomb! It's dificult to change the belt's system, that makes the service expansive.

So I have to say, It's not worth to buy this car, I hope I could change it soon!

All the VW GOL cars in Mexico are made in Brazil. Tehir name in Mexico is Pointer. They are quite good-looking and I owned one myself. Mine was perfect for me. No complains in performance and I adored to drive it. The only problems I have seen are with the assembly of the car. It is poorly assembled and you will hear squeaks from the doors during the transit.

Else, everything was OK. The opinions regarding this vehicle are divided. Many people complain of this car as a "Brazilian piece of junk". I would say that half of the owners of Pointers complain and the others feel comfortable about it. I must say that this is the car that VW Mexico has received the greatest amount of complaints about.

I changed it for a Nissan Sentra which is made in Mexico and although I do not enjoy diving it as much as my Pointer, I must say it is very well built, great quality and good features. I must admit that Brazilian vehicles are not the best. I wouldn't recommend you to purchase one.

A. Gallegos.

2002 Volkswagen Gol from El Salvador.

Hello Guys! I am from Mexico City too... I have a 2001 Volkswagen Gol 1.8L with 64,000 km (Or Pointer here in Mexico)

I bought this car because I love Volkswagens aka. Audi, Seat or Skoda. The design is great for me, not as good as Peugeot 206, but better than a Opel Corsa, Dodge Atos or a Ford Fiesta.

The problem with the car is the poor quality involved in the manufacturing process.

My car is full of noises and the plastics seems to be cheap and very poor (they scratch very easy). Although I have not experienced a single engine problem. Pay special attention to the refrigeration system as after 50,000 km the licks become a matter of every day. Brakes are bad too.

The electrical system is one of the worst systems I have found in any car. Dashboard lights, Tail and brake lights break off very often. (Pay attention when driving in the night and count the number of Pointers and Jettas too with those lights off!!)

My car has a shortcut in the left break light sometimes its on, sometimes its off. I've go to the dealership, and changing the whole electrical system has a cost of $500.00 USD.

The car has indeed a great engine, as it is really powerful considering the total weight of the car.

The consumption is great. Almost 1/2 tank for the Guadalajara - Mexico City Highway (525 kms). In Mexico City the consumption is around 520kms per full tank. 600kms in Highway.

Volkswagen really need to focus in the quality problems in the Brazilian plants. They are horrible.

Mexican and Argentinian manufacturing quality is OK. Look at the thousands and thousands of Jettas (Made in Mexico) driving all around the country. And the great quality involved in the 9 years old Derby. (Made in Argentina since 1996)

Brazilian quality is the worst... Look at the Pointer and the Golf. (Except the GTI made in Germany)

As for me... I will never buy again a car made in Brazil.

I agree, I also have a GOL made in Brazil, and there are:

Noises from the front suspension

Driver's seat squeaks

Oil leaks

Water leaks into the cabin when it rains.

The Ford Fiesta, is the best Compact car, come on, don't compare a Fiesta, Corsa or 206, with this piece of brazilian Junk, Did ya know that this car was also supposed to be sold in the USA, but it didn't passed the crash tests, that's why, in brazil, theres a version with airbags, that version was supposed to be the one to be sold in the USA, well, I used to have a Fiesta and I was like WOW, then I sold the fiesta, and bought a 2000 Gol (pointer in here) and it was a pain in the back, now gladly I sold it, and bought a Fiesta again, now I'm happy again,

Hi, I'm from Venezuela and I'm about to buy a Volkswagen Gol 1.8... I don't know if the cars that are sold in Venezuela are imported from Brazil, but I haven't heard anything bad about them until I came to this web page. The only thing that I would have to add is that Volkswagen cars are good cars, German technology (BMW, Volkswagen) is way better than American technology (Ford, Chevrolet), it's obvious that not 100% of the cars are going to be good, 40% of the Ford Fiestas in Venezuela come with bad brakes and the engine doesn't work sometimes... so I guess you all got VERY unlucky with the Volkswagens (Pointers)... bye.

I have a pointer wagon 2000 and also I have found all those problems that you mention before, most of them I solved, but other not:

- Oil leak in the motor, after check that leak with my mechanical guy, we've found that one of the bolts to retain the upper cover was loose, so, what only matters to re tight the screw and that is it.

- Suddenly the motor in the morning start to vibrate like if will stop, but after gets warm works OK. After some weeks that symptoms occurs very often even with the motor hot. In that moment I recall a problem similar with my ford aerostar and was related to the spark plug cables, so I check with a ohmmeter and I discovered one of them completely open, my car was working with only three cylinders!!. After changed all set the motor works fine.

- Brakes, one day after push my brake pedals it gets very hard and almost I hit a car in front of me. In this case I sent my car to the workshop and of course the problem was the booster, they only changed the gasket and the front disk, but they show me the old ones and I saw terrified how the brake pad was wearing the disc making a circular carving. The repair man told that the manufacturers used to install very hard brake pads and for that the brake disc gets wear to early.

There are some other problems regarding to the pointer, but there is no more room I think, but in conclusion this car have a lot of improvement opportunities.

Most of these bad comments are definitely coming from amateurs because this does not sound right at all. forst of all, the guy that said about the vw golf that starts in the morning and the engine almost shuts off, It needs some time to warm up and after that obviously it will be OK. I own a vw golf 99 and I have 82 000 miles, I don't know exactly how many km are, but I think is over 100 000. I'am not an american, I'am from romania (europe) I've had only maintenance repairs on my car so far, but no major problems with the car. I drive the car every day, put about 80 miles every day, the engine runs smooth and it shifts perfect, the clutch never replaced. I also drive pretty high speeds over 120 km every day. I gues that people that complained about the problems have had bad luck or they do not know how to drive a car. Thank you...bye.

I'm not so sure it's the plants that are to blame. What about the design of the car and possible bad tooling? Honda and Toyota build hundreds of thousands of Accords and Camrys in the US, and Americans manage to build them just fine (but yet Fords, Chryslers, and Chevys built here can't touch them). I think it's all in the engineering and tooling process. Build a state of the art assembly line process and engineer a good car and you'll have success. I don't think Volkswagen understands this.

My experience with a NEW WV Derby 2005:

- 1st day: Motor Changed.

- Computer change.

- Door adjustment.

- Valves change.

- Gas door valves change.

- My derby does not let me get out of it.

- The odometer resets each 1800 km.

HI everybody here is not a comment, but a question.

I am from morocco and I got a Volkswagen Gol made in 2005 and I want to ask about something In the board in front of me I always have the mention EPC turned ON I mean it's never turned OFF (when you put the keys in you got some mentions like the oil pressure the brakes and the EPC, but once you turn the engine on they all disappear, but in my car the EPC persists is that a problem?)