Faults:

Climate control buttons got 'sticky'.

Centre armrest latch broke twice. Replaced with a cheap part from eBay, and it never broke again.

Gear lever boot wore badly and came adrift. Again, eBay to the rescue very successfully.

Seemed to chew through brakes quickly, but it's probably more due to my 'enthusiastic' driving. Enough brake dust on the front wheels to cover Tasmania.

General Comments:

When I first purchased the VW, it was standard, but over time I made many changes to enhance its performance.

As a standard vehicle, it is an almost perfect blend of luxury, performance, safety and economy.

The bad:

- Back seat legroom is minimal. No good for adults, and it means kids can easily kick the back of the driver's seat. Not good.

- Cruise control is fiddly to use, and the indicator/wiper stalks feel like they're going to snap off.

- Don't really like the rotary sunroof control. I would prefer a simple open/close button.

- Always seemed to be replacing brake light globes, despite the electrical system being perfect and undamaged.

- Revs a little high on the highway for my liking. A taller sixth gear would be beneficial to bring down the RPM @ 110 km/h. The close ratio 'box is great when you're driving with passion, but it's a pest in city traffic.

- Bland styling according to some.

- Not much room to work in the engine bay.

- Leather wore out quickly.

- 95 Octane fuel required, 98 after upgrades. Economy/range quite poor once supercharged - not a surprise.

- The car was a written off following flood damage in 2011. Hope to replace with a Golf R soon.

The good:

- Excellent performance. Even when standard, this engine had 150kW and torque in all the right places. Once I added a Vortech supercharger and had some work done with the exhaust, induction, driveline and electronics, it was phenomenal (if expensive). I never had it officially timed, but I have driven plenty of brisk cars, and this VW could comfortably blow the doors off many of them. My seat-of-the-pants-o-meter estimates a 1/4 mile time of 12 seconds or 0-100 km/h in the fours. Custom extractors and Milltek muffler sounded glorious.

- Grip/Handling. I used to live for wet weather in this car. It lost very little acceleration on a wet road. In the dry it was very planted and responsive without being twitchy. As a standard car it was good without being great, but a few carefully chosen upgrades really brought it to life. However, to be fair, it was not quite up to Evo X standard!

- Interior Comfort. Supremely comfortable for a long drive. Superb seats in the front, and a good big boot to carry all my junk. Love the sunroof, too! Lovely steering wheel and gear shift - anything aftermarket would have been a downgrade!

- Styling. This car was the ultimate sleeper. Reflex silver, standard wheels, unobtrusive exhaust. I even stuck a 2.0 badge on it to help keep away the police and street racing idiots. Stylish enough without standing out.

- Reliability. This engine is bulletproof. Even with the mods, it never gave trouble. I expected gearbox/clutch issues, but they never happened.

Faults:

Wheel bearing - Made humming noise at 80km/h; got it serviced. 70,000k.

Wheel bearing - Second bearing failed a week after the service of the first one. 70,000k

Front fender - Low front end of car is constantly putting the fender in harms way.

Central locking - Remote doors would not lock in cold weather.

Key - Plastic insert to loop around key ring eventually snapped off on both sets of keys (not due to heavy handling).

Catalytic converter - Needed to replace. This part costs $3,000+, 85,000k.

Glovebox - handle internal spring snapped. 85,000k.

Interior paneling creaking - No big issue, ordered as an extra, creaks like I am driving a weatherboard house.

Brake dust on the wheels - Need to constantly clean the wheels. This model was notorious for accumulating large amounts of it.

Knocking sound when turning. Mechanic friend thinks that a large bolt nut had been sealed in the bodywork.

General Comments:

It is a practical car for general use. It can get a little cramped with 4 adults, but is otherwise a suitable car for what is often one or two occupants. It does good economy for long trips, and the 2.0 L engine has reasonable power off a standstill.

From the mechanical side. Spare parts usually have to be imported and expensive. My advice is to really check if your local Volkswagen dealer is genuinely good at servicing your car. My VW service center would replace parts on a whim; when I let a mechanic friend look at it, it was found that a lot of these repairs were not relevant at all.