Faults:

Turbo sometimes refuses to start, car's top speed sometimes does not exceed 100 km/h. Lift the throttle, wait until the kompressor dies and it goes like the fireware.

General Comments:

This car is quite good, much better than the Golf IV. It feels sturdy, steering is a little heavy as is shifting gears.

Steering is pretty precise, you can pinpoint exactly where to go.

There is a slight turbo-lag where the turbo takes over from the compressor. Nothing serious but if the engine is cold you can feel it.

Seats are somewhat small in the shoulders.

Surprisingly much space in the backseats.

Faults:

Had a lot of work on this car, new gearbox, new front brakes, new clutch, new fuel pump.

Still, nothing too unexpected for a car near the 300000 km mark.

General Comments:

The car drives nicely. It's pretty good in the corners, and feels good to drive compared to the small cars I drove before (Ford Ka, Hyundai Atos).

Fuel consumption is a bit high (about 9-10 liters/km, 26mpg). I have a LPG-converted version, so it's not very expensive, and part of the high consumption may be caused by the conversion (quoted consumption is when running on petrol, it used 11 l/km on LPG).

Other than the high maintenance this is a pleasant and surprisingly fun car to drive, if a bit boring on the outside as well as the inside.

Faults:

The Clutch was slipping early in 2002 and has since been replaced in October.

Passenger door has sagged at the hinges and doesn't close correctly.

General Comments:

I've had the car from new and haven't had to much trouble with it. It's quite economical if driven in the lower rev range, but for a 1.6 it can still go quite fast.

Acceleration isn't all that good, but what can you expect from 75bhp.

Handling is OK, but the narrow, high profile tires spoil a lot of the driving immersion.

Faults:

The only thing what happened was the heater of the interior, it blew at 295000 kilometres.

General Comments:

This is a very cheap car to run, in maintain ace and on fuel economy.

As it was my first car, it was a pleasure to drive it.

Faults:

Rear indicators were blown at different times.

Secondary air pump in the engine broke.

Radio volume control is unreliable.

Three times I have lost my oil sump.

General Comments:

The car itself is a fairly quick and the motor, the V5, is a gem.

The cabin is wonderfully made, very comfortable, quiet and keeps the driver fresh on long trips.

The overall build quality I find high, but the same goes for my last 1997 Polo which actually felt more solid.

The negative points are enough to stop me recommending the car.

First the suspesion is soft as hell for the engine and the potential performance level, giving poor cornering abilities and engine crunching damage over speed bumps and hump back bridges - this when slowing down by the way.

Secondly, if only the dealer here in Holland, Kamsteg, would tell me the truth, show some interest, show some knowledge, show any customer care, then maybe I would replace the suspension units with stiffer (2001) springs myself and live with the car. But they don't, and I won't.