2002 Volkswagen Golf GLS

Faults:

The car is perfect with the exception of one thing: Randomly, about every 2000 miles, the engine shuts off. It just dies. The problem is that each time it has happened (4 total times), I was going 65mph in the fast lane. Each time I had to coast off to the shoulder avoiding accidents and come to a complete stop. Each time I am able to restart no problem and drive off with no problems, no symptoms, or indication of it happening. No one at VW has any idea what it is, nor could they reproduce it or find any clue indicating the cause. I ended up exchanging it for a brand new 2003 Golf. 2500 miles into the new one, the same thing happened. Does anyone have any idea what is going on??

General Comments:

This is an excellent car in my opinion in terms of features, comfort, power, safety. I have had bad luck with a very mysterious random bug in the engine.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 5th June, 2003

20th Jun 2003, 17:49

Have you installed an aftermarket stereo system? I've been having a similar problem with my 2001 GTI ever since I put in my system. I'm going to buy a capacitor to see if that helps at all...

2002 Volkswagen Golf CL (Canada only) 2.0 liter four

Summary:

Execeptional quality for the money, buy it!

Faults:

Nothing, except some small inside rattles, but hey it's still winter.

Black paint hates to be washed, it causes some spider net like marks on it.

General Comments:

This car is pure Teutonic, very solid feel, specially on highways, suspension is OK for everyday cruises, but not sporty.

The fit and finish is absolutely perfect, good quality material inside and out.

Headlamps are nice looking and very powerful, but they should spot a little bit farther.

Sound system best in class!

The 2.0 four is rated 115hp and ULEV, it's surprisingly smooth and have lots of torque, but, quite absent at hi revs.

I'm glad they did a great job on assembly line, but maintenance at dealer is out of question, they will steal your money...

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th January, 2003

2002 Volkswagen Golf GL 2.0

Summary:

Must sell this car before the warranty is up!

Faults:

Dashboard has rattled since 1000 miles.

Rear seats have rattled since 1000 miles.

Drivers side door creaks while braking and cornering. Also when opening, even after adding lubrication.

Drivers side window had an air/water leak from the factory.

Occasionally locking the door will cause the alarm to go off.

Car seems to burn a lot of oil.

General Comments:

Car handles well, and has decent power for a 2 liter automatic. Good gas mileage. Interior is nice; very comfortable seats and stylish look. Overall satisfied with the performance; it suits the need.

The car will not stop rattling. A new spot every week. The doors creak, the dash rattles, the back seats rattle, and one front speaker is rattling. The steering wheel is starting to make a ticking noise now. And I don't need to turn the radio down to hear any of this, either.

The two dealerships I've been frequenting (4 trips in 3 months), don't seem too trustworthy. Dealership 1 says there's no water leak in the window. Dealership 2 says there is and they fixed it. There is still a water leak. Same goes for the rattles. They might stay fixed until I get home from the service center. I'd hate to trust them with an engine problem. I asked about the amount of oil that it burns, of course it's not a problem!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 11th February, 2002

4th Aug 2002, 12:41

Here is a copy of a letter I have sent to vw customer services uk. Has anyone else had this problem?

Dear VW Customer Care,

I am the proud owner of a 1999, S Registered VW Golf 1.6 Auto. I can say that since I purchased the car from Grange Motors, Brentwood, Essex, I have had thousands of miles of good, reliable VW motoring. Except for the windows.

Last year the passenger side, front window fell inside the door. As it was still under warranty, I took the car along to Grange where they said ‘Ah yes, it will be those little white clips that have broken. Don’t worry sir we will fix that’. And they duly did!

This morning, whilst driving into work the same thing happened with the front drivers side door. As the car is now out of warranty I decided to investigate myself. After all ‘those little white clips’ shouldn’t be that hard to replace? Should they?

I finished work early so that I would have plenty of time to strip the door down and take the offending items to Bristol Street Motors, Romford and buy a replacement pair. However, when I arrived at said VW dealers, I was told that I could not buy the ‘little white clips’ and would have to buy a complete window LIFTER unit Part Number 1J4837462E at a price of £78.96. I have to say that I was not happy. These two injection moulded clips had failed (which would have cost pennies to make) and I had to buy a complete lifter unit.

There seems to me to be two problems here. Firstly, there is clearly a design fault with the window lifter mechanism, as I have experienced this fault twice already and Bristol Street Motors, Romford have sold 63 of these lifter units this year. 63 from one dealership in a small town? Secondly, why does the whole lifter mechanism have to be purchased and not just the clips?

I am sure that I cannot be the first person to write regarding this matter, as it appears to be such a common complaint. I hope you will respond to this letter positively. I enclose a picture of the offending items and a copy of my receipt. Please get them sorted, they are letting your good name down.

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