Faults:

Door locks - water ingress through dodgy door seals and pollen filter housing.

General Comments:

A real bodge on a bodge on a bodge, and shocking to realise it's essentially a VW. The door locks in the central locking are a constant issue, mainly due to serious design flaws that make them so over complicated it's a wonder anything works! Electric windows and central locking are simple components in essence. VW decided to reinvent the wheel times a 1000 and now it's nothing like a wheel!

The pollen filter was clearly an afterthought as it's been rammed under the windscreen scuttle from the outside, and it leaks like a sieve and it's very doubtful it even worked properly as a filter!

Water ingress as a consequence from every orifice, doors, pollen filter, windows etc etc.

5 speed which feels like you are driving along in 4th gear with the engine screaming out for a 6th gear.

All my life I have steered clear of VW through gut instinct and seeing how awful the Golf was by design in the 80s, when everyone else was building class acts. A tractor version of a car.

Never again.

Faults:

Door seals have come away from the exterior panels, but have been fixed with a drop of epoxy.

Heater display unit broken by previous owner, but the heater is still fully functional.

The key only opens the driver's door remotely (pressing the blipper).

Airbag warning light present, caused by shunting the passenger seat forward a bit hard - not a real problem.

General Comments:

Very comfy, very quiet. Much quieter than my previous Volvo, and about the same comfort level.

Driver's footwell a little narrow - takes practice to drive in large boots.

Driver's seat is a little short on thigh support, but probably fine for most (I'm 6'4" with long legs).

Easily returns 54 MPG even on god-awful supermarket diesel. Mostly motorway driving at 70. Could return maybe 58 MPG if kept at about 58-62mph. City driving still returns 45 MPG easily.

Radio is very very good. Powerful, bass-y and still crisp.

The boot is simply enormous. The boot opening is quite wide, but the lip is quite high.

I would definitely recommend this car. It is a little slower than what I'm used to, but I don't buy diesels for speed anyway. Makes for a good tourer; the engine may be a little underpowered for towing a large caravan.

Seat after sales have been very helpful to me any time I've needed them.

Faults:

The only thing that has gone wrong with the car so far was a fault on the turbo. This was replaced without any problems under warranty. After a bit of reading, this was a common problem on the VW group TDi unit. The replacement was done 3 years ago, and there have been no problems with the replacement.

General Comments:

The car is a comfortable everyday car. It's happy to run around town, but is comfy enough for a family holiday.

The 1.9TDi engine is good unit for both economy and motorway speed.

If you're using it mainly in town, give it a blast at motorway speeds every so often to clear the soot out of the turbo, as this can get clogged up.

Comfy cabin, which is a good size (but I'm only 5'7"!)

Massive boot.

Faults:

This model has been letting in water through the two front doors, probably since the car was 3 years old, but it never got too bad until the continuous rain. It has flooded my whole back seat foot area to one inch of water. It is also impossible to dry it out as the carpets are secure.

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THIS SERIOUS PROBLEM?

geeup2003@yahoo.co.uk

General Comments:

This is a good driving car and very comfortable.

Has a quiet engine. I actually love this car, but the damp smell due to the leaking doors is terrible.