Faults:

Coil pack was on its way out.

Plastic side trim fell off.

General Comments:

Out of the 30 cars I've had, this has been the best.

I bought it for £260 with long tax and MoT, also being very fast as I found out.

It returned 39.2 mpg combined, and never failed to start, also looking lovely.

Volkswagens are the way to go, best cars in the world, so go for one!

I have had quite a few VWs, and there is no alternative.

Faults:

Idle stabilisation valve.

Faded paint.

General Comments:

Having had VW Golf's in my family since growing up, I have always wanted one. Going from a 250hp+ MR2 Turbo to a Mk3 GTI, 8v I was expecting it to be extremely lethargic, but was pleasantly surprised by the performance! By no means a 'ballistic missile', but bags of torque for a quick drive with little effort.

As many people say it does feel like a grown up GTI, meaning it feels a little 'softer' than previous incarnations. The softer suspension and heavier weight mean it is designed for those covering a variety of roads and motorways rather than a back-road blaster. It does, however, still retain the old GTI's fine neutral balance when pushed to the limit; good to know with the dangers of modern roads.

A lot of these cars are available as people go for newer models, I believe I got myself a bargain, £500 got me a 95 GTI 8v, MOT'd, with FSH and the important belt changes. Take your time when buying as there are a lot about so you can be choosy. Look for a good history on the car with evidence of timing belt changes on cars over 80k. A well serviced VW engine can easily top 200k. Check panel gaps, front panels and boot (trunk) for signs of previous crash damage. Also check for oil leakages from the head gasket or leaks from parts such as the radiator hoses.

A common problem on older VW's is the Idle Stabilisation Valve. This part is an easy fix, but is over £200 for a new one. There are some around on auction houses and owners clubs from as little as £15 if you want to take a gamble.

Electrics seem to be a problem on some cars, so it may be wiser to budget a couple of hundred pound's for new plugs, leads, dizzy if you are unsure of the age of them on your purchase.

Another problem, as on my car, is the fading of paint on area's such as the front wing and boot lid. This is a common problem on older paint's so always view in good light. Rust can be a problem too although the body protection is a lot better than the older mk1/2 cars, check around sill's, arches and rear boot for sign's.

All in all this is a lovely little runabout that can handle long distances as well as the shopping run with little effort. It has good build quality and dash that still looks fairly modern by today's standards. It can hold it's own with a lot of modern machinery, but is not quite a GTI; for that you want the VR6.

Faults:

Brakes warped and rusted extremely badly when not used for just over a month.

Leather on the rear quarter peeled off in the sun.

Engine cooling hose leaked over distributor causing shorting and miss-firing. This took over 3 months to diagnose as it was such a small leak, but due to the proximity was a big problem.

Bonnet catch kept moving preventing me from closing the bonnet.

Front headlight internal mount broke. Cost £75 for a new light.

General Comments:

I bought the car as a cheaper alternative to my old GSI Vectra, however the performance was so appalling of the 8v that I couldn't stand it. Over 10 seconds 0-62 is not GTi performance.

I ended up spending hundreds of pounds in an attempt to make it quicker with exhausts, induction kits, cams, chips etc.. but in the end it wasn't worth it. And don't get me started on how shoddy the brakes are!

On the plus side, if you want a car for your wife to potter around town in, then this would be great.

Heated colour coded leather seats, good driving position and excellent visibility really dragged this car up. Stock speakers were fairly good.

VW were always extremely helpful and parts were remarkably cheap, so thumbs up there.