Faults:

Rear wheel bearings wanted replacing.

Lower drop links needed replacing for MoT, and are horrible to change.

Tracking was out slightly.

Needed alternator belt.

Steering wheel juddered at 80mph.

Needed rear brake overhaul.

Handbrake adjustment.

Welding in 2 areas in the top sill.

General Comments:

Most of the things wrong with the car were general maintenance items.

I needed something more economical, as my petrol Audi only managed 34 mpg. The diesel Golf managed 60mpg with a heavy foot.

Handling is terrible.

Brakes are awful.

NO ABS.

Buy the 110 bhp engine, as the 90bhp has no power.

This engine will last a long time.

The inside and outside are very dated, and look old.

The GL comes with x4 electric windows, electric mirrors, elecric sunroof and air conditioning as standard.

I recommend!

Faults:

I've not owned this long, but being high mileage and cheap, there's enough there I think to show any potential problems.

There's the odd small rusty patch on the doors, but really speaking that's it.

The gearbox is pretty damn noisy in reverse, the kind of noise where there is obviously something wrong, but having spoken to a few people, this is common, and should last a while yet. It seems the gearbox can be a problem area on the mk3 Golf whether petrol or diesel.

Everything works, it wears its age well.

General Comments:

I'm not quite sure why, but it doesn't feel as "solid" as the mk2 Golf I had a while back; It's a basic L model non-turbo diesel, pretty much bottom of the Golf range, so it lacks everything that people seem to want these days - no aircon, sunroof or electric windows, but it does have central locking and PAS and a surprising amount of space for a compact estate. It's not very quick either - adequate I would say. None of this matters a jot to me - the 60 mpg it does means I forgive it anything.

Faults:

A couple of dash switches and blanking plates, and the passenger door lock unit have had to be replaced, but nothing big.

General Comments:

After owning quite a few cars in a short time (8 years) I can honestly say this is the best built car out of all of them. quality plastics and fabrics in the cabin makes it easy to get comfy in. It starts first time every time, and the engine is powerful and frugal if a bit unrefined. Fuel economy is better than I expected from such a heavy car (just over 300 miles to a full tank). handling is again quite good, I had expected it to wallow around corners, but it has good road manners. Overall I would buy another Golf and recommend them to a friend.

Faults:

At the moment not much really.

Tracking needs very minor adjustment (as you would probably expect) but is being rectified tomorrow.

General Comments:

Once my old Nissan Micra finally gave up the ghost it was time to look for a new car. Being quite a young driver I was looking for something that would give me a reasonable amount of poke, while at the same time not being too expensive to insure and maintain.

After looking at the usual overpriced Vtrs and Corsas I decided to give up on dealers and focus on private sales. It wasn't long until I spotted a my car in the local newsaper.

At first I was quite dubious about the mileage, but on a closer inspection, the car had been impeccably maintained and came with a full VW service history, tax and MOT. It drove like it was brand new and aside from the usual little stone chips etc. that you would come to expect from a 1997 car, the condition of the car throughout was outstanding.

One of the best things I have found about the car so far is the superior build quality. Compared to the usual boy racer wagons, its built like a tank.

Performance-wise the car is excellent. Once you get used to the feel of the diesel engine and using the turbo effectively, you can get some serious beef out of the 90bhp engine, which is especially noticable when on the motorway or going up hills.

Economy is superb. 600 miles to a tank of diesel is not hard to achieve and is not easily phased when driving like an idiot.

As standard the car comes with an 8-speaker system, alloys, RCL/alarm, engine immobiliser and electric everything. In all I have been extremely impressed with the car and would recommend it to anybody who is looking to combine power and economy without being slaughtered for insurance.