2001 Volkswagen Golf 1.6S 1.6

Summary:

Complete rubbish from start to finish. Never again

Faults:

Had a few minor niggles when brand new, stick indicator switch and alarm work when it felt like. These were fixed OK.

Coil failed at 9000 miles and left me stranded in the middle of Birmingham on night. The car was towed in and sat in the dealers for 4 weeks awaiting parts - along with 3 other Golfs and 5 Passats all at the same dealer. This is a design fault that VW know about and won't recall the car. The dealer has shown me memos from VW on this subject.

Rang VW, but they were not interested and said it would be dealt with under warranty so what was the problem?

Meanwhile I spent a month in a Polo 1.2 courtesy car.

When I got it back the brakes were rusted because it had spent over a month out in the open in winter. The dealer then had to fix the brakes under warranty too.

Nice one!

General Comments:

The car is rubbish.

The service is rubbish.

The dealers are hopeless.

Volkswagen the company don't care once the car is sold.

I thought my Alfa was bad for reliability, but at least it got fixed quickly.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 12th February, 2003

13th Feb 2003, 08:06

My unpleasant experience with a 2000 Passat led me to believe that although VW's APPEAR to look well made the reality is sadly different:constant faults not just electrical either. For some incredible reason the re-sale value is thankfully high and I sold the car after 18months. Forget the motoring press, they don't have to foot any bills and forget their carpings and image driven nonsense-get a Nissan you just will not have problems or worry, and since you are British you'll be buying a British made car to boot!

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2001 Volkswagen Golf 2.0 SE

Summary:

Extremely disappointed with reliability & dealers

Faults:

Electric window fell down and would not come up twice because the clips broke. This is a common problem with the Golf I am told.

Heavy fuel consumption (~28 mpg). Dealer said I was driving it hard, but this is on the motorway also.

Also uses a lot of oil.

Pulls to the left all the time. Dealer has tried to fix 3 times, but failed.

CD player broke

Paintwork chips easily on the front

Cold start temperature probe went

Fuel injection recalibrated

Remote locking works intermittently and have to be very close to the car

Rear dampers needed replacing due to leaks

Rattles from drivers door caused by loose locks.

General Comments:

Great on the motorway, but goes a bit pear shaped on twisty roads. Poor handling really.

Very comfortable, but heater is a bit weak and demisting poor without the air con.

Not very good build quality although it looked great at first. Primeras are built much better.

Very disappointed with the reliability although all problems fixed under warranty.

Dealers very poor and don't really care. Service and parts very expensive.

Going to get rid of it soon because I am fed up with it.

Expensive car for very below average performance and reliability.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 14th January, 2003

28th Feb 2003, 09:31

Similar to my experiences. There is a good car in there spoiled by poor build quality of many of the minor parts and systems compounded by poor assembly standards. The Golf is vastly over-rated and overpriced.

Ours has been in the dealer so often for warranty work that they think I'm on the staff. All I can say is be grateful you don't have a GTi 1.8T like mine which is still off the road after 3 weeks awaiting parts. Allegedly modified ones are being sent from Germany, but there is a waiting list.

Volkswagen quality is a joke. The car is great when it works.

7th May 2007, 00:28

I own a golf and I like it a lot. its has torque and for me is reliable. although it seems reliable because I always put my own parts in it before they may brake. I have a cold air intake two strut bars new exhaust system and it only put premium gas with full synthetic oil. I believe if you take good care of the car it is a great drive and reliable.