Faults:

Persistent electrical problem.

Dreadful under-steer in the wet.

General Comments:

Absolutely the best thing I have ever bought.

This car just suited me down to the ground. I firmed up the suspension and had a servo fitted to the brakes and it was just brilliant, fun motoring.

Golf owners always laugh at the Polo, but having owned both I can confirm the Golf is inferior! I mean what is it with the ventilation on the Golf - what a joke!

Very hard wearing interior/fittings - later cars not so good.

Fitting the servo and firmer suspension totally transformed the cars capabilities.

At 103k miles the engine was at it's best and used no oil.

Poor front wheel grip (camber wrong - not adjustable) was a real problem, but at least it calmed down my driving in the wet.

The electrical problem had all the mechanics stumped. Turn the key some mornings and absolutely nothing happened. Next morning - fine. It was this that made me sell the car in the end (and I cried). Recently it has been suggested it was the back of the dash at fault.

It's been 3 years now and I miss it loads.

Faults:

I've had a new water pump because the coolant cap exploded off (including the coolant). But then realised it was the head gasket.

My head gasket blew at about 91,000.

I have had a second hand carburetor (because the automatic choke wasn't working properly).

I have had a new petrol tank because it was leaking.

Rear wiper motor seized-up.

I had new gaiters.

General Comments:

No problems at all for the last 6,000 miles. Will sell it soon!

Faults:

General wear and tear, wheel bearings all round, brakes all round (replaced with MKI Golf GTi brakes), new shocks all round, starter motor, CV boot split. Not very many things considering I drive it very hard and it is a car with lots of miles.

General Comments:

After fitting lowering springs, new shocks and Audi Coupé alloys it handle much better. Golf GTi brakes are a straight swap and help to slow the thing down.

The 4+E gearbox give the car a cruising speed of 80mph+, and still pretty good fuel consumption.

Sticking to a steady 60mph I had nearly 50mpg out of it.

Interior is a bit basic, on the other hand though there is less to go wrong.

Faults:

The rear wiper has decided just to not bother working as well as the two small headlight spots.

Wheel trims don't stay on for very long.

General Comments:

I've only had it a few weeks, but it's been an impressive few weeks.

It's a nippy little machine but lacks acceleration, especially uphill.

Comfortable to drive with good handling.

Mine is in really good condition (14 years service history, one owner from new), a bit of rust on the doors but nothing that cannot be sorted.

An ideal first car for the budding boy racer to thrash around and then sell back to an old granny.

I'm looking for a set of alloy wheels and possibly a big bore back box to improve the look and sound.

Mine had a really good stereo set up in it (Kenwood head unit with CD controls and Pioneer rear speakers).

Overall, more fun than a Fiesta.

Faults:

Main problems were it cutting out at junctions, not staying at stable rev's etc. Had a manual choke. New battery fixed the problem. Standard brakes is the main unfixable problem, but you get used to them.

General Comments:

Good car for its age, not as refined as the Golf, but cheap to run and fairly reliable. Cheap on insurance and tax. Light car so 1.0 isn't too sluggish. Fun to drive. This is an ideal first car for a learner.

Faults:

In nearly four thousand miles only one headlight bulb and had also to replace the HT leads, one was knackered and caused the car to run on three cylinders for 50 miles.

The hand brake cable snapped an offside drum which wasn't working properly and so on replacing this, had to replace the drum as well, also the rear windscreen wiper motor blew.

Other than that, a replaced cambelt and fan belt, filters, distributor cap on purchase just for piece of mind. Will need a new exhaust in the next couple of months and possibly a clutch.

General Comments:

Quite good but needs another gear, a rev counter would also be good and I am thinking of fitting one. Returns between 35 and 42 MPG so not bad. Quite a bit of surface rust which requires spraying but nothing structural. Not in the league of the Subaru Justy but will tide me over until I've got some no claims and the new tax band puts the Justy in the cheap band.