Faults:

Problem with car cutting out after long distances whenever gears are disengaged.

Problem with car drastically losing power after long distances bringing car to a crawl. Not good on a dual carriageway where everyone is doing 70mph...

Rear wiper doesn't work, most probably wiring fault.

Rear heated windscreen doesn't work. A real nightmare when the car gets fogged up as you have to stop to clear it!

Car overheats when in traffic jams pretty quickly...

The brakes leave a LOT to be desired. The moral of the story is leave about four times the normal braking distance...

General Comments:

This Polo was my first car, and I must admit has been a blast to own and drive. I get a lot of stick from my mates, but that doesn't bother me because I know that their cars will probably not be on the road for as long as this.

Funny quirks on the car include the way that if you leave the indicator on and kill the engine, the corresponding headlamp will come on and stay on, draining your battery if you don't notice.

The car is pretty nippy with good acceleration, and pretty good fuel economy on long runs. I have had a top speed of 92mph from the car on a straight. Although this took about a mile to build up to!

The overall design of the car is quite odd with it resembling an estate car. Visibility is brilliant though because of this.

Parts are getting harder to come by now, as all original parts from this model are nearing 20 years old now, as 1990 was the last year of this model. However, when you get your hands on a part, working on this car is very simple. Parts just seem to fall off it! To change the bumper on the car took me about 5 minutes, as it was only held on by 2 nuts and bolts!

To conclude, get a Mk2 Polo C if you have fallen on hard times but still want a very reliable car. Even after having 6 inches of snow on it and being frozen shut for 5 days, it started first time.

Faults:

Fuel pump, timing belt, steering rack, front seats wore out.

General Comments:

This car was well crap, but it was good fun.

The front seats wore out, so I replaced them with seats from a mk3 Polo GT.

It's not quick, and it handled like a skateboard on ice, but it'll sit at 70 all day on the motorway, and once had it up to 105 driving up to Sheffield down a very long hill, although normally it'll max at about 90/95.

I had this car for year, and despite the abuse that included crashing it into a field, it was very hard to kill, and in the end I got bored and had to sell it.

Faults:

Water Pump wore out.

Starter Motor failed.

New battery.

Routine servicing e.g. various exhaust parts/brakes, tires, cam belt.

General Comments:

Hardly Luxury motoring, but by all accounts, if you simply want to get from A to B with minimal fuss and cost then this takes some beating.

I paid £150 for the car with 3months MOT left on it with the view of running it into the ground and scrapping it once the MOT ran out. 3 hard years later and the little blighter was still running like clockwork. Realising it wasn't going to die any time soon I decided to buy a newer car and sell the polo at auction - I thought if I got 50notes for it I'd be one to a winner. In the end it sold £140 - just £10 less than I paid for it!

The car never let me down - even when the starter motor failed - a simple bump start and I was on my way!

As for driving it. The 1300cc carb fed motor was pokey enough round town however the 4 speed box was no good out on the open road - I'd recommend going for the 4+E gearbox. Handling was adequate, but I never really pushed the car too hard. The one area that Polo's are particularly bad for is the brakes - they're awful with no servo assistance and mine had been fitted with Golf Brake pads that are too hard.

Despite mine being the slightly better CL spec - it had little in the way of creature comforts inside, but the seats were tough as was the switch gear.

Polo's make great first cars, but buy wisely. Some are pretty ropey!