Faults:

Distributor cap and rotor arm.

General Comments:

My 1st car, 126000 miles on clock and still going. In the past it has had a new head gasket, exhaust etc...

As of now, the underside is virtually rust free, inside very nice, and all round pretty damn fine.

I was told it has been babied, so has lasted very very well indeed.

I got this for £250, and in my eyes it was the bargain of the century!!

Drives nice, would benefit from power steering but no biggy.

Only 4 gears, so you find yourself changing up soon, but am used to that coming from a motor bike, so again no problem.

I can see it needing new tires, new speakers, CD player, new wing mirror, pretty minor stuff. Good wee run around and commuter..

Faults:

Replaced radiator not long after buying as it was leaking from stone damage near its base.

One rear wheel bearing replaced (the only thing it failed the MOT on).

Sometimes on cold damp mornings the revs fall away when idling if the engine is cold.

General Comments:

This Polo is the MkII facelift and I bought it to replace my 1050cc 1984 MkII which I had for 4 years.

The larger engine with fuel injection gives me just the right power I need for around town and frequent trips between Birmingham and London.

This is the best car I've ever had and it feels like it's made to last. Although some people say these Spanish built Polos are not as good as the earlier ones I would disagree. The driving position, brakes (servo this time!), sound proofing and build quality are much better than my 1984 model (which had less miles on it). Oddly the turning circle is smaller and this is a boon in town.

In just over a year I've done 24k miles in this 12 year old car and I'm hoping to see at least 200k on the clock before I get rid of it. It uses no oil at all and with regular oil and cambelt changes I'd like to see if I can get it to 300k. I paid £480 for it and it's been worth every penny.

Faults:

Clutch went after one week of purchasing the car, nice one.

Randomly wouldn't start without bump-starting it for a few weeks, but then preceded to start first time!!

Dodgy noise coming back from a Bournemouth road trip, turned out to be a totally gone wheel bearing!

I stupidly hit a post reversing out of a parking bay which snapped off my bumper and dented the wing. This was quite cheaply and easily repaired.

Few bits of rust around window sorted out at the same time.

Rev counter tends to stop working every now and then.

Headlight switch sticks sometimes.

Cable to retract drivers seat has snapped and doesn't look easy to fix!

General Comments:

Despite the things what have gone wrong with this car, I actually love it.

I intended on buying a really cheap, reliable, 1 liter, mark 2 to get me around for a while as the looks didn't bother me and I wanted an economical car. I thankfully ended up getting this one as the looks have actually grown on me a whole lot and I can't believe how nippy the car is. (I always smoke my mate's escort and even my mate's mk4 Golf!! I guess it's something to do with the multi-point injection.)

I was a bit disappointed with the economy however. I used to get an easy 65 mpg out of my previous car and then Ten pounds in this one does about 100 miles, which seems terrible compared and that includes me putting it into neutral down hills!

With the seats folded down it makes a really great little surf van, which made me decide to buy a van. I also wanted the economy and I didn't mind about the speed. As soon as I got my van I realized that the economy wasn't that bad at all, as the 1.8 diesel van does about 110 miles out of ten pounds and it is really, painfully slow. This has made me decide to be a real pain for my insurance and no claims discount and swap back.

In all, this car is a beast! I am looking forward to taking it to University with me and getting more of those weird second gear wheel-spins I seem to be experiencing up hills in wet days when I floor it!