Faults:

Hi people, had my little Polo for the past year since I got it off my brother, in that time, many things have happened:

Screechy noise on start up sometimes, especially from cold start.

Sometimes doesn't start, and requires me to floor the gas to start up.

Weird rattle from engine, which disappears when I press the clutch.

EPC light randomly appears from time to time.

Engine light also randomly appears from time to time.

Front headlight bulbs somehow blow sometimes.

Back windscreen wash broken.

Tracking on wheels out, steers left when un-aided.

Interior rattles like anything, from simple driving, and ruins the sound of music.

Sometimes it feels as if there is a loss of performance, not much, but soon regains normal.

The list seems endless to be honest, quite annoying, I've begun to ignore the engine and EPC lights that appear on the dash, they soon disappear, and I don't notice anything serious wrong with the car when they are on. My brake lights did once stop working without me knowing, I was wondering why I was getting horned over that week.

I'm worried because the car has only done 31000 miles, which is nothing really, I just want another car.. preferably a Golf 1.9 GT TDI 150bhp, but as I am only 18, the insurance will kill me haha.

If anyone has suffered these problems and found a way to get rid of them, let me know... I've tried Redex, just for the fun of it, feels exactly the same.

Faults:

I've had nothing but trouble with this car - avoid at all costs. Although my dealership have been quite helpful and met us someway with some major costs, and undertaken some diagnostic tests for free, this has not really compensated for the worry, stress and inconvenience caused.

The mileage is still under 25000 miles, and the list of problems is as follows:

From the first drive at 0 miles the brakes squeaked. I tried to get this sorted and was told it was just dust on the brake pads - this lasted for 6 years and is still going on, although only in wet weather now.

Engine warning light appeared first in 2005, the dealership told me it was dirty fuel. Over the next 6 months the light came off and on many times, and the car went in and out of the garage. Eventually the car totally broke down and had to be towed to the garage, where I insisted they find out and rectify the problem. They discovered it was the lambda probe (apparently a known fault on 52 Polo's) but the damage had gone deep into the 2nd cylinder which cost £1000 to fix. Happily the dealership met some of the costs, but the light has returned many times, and I am just waiting for another major problem to occur.

After the garage fixed the cylinder, mould grew and covered the whole of the car - under the mat in the boot, through the seats and up to the drivers door. This took over the car in only a few weeks, so I paid out and had this problem rectified.

The passenger door no longer centrally locks or unlocks reliably - it decides how it feels that day!

On the last service I was told the wishbones had snapped - this seems a very serious problem to be occurring after such little driving. Again it cost me a lot of money to fix the part at the dealership garage.

More recently the car grinds when it is put into reverse, now the clutch has gone "springy" and can't reverse any more (I'm 41 weeks pregnant and had to push the car backwards outside school this morning!) The car can no longer slide into gear easily, so this is the next item on the list to be fixed.

I have had all but 1 service done at the dealership, but would never never buy a VW car again. There have been many more little incidents with this car which have been forgotten, but I'm convinced this is a "friday afternoon car" with a dodgy engine, leaky sills, worrying clutch and no end of hassle for a busy mum and part-time teacher to sort out. AVOID AVOID AVOID. I can't even sell it because I would hate to pass on all the problems.

General Comments:

WARNING Don't buy one. STOP, AVOID, It looks good and doesn't feel tinny or boxy, but is rammed with hidden problems which cost major money to sort out.