Faults:

Rear brake calipers seized and were replaced at 100,000 miles. Usually need freeing off at MOT time

Head gasket went at 149,000 miles.

Rear axle bushes have worn badly and need replacing, but it's an expensive job due to the amount of labour time.

Rear hatch has rusted around the wash/wipe and number plate lights.

The VW inner door seals are rubbish and have let a lot of water in, until I made my own which are a lot better.

General Comments:

This is the best car I have owned (and the most expensive) but I really like the solid feeling of the car. It has a nice amount of power and handling even at 150,000miles.

Faults:

Brake light bulb blew, very disappointing ;)

General Comments:

I own the best Golf VW ever made. A Mk 2 3 door big bumper Gti in black with BBS wheels. Luuuuurvely.

I bought the Golf after owning 3 Pug 205 1.9 Gti's on the trot, which although are great cars, they tended to need constant maintenance, especially when doing 20k miles a year. I have had no problems whatsoever with the Golf, I just get in it and drive it everyday knowing that it won't let me down. Whilst not as fast as the 205, it is so much nicer to drive. No rattles and it feels solid.

The Mk2 is a classic shape, I did put it up for sale, but when I cleaned and polished it, I couldnt bring myself to part with it!

The engine feels strong and responsive even with 112k on the clock, it uses very little oil and returns an average 37mpg.

Insurance is a little steep though, especially when it struggles to keep up with a Mk4 Golf Tdi!

I've just put 4 new tyres on it (Goodyear Eagle F1's) and had a 4 wheel alignment session, handles like a dream now.

BUY ONE TODAY!!!

Faults:

Just general maintenance.

Plugs replaced etc.

General Comments:

I have owned two GTi 8v's and one GTi 16v so I can say fairly that I can point out the differences between them.

The 16v comes with electric windows as standard, this is the only major difference inside of the car, apart from the little red 16v badge on the glove box (how pretty).

Performance wise the two cars are very different. The 16v comes with better brakes than the 8v and is lowered an extra 10mm over that of the 8v, meaning it stops better without melting the brakes, I've had brake fade in my 8v's a few times, which is scary approaching a corner at 110mph and its just making a humming noise and not slowing down! I've also shattered a brake disc on an 8v. The difference in cornering is only slight.

Now we come to the engines. The standard 8v produces 112bhp, whereas the 16v produces 139bhp! Although there is a much larger amount of horsepower in the 16v, the 8v actually feels quicker. This is due to the fact it has so much torque at low revs and has good power distribution throughout the rev range.

The 16v however feels like a 1.3CL off the line, a completely different experience to the feeling from the 8v that its going to rip its self in half! But do not dismay, it doesn't continue this way, as soon as the revs build up the power keeps increasing dramatically and at 4500rpm it really starts to move, then again at 6000rpm your thrusted back again before you change gear at about 6600rpm.

It should, when driven properly, beat the 8v to 60mph by a good 1.5 seconds. This will only happen if your willing to drive it the way its designed to be driven, right up into the revs. Don't even consider racing a Skoda if you daren't take it above 4000rpm.

Overall from a real drivers point of view the 16v is the better car, but its hard to brush aside the awesome fun you can have in the 8v, it's a much more fun car to drive in most aspects, power is available whenever you want it, on demand. Unless you drive your 16v like a Formula 1 car, the 8v will disappear into the distance every time.

Two awesome cars.