Faults:

Throttle body switch.

General Comments:

In all the time I have owned my Golf MK2 GTI 8v, only the throttle switch has given me problems resulting in 'hunting' at idle.

These cars are are great all rounders. I have owned many hot hatches; R5 GT Turbo, Clio 1.8 16v, Pug 205 GTI's, Astra GTE's etc. I have found the Golf to have a classy status to it, and you don't feel the image of a boyracer.

Performance wise it's good, not the best though, but I'm comparing it to my old GTE 16v, 205 1.9 GTI, Clio 16v. My GTE 16v was 156bhp, Clio was 137bhp and Pug was 130bhp, so all of these had a load more horses than my 112bhp Golf.

There is one thing in the Golf, you can drive it like a family car and get a healthy 35mpg around town or even 39 on a run, they are great on petrol, which helps in todays day with fuel rising by the second! If you do put your foot down you will see around 28, still very good, and with a top speed of 118mph showing via GPS (speedo had gone off the clock!!) whilst coming back from Germany on the Autobahn I was impressed.

If you get a tidy one be ready to get a lot of comments. I've been stopped whilst out shopping with people saying, lovely car... petrol stations, even taking my dog to the woods and I still get comments! Saying that, the boot space on these is very good, plenty of room for my 7st German Shepherd.

Get a good one and enjoy it! Remember, don't let the mileage put you off, they just get faster the more miles they seem to have!

Faults:

Not a thing has gone wrong with this car.

General Comments:

This is one of the best little cars I have ever owned. A great bit of fun and speed.

I would recommend any one to get one. Very safe and reliable, all round a great car. I love it.

Faults:

Nothing gone wrong so far, just a couple of issues I already knew about.

Car is off road at the moment, needs a little welding to pass it's MOT.

Engine will sometimes cut out when started cold, have to keep the revs up at about 1500 until it warms up a bit. No biggie though.

Bodywork needs some attention due to a little cosmetic rust and one or two dents.

General Comments:

A fantastic little car. I got it from my mums friend as a gift for passing my test. The owner before that hadn't given this car the due care and attention, so the car is a little bit worn out, but I have no complaints. It sat on a driveway for 7 months before I picked it up, and it started first time! It starts first time every time. Plenty of power in the lower ranges, though you really need to put the foot down to get up to motorway speed. This car, for all the care it hasn't received, is still excellent. It feels incredibly solid to drive, but watch out for cobbles. That older style body shell transmits sound and vibration like you wouldn't believe (perfect for those who really like to feel the car). The paintwork is still lovely and bright, and when I had all the grime removed at the carwash, it SHINES! I would recommend this car for anyone.

Faults:

Replaced head gasket and rear struts at 265000 km.

Replaced glow plugs and battery at 272,000 km for winter.

Replaced starter at 275,000 km (old one had started grinding).

Went through several alternator V-belts over the life of the car, until eventually replacing pulley at 280,000 km.

Both outside rear door handles were useless when I got the car. One repeatedly required greasing to fix, the other was broken inside. Apparently very common.

One tire constantly lost air, even after getting a new tire on it.

Multiple electrical problems, often presented as a car that won't start.

Absolutely wouldn't start under about -10 degrees C without the block heater.

General Comments:

There weren't too many things under the hood. I'm almost surprised that so many things went wrong for how simply the car was built.

The car has pretty slow acceleration, with a fairly weak engine. However it is easily sufficient, and the car was pretty fun to drive while I had it.

The body was in better shape than all other VWs in my area of the same era. It's even better than many mk3 VWs. Most rust was cosmetic and not plentiful.

Previous owner mainly used it for highway driving, and had appeared to be driving it with all original parts (so I guess that's why I had to replace so many).

Shifting to first was tough; shifting to reverse while not stopped would result in a crunch sound; shifting to second too quickly would also result in a crunch sound. Apparently these are all common issues, and are all easy to work around.

The reliability was disappointing. There were too many occasions where I tried to start the car and got no response at all from the starter, though the starter itself was never at fault (replaced because it was grinding, but still working). I suspect these problems were all related to old/loose wires, but eventually I got sick of them and dumped the car.

Everything inside was within reach and easily visible, except fifth gear was a somewhat far reach. All windows worked, all functions inside worked, everything held up quite well inside.

I miss the fuel consumption, even if by this point it was worse or comparable to new gasoline engines, the fuel is cheaper.

I would still be driving the car if I had guarantee that it would start the next day, and if I knew that nothing else would go wrong. Running for 15 years with original parts is impressive, but I should have known it wouldn't last.