Faults:

Front lights replaced twice due to manufacturing defect that the dealer and importer never admitted.

Partial respray of the lower parts of the car because of weak and thin paint layer, done the first year after about 10.000 km.

All 4 shock absorbers; the first failing at 25.000 km.

One front spring.

Aerial antenna.

Rear muffler.

Complete exhaust system, including the earlier replaced rear muffler.

Catalyst, failing at about 60.000 km.

O2 sensor.

Clutch.

Whining gear box (bearing starting to fail, expensive to fix at about 115.000 km).

Crank seal against gear box leaking, but not replaced.

Head gasket blew at 85.000 km and water pump was also replaced.

ABS sensor problems + later ABS system failure. ABS didn't work after that and was never fixed.

Rear linkage problem, worn bushings giving clunking noise after 110.000 km.

High beam selector shorted.

Last major problem was the fuel pump at 120.000 km.

Various electrical problems including radio.

General Comments:

Very practical and comfortable, but horrible quality. The worst car I've ever encountered and owned. Used to own a 15 year old BMW and a 20 year old Volvo; both were ten times as reliable as this new/near new VW, even though this Golf was well taken care for and always serviced on time.

Useless piece of s**t. Never backed up by the dealer, nor the importer. Never, never, any VAG products for me again.

The funny thing: I actually got a good trade in on this car that was a rolling wreck. Suckers are born every minute.

VW usually stood for quality some time back, but that means nothing nowadays.

Faults:

Trunk lock wouldn't lock/unlock, despite the fact I had central locking.

Rubber band holding the exhaust in the middle wore out, which resulted in the muffler "patching" itself to the rear bumper and burning some of the plastic on it.

Power steering pump's days were counted.

Front engine mounting was bad.

General Comments:

Okay, I really don't know how to put this car into words.

Let me begin by saying that it's more than reliable. In Sweden, as many of you know, winters can be EXTREMELY cold.

The day when I was supposed to buy it, in January, I remember it was -15 degrees Celsius. So I put the key in the lock, and VROOM! The car started without a problem.

I drove about 12 000 kilometers with it, without a single problem. 5 days a week it was standard work -> home -> work -> home -> grocery store -> home etc. On the weekends, me and my friends usually took road trips. Fuel economy is extraordinary for an old car as this one. I even managed to pull out over 800 kilometers with a full tank. Simply splendid!

But then, I found out that the front engine mounting was at its end, causing the motor to vibrate a bit when accelerating around 1,000-1,200 rpm.

Power steering pump was slowly dying as well. I noticed that after examining how the car sometimes was VERY easy to steer, while sometimes real hard on the steering wheel. Got it checked up, and the maintenance guys told me that these two are gonna cost me around 150 Euros to BUY, plus their work. Since that was an amount I didn't really count with, I had to sell the car, since I needed a fully functional car. With 141 000 kilometers, the car went into the hands of an old lady who had the money to fix it. I was happy knowing that it went into good hands.

Now I have a 1996 1.8i CL. I just can't get enough of Golf 3! It's the best car ever. If I was ever to be offered to make a choice between a new Golf 3 and a brand new latest Golf - I'd still choose Golf 3 HANDS DOWN. True story. :)