Faults:

Had a few minor niggles when brand new, stick indicator switch and alarm work when it felt like. These were fixed OK.

Coil failed at 9000 miles and left me stranded in the middle of Birmingham on night. The car was towed in and sat in the dealers for 4 weeks awaiting parts - along with 3 other Golfs and 5 Passats all at the same dealer. This is a design fault that VW know about and won't recall the car. The dealer has shown me memos from VW on this subject.

Rang VW, but they were not interested and said it would be dealt with under warranty so what was the problem?

Meanwhile I spent a month in a Polo 1.2 courtesy car.

When I got it back the brakes were rusted because it had spent over a month out in the open in winter. The dealer then had to fix the brakes under warranty too.

Nice one!

General Comments:

The car is rubbish.

The service is rubbish.

The dealers are hopeless.

Volkswagen the company don't care once the car is sold.

I thought my Alfa was bad for reliability, but at least it got fixed quickly.

Faults:

In cold temperatures the 'Interlock System' freezes and the driver must wait 15-25 minutes until it "thaws".

Left too long in drive or neutral without heat on the floor the 'Interlock System' will again freeze and one must sit until it un-thaws (can take upwards of 30 minutes)

General Comments:

I fell in love with this car the minute I sat in it! It has been a real joy to drive, however the problems with the 'Interlock System' has made it a pain to drive in cold weather and has therefore tainted my opinion of the VW Golf.

Faults:

Electric window fell down and would not come up twice because the clips broke. This is a common problem with the Golf I am told.

Heavy fuel consumption (~28 mpg). Dealer said I was driving it hard, but this is on the motorway also.

Also uses a lot of oil.

Pulls to the left all the time. Dealer has tried to fix 3 times, but failed.

CD player broke

Paintwork chips easily on the front

Cold start temperature probe went

Fuel injection recalibrated

Remote locking works intermittently and have to be very close to the car

Rear dampers needed replacing due to leaks

Rattles from drivers door caused by loose locks.

General Comments:

Great on the motorway, but goes a bit pear shaped on twisty roads. Poor handling really.

Very comfortable, but heater is a bit weak and demisting poor without the air con.

Not very good build quality although it looked great at first. Primeras are built much better.

Very disappointed with the reliability although all problems fixed under warranty.

Dealers very poor and don't really care. Service and parts very expensive.

Going to get rid of it soon because I am fed up with it.

Expensive car for very below average performance and reliability.