Faults:

Nothing has really gone wrong with the car. It's a wonderful piece of machinery and really enjoyed driving it. Unfortunately, let the old man take it for a ride and he smacked it up.

General Comments:

Great car, ran great, looked great would recommend a VW to anyone. Quite expensive to fix if anything does go wrong. And it is a GTI VR6, so it's hard to find parts for this car.

Faults:

Ignition switch @ 63k.

Right ball joint @ 72k.

General Comments:

This car really has been a pleasure to own. Sometimes the maintenance costs can be a bit high ($135 for brake pads), but if you can't keep up with the regular maintenance on these vehicles don't bother buying one, because your going to have problems. This is the most versatile vehicle I have ever owned. It's a blast on the highway, yet it's an awesome city car. Camping for a weekend is no problem, the car will swallow anything you need. The only thing which ticked me off was the ignition switch. The problem was that because the headlights come on when you turn the vehicle on, the headlights wouldn't turn on when you needed them. But if you played with the switch they would come on. I've heard some not so positive things about the newer models, too bad, hopefully they get it worked out. My paint and interior are both in good shape, as I am pretty meticulous about it. My recommendations for anyone looking to buy one of these would be to buy from a respectable source, and don't buy anything which you can't talk to the previous owner and get its maintenance history. A true VW enthusiast will love to talk about his previous car. There's a lot of pounded GTI's out there, but a keen eye can pick out the right one easily. Now VW better get their act together so I can buy a new one!

Faults:

Left wheel bearing @ 10k

Hand brake cable @ 30k

Key-lock (trunk) @ 35k

Battery @ 40k

Speedometer @ 40k

Key-lock (driver side) @ 50k

Water pump @ 60k

Starter @80k.

General Comments:

Suspension is crapping out at 80k, but I think driving over a bridge to work and back didn't help (those damn expansion joints on the bridge are rough).

The locks freeze up in winter. Same problem on my last Volks. Totally sucks.

I like my car. It's got great highway speed performance, had nice handling (gonna get the suspension redone soon), and seemed pretty reliable overall.

Interior is great and doesn't wear out.

I think I'll keep it as a winter car when I get my next one (BMW, SAAB, or a Corvette :)