MK2 golf..... What to look out for??

[Otto]

lord love rocket said:

Otto said:

is that the £750 one?

Yup - after I got the wheels refurbed etc.

It was a good '10 yarder' - someone had sprayed the bumpers previously, and it looked a bit naff close up. The lacquer had gone cloudy on one of the C-panels, and the paintwork was generally pretty rough, but yes, 750 pounds!

Think it only had a week of MOT too - and as said it needed the rear subframe bushes, so there was an element of risk in the purchase, but there was virtually no rust, and none of the work was too difficult!

I don't think there's much difference in the running costs between an 8V and 16V? And IMO the performance of the 16V is worth it - I loved winding that thing up to the higher engine speeds!

[Daston]

I had an 8v for a little bit

Wished I had time to sort out the issues.

However I found the following problems

Oil cooler, check for oil leaks the o-ring around the filter can perish causing it to leak.

Check the sills, I took one off and found some nasty rust and botched body damage.

Sadly the HG went on mine and caused the head to warp. I didbt have the room or time to fix it up

[J4CKO]

NicDale said:

J4CKO said:

I think that the 8 valve GTI is the pick, ok, ultimately its not as fast as the 16 but its a nicer drive most of the time, depends what kidn of power delivery you prefer, grunty torque across the rev range or a stellar lunge for the redline.

The 16v produces more power and torque at every point of the rev range, it's a myth that the 8v is more 'grunty'. In fact 8v's make baby Jesus cry.

Make sure you're not having a small bumper car passed off as a big bumper, genuine big bumper cars have the hazard light on the top of the steering coloum, not on the dashboard. Also check the chassis legs for rot, especially under the battery tray.

Having had 8 GTI's, 2 * mk1 (in 1600 and 1900 TSR flavors, and a host of MK2's I just prefered the 8 valve, the 16 valve I had was quicker but felt harder work, maybe they are torquier, but are they also slightly higher geared, I just never took to it in the same manner, my preference would be a tuned 2.1 8 valve. Wouldnt mind drivign them back to back as at the time my abiding memory was slight dissapointment on driving the 16 valve, as 16 is twice as many as 8, therefore its twice as good.

I got the same feeling driving a Clio 182, as in slightly underwhelmed after turbo Saabs, Volvos and a Fiat Coupe.