Shed of the Week: Volkswagen Polo GTI

Well as there's been quite a lot of (unexpected) Polo GTI discussion this week...

Of all the noises you don't want coming from your gearbox, 'whining' is surely right up there in the top three, jostling for top spot with 'squeaking'.

Time to shout 'house' as loud as you can then, because both these words feature proudly in the ad for this week's Shed, a VW Polo GTI 6N2.

Yes it's cheap, but it's cheap for a reason...

Controversially, the owner insists that these dangerous-sounding, er, sounds do not affect the driving experience. Perhaps he forgot to add 'as long as you crank the stereo up to max', in which case of course he'd be right, whining and squeaking wouldn't affect the driving experience. Well, not until the point at which it suddenly goes deathly quiet, anyway.

Truth be told, Polo GTI gearboxes are fairly well known for their cheesoid construction. Problems often arise from the region inhabited by the intermediate shaft bearing. A tranny fluid underfill won't help matters much either.

But here's a mad theory: could it be that, as the vendor implies, there actually is nothing wrong with the gearbox? Yes, yes, we know, it's about as likely as catching Donald Trump reading a book, but give it a chance.

If there are no gear selection problems, it could actually be a noisy alternator, cambelt tensioners or water pump. Everybody knows about VW water pumps. Or it could just be a noisy auxiliary belt caused by a faulty tensioner. It could even be something as basic as a wheel bearing.

No really, it came from the factory like that

Best scenario of all, and one put forward by more than one VW expert, is that it's "normal harmonics" and "nothing to worry about". Sounds a bit improbable that one if we're honest, but it's certainly the cheapest way of getting through this. More info needed from the owner really.

What about the rest of the Polo GTI? What are the genuinely good bits?

Well, for a start it's not that common a car. The insurance is low relative to a Golf GTI, the equipment spec is really good and they are good fun to punt around. It's no Renaultsport Clio but it will hang on in there with more grit than you might expect. The 0-60 is in the eight-second bracket, mpg figures in the high 30s or low 40s are entirely feasible, and the engine is pretty strong.

You do need to take care of it though. Even if the tranny is good, you should at least consider the possibility of a gearbox rebuild at some point in its future. Some say budget for one of them every 50-70K miles.

Belts and pump replacement is a 30K event. The pedal box was a regular fail on these, but there was a recall on that, so with luck this one will have been sorted. The clutch is naturally heavy. Do leg exercises.

Still a smart looking little hatch

For any other information on Polo GTIs may we refer you to the doughty witterings of JoeMarano on the Focus RS vs. Civic Type R thread. Make sure you've got a nice big box of popcorn at the ready though.

This Shed here may not have seen the kind hand of a service monkey for well over 30K miles, so if you were interested you would be well within your rights to try a cheeky bid of £400 and then, if successful, see how far you can get in it before mechanical meltdown arrives. At which point there will be a few 6N2 owners around happy to buy up some of your bits.

Not everyone will see the appeal of those '1's plastered all over the seats, but look at it this way: it's better than having a load of number twos on there.

Here's the ad

132k service book till 95k, mot September completely standard car everything works, central locking alarm, Electric Windows, climate control etc, gearbox whining and squeaking hence price, in daily use doesn't effect driving.