Golf Mk3. Is it really so bad?
Discussion
Looking at general ads for a second/ third car as a hack. Came upon very low mileage 1.6 petrol Mk 3, the one everyone rubbishes from a time when VW lost the plot. However, performance etc is irrelevant here, purpose of post is to ask just how corrosive these are. Car in point is one owner 30k miles, etc. horrid shade of metallic beige, but looks pretty well immaculate.
I had a J(92) Mk3 1.8CL in red (faded obviously) bought at BCA Edinburgh in 1998 I think for about £3600. Had about 50000 on the clock. I kept it till 12 yrs old and 180000m sold it to my landlord who used it as a farm van,
It was a very robust car if a bit boring but served me well. Didnt need much done in the time I had it probably 5 to 6 years it's amazing how the memory fades. No rust, original clutch, I did work it hard but was maintained well.
It was a very robust car if a bit boring but served me well. Didnt need much done in the time I had it probably 5 to 6 years it's amazing how the memory fades. No rust, original clutch, I did work it hard but was maintained well.
I'm hoping this is sub "shed budget"?
I'm of the opinion that those who rubbish the mk3 are often referring to the 8v GTI in terms of it's lack of GTI',ness or VR6 because "autocar:lemon"
Compared with it's peers for example the mk5 Ford Escort, the mk3 Vauxhall Astra , the Fiat Punto etc, it's a good car in many respects.
If it's rust free the rest of the bits to keep it running are cheap plus it's a simple enough car to work on.
I'm of the opinion that those who rubbish the mk3 are often referring to the 8v GTI in terms of it's lack of GTI',ness or VR6 because "autocar:lemon"
Compared with it's peers for example the mk5 Ford Escort, the mk3 Vauxhall Astra , the Fiat Punto etc, it's a good car in many respects.
If it's rust free the rest of the bits to keep it running are cheap plus it's a simple enough car to work on.
Like said it got slated for the spicy versions being a let down after the icons of the mk1/2 gtis
VWs themselves of that era were very good cars, probably some of the best cars made before the germans started building down to a price, you still see a fair few mk3s tooling around as hacks.
VWs themselves of that era were very good cars, probably some of the best cars made before the germans started building down to a price, you still see a fair few mk3s tooling around as hacks.
just what Hairy Ben says times changed after being built down to a cost. Audi 80's of this generation (early 90's) are capable of huge mileages how things have changed. All the tech in cars today makes sheds in the future a thing of the past!
When I bothered to clean up the interior of my hard working golf it came up like new, even at 180000m. I travel round farms for a living so not the gentlest of jobs.
If that makes sense?
When I bothered to clean up the interior of my hard working golf it came up like new, even at 180000m. I travel round farms for a living so not the gentlest of jobs.
If that makes sense?
Edited by loskie on Wednesday 2nd November 07:04
hairyben said:
Like said it got slated for the spicy versions being a let down after the icons of the mk1/2 gtis
VWs themselves of that era were very good cars, probably some of the best cars made before the germans started building down to a price, you still see a fair few mk3s tooling around as hacks.
That's right, it seems that the whole range got a bad reputation because the standard GTI's weren't as good as the mark 1 & 2, this is mostly due to the suspension that they left the factory on. There is nothing wrong with the standard ones though, they were quite well built cars back in their day.VWs themselves of that era were very good cars, probably some of the best cars made before the germans started building down to a price, you still see a fair few mk3s tooling around as hacks.
I've got the mark 3 16 valve GTI on Koni's (fixed the handling no end), it's now covered 193k miles and it's still going strong and it's good fun to drive.
MK3 Golfs are no more corrosion prone than any Golf before or after IMO I certainly remeber this being the case worked on enough of them as they were quite plentiful back in the day, reliability wise they was OK but agree on the poor quality dampers 
lets face it none of the Golfs were or are bullet proof thats a load of old crap and was probably started by a VW fanboys they are however very robust and reliable enough and knock current models into a cocked hat if we are talking reliability but this is the case with all brands now not helped by the added complexity of current/recent models 
lets face it none of the Golfs were or are bullet proof thats a load of old crap and was probably started by a VW fanboys they are however very robust and reliable enough and knock current models into a cocked hat if we are talking reliability but this is the case with all brands now not helped by the added complexity of current/recent models I had a P reg GTI.
It handled OK and could be hustled at a reasonable pace but the underside looked very crumbly and was covered in rust, it was one of the few cars I've ever had that broke down (distributor module or something), dampers leaked, the exhaust fell off, the ignition switch became unreliable despite a replacement barrel and the gearchange was crap until I fitted an aftermarket rod linkage kit and re-greased the rather odd poly ball it links to.
Overall, it was OK but not reliable. I tried changing the rear dampers and ended up severing the brake lines so I just scrapped it.
It handled OK and could be hustled at a reasonable pace but the underside looked very crumbly and was covered in rust, it was one of the few cars I've ever had that broke down (distributor module or something), dampers leaked, the exhaust fell off, the ignition switch became unreliable despite a replacement barrel and the gearchange was crap until I fitted an aftermarket rod linkage kit and re-greased the rather odd poly ball it links to.
Overall, it was OK but not reliable. I tried changing the rear dampers and ended up severing the brake lines so I just scrapped it.
They were okay but nothing more. We had three of them in a row and they were all a bit crap in the quality dept. The J reg GTi was very tired by 100'000, the 1.8CL on a K the best one but the M plate VR6 had a lot of rattles. This is going back to the early to mid 1990's. It was better than an Escort, but nowhere near as good as a 306.
In 2016, a tidy 1.8GL is probably an okay car to smoke around in but there are better choices. I borrowed a 1993 Corolla 1.3 hatchback 3 door once and it was vastly superior to the 1.8 Golf in every department.
In 2016, a tidy 1.8GL is probably an okay car to smoke around in but there are better choices. I borrowed a 1993 Corolla 1.3 hatchback 3 door once and it was vastly superior to the 1.8 Golf in every department.
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