mk 4 golf tdi 150ps or 130ps

[Olivera]

Brooksay said:

Take the 4. They're like roaches. You see them all the time. VW sweet spot was 98-2004.

Really? Everything based on the Mk4 Golf platform is an absolute pudding to drive.

[anonymous-user]

Raymond Reddington said:

wormus said:

Agreed, I was looking at a low mileage, immaculate GT 150 about 3 years ago for £2k. In the end I bought a 2008 Toyota Auris SR180 which is faster and being a Toyota, well made. Same money too. Give these a look as they are great little cars.

Do you still have the Auris Wormus? Sorry to threadjack... just wondered if you found it a reliable engine. I've been considering one of these to replace my petrol Corolla for extra poke and MPG.

Yes it’s a great little car. It’s not my main car but it hasn’t put a foot wrong. Goes like the clappers with 178hp and 295lbs torque in something Fiesta size. They don’t all blow up!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwVLOk8Q35s

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 15th April 20:50

[shtu]

They're both massively overpriced. I wouldn't buy either, and I owned a Mk4 GT TDI for about 10 years and 100,000 miles.

Unless you are wedded to the idea of a Mk4 (and if so, why), there are literally dozens of better options for your budget, plenty suggestions above.

[MC Bodge]

Olivera said:

Really? Everything based on the Mk4 Golf platform is an absolute pudding to drive.

Yes.

[Raymond Reddington]

wormus said:

Yes it’s a great little car. It’s not my main car but it hasn’t put a foot wrong. Goes like the clappers with 178hp and 295lbs torque in something Fiesta size. They don’t all blow up!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwVLOk8Q35s

Edited by wormus on Thursday 15th April 20:50

Thanks for that! I'm a big fan of Toyota for reliability hence running the Corolla but running costs are a bit high for such a bland machine. I think the SR180 looks nice too, especially 3 door, but I think I'd miss the extra doors.

[Brooksay]

Olivera said:

Brooksay said:

Take the 4. They're like roaches. You see them all the time. VW sweet spot was 98-2004.

Really? Everything based on the Mk4 Golf platform is an absolute pudding to drive.

Agreed.. But it strikes me the OP is after reliability. As such, I stand by my statement. Mk4's are everywhere,

[ZX10R NIN]

Raymond Reddington said:

Thanks for that! I'm a big fan of Toyota for reliability hence running the Corolla but running costs are a bit high for such a bland machine. I think the SR180 looks nice too, especially 3 door, but I think I'd miss the extra doors.

You can get the SR180 as a five door:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104030...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102189...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104141...

There's also the T180

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008062...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102169...

Or there's the Lexus with the same engine:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104010...

[MC Bodge]

Brooksay said:

Agreed.. But it strikes me the OP is after reliability. As such, I stand by my statement. Mk4's are everywhere,

....And spending so much on one would be excessive.

[Joebristolgym]

Just a quick play with auto trader throws up multiple better options. At a quick glance the below has a 138bhp Diesel engine / 73k miles / 2010 model. I think the Match has a reasonable spec as the wife used to have one and loved it. Hers had to r less powerful older style engine though I think.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202008172...

[ugene425]

Good options but none have pedigree of the 150 2003. In that it has one owner from new with full VW FSH. Yes I am paying for this but I know it has been very well looked after and is a cracking engine

ZX10R NIN said:

Those prices are way off, for example

£3700 2012 Astra Elite 2.0d 165 Fully loaded spec wise nearly a whole 9 years newer with 40k less on the clock:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010024...

£3300

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104010...

2008 MK5 2.0tdi 140 Golf GT 140

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103200...

GT Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101208...

Leon FR

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103220...

5k with haggling will get you a low mileage MK6 Golf GT 140

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104030...

2012 Focus Titanium X 160

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103310...

2014 Astra Elite 165

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102269...

2012 DS5 DSport (this would be my pick at 5k) 160 Auto

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102289...

[ZX10R NIN]

ugene425 said:

What pedigree? Some have FSH, as well as being newer better built & nicer steers, personally I'd have all of them over a MK4 but if we all liked the same thing life would be boring so crack on

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Saturday 17th April 10:05

[Drive Blind]

OP - what cars are you used to driving?

only asking cos the mk4 golf is widely acknowledged as the worse golf dynamically and the PD tractor lump lacks refinement.

Is it the silver one on autotrader with the rear door a different shade of silver to the rest of the car?

Massively overpriced IMO.

[MC Bodge]

A friend of mine had a MK4 Golf TDI 130 when it was new. I owned a Mk1 Focus 2.0. The Focus handled much better, although the Golf had more low rrpm grunt (over a narrow rpm range) and nicer seats.

This was 20 years ago. You are looking at very old, ordinary, common cars for quite a lot of money.

[shtu]

ugene425 said:

Good options but none have pedigree of the 150 2003. In that it has one owner from new with full VW FSH. Yes I am paying for this but I know it has been very well looked after and is a cracking engine.

Ultimately if it's what you want, it's what you want.

But you can get one-owner, FSH cars that are literally a decade newer for the same money. Old VW Tax is as bad as Old Ford Tax.

The PD is quite a dated and agricultural thing compared to the later CR engines, and the 150PD definitely isn't all that reliable. Again, I've first-hand experience of all of these, so I'm not being negative for the sake of it.

Edited by shtu on Friday 16th April 22:12

[Terry Tibbs]

As said, they are crazy prices. I wouldn’t give more than £1500 if I really had to, but then I would go for a Focus instead anyway. Much better car at that age/price point.

[Mouse Rat]

I'm with the OP, sort of. The MK4 GT Tdi maybe becoming a classic hence the higher prices for tidy ones.
It put the Golf on the radar for many people beyond the Gti and 'scene' fans. They felt quicker than the GTI and V5's without the running costs.
I remember in the late 90's being very impressed by the chunky solid design of the MK4.
Then a couple of years later driving to Italy through Germany for work and the place was littered with them. We was in a Audi quattro 2.8 and we couldn't shrug off the 130tdi's.
I had a 110 for a couple of years after a 318is. I know many people who jumped from petrol jags, mercs audi's etc into these in the early 2000's so save on company car tax and fuel and loved them.
The last one I drove was around 6 years ago my mate had a 53 plate bora 130tdi with over 170k miles. It felt as quick and as solid as as my 62 plate A4 180tdi quattro.

Like others have said, you can get better cars for the money, even ropy mk6 Gtd's are under £5k. But the MK4 GT TDi's have an appeal that I don't think was matched until the MK7.5 GTD.

[KomodoWagon]

Personally, I think the only Golf IVs that’ll end up as proper classics will be the VR6 4Motion and R32.

The design was considered something of a breath of fresh air at the time, partly because the Golf III was so heavyweight and dumpy-looking. To be fair as a design the Golf IV still looks neat and clean today, a bit like the B5 Passat.

I worked for VW at the time these were sold. I do remember they had major issues with leaks. If I heard ‘water ingress front passenger door’ once I heard it a thousand times.

And the pipe for the rear screen wash jet used to block, leak inside the boot and break the electrics and locking mechanism.

The Bora, oddly, didn’t seem to have the same issues with front door leaks. Or at least not in the same frequencies.

[MrGTI6]

Those prices are mental. I had to check the date of the first post to make sure it wasn't from a decade ago.

I bought an 03-plate Golf GT TDI 150 for about a grand 4 or 5 years ago. The engine was brilliant and it was a really nice car to start with. But I got rid of it as the constant niggling faults were driving me mad. The central locking had a mind of its own, and all four windows would open fully overnight for no apparent reason. This was cured one window at a time as each one gradually decided to stop working. The EML was a near-enough permanent fixture on the dash. The starter motor used to make the most horrendous noise whenever the engine was started.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great car when everything worked. It looked great and felt very solid - albeit slightly uninspiring - to drive. But it was far too needy for my liking. The idea of spending three or four grand on one just seems outrageous!

Mine got replaced by an old French tin can which I still have now. It's been infinitely better to own than the Golf.

[ZX10R NIN]

Look forward to the photo's of the MK4 you bought OP.

[Drive Blind]

I suspect he's just a troll.

I look forward to the next 'what car' post.

I'll eat my hat, custard test, etc.