Hatchback choice - VW Golf (Mk IV) or some other?
Discussion
Dear All,
Any recommendations for a quality used hatchback that is built as well (and is as relaible) as the Golf, but perhaps is more enjoyable to drive?
Thinking about replacing wife's car - depreciation not a factor, as keeping the car for a long time.
Has to be an AUTOMATIC though!
Thanks
Any recommendations for a quality used hatchback that is built as well (and is as relaible) as the Golf, but perhaps is more enjoyable to drive?
Thinking about replacing wife's car - depreciation not a factor, as keeping the car for a long time.
Has to be an AUTOMATIC though!
Thanks
Chatted with AA bloke recently - claims that they are doing a massive business with Golf 1.6's at the moment. Really unreliable and constant problems. Couldnt say why as the problems seemed to be different from each one, but signifcantly more unreliable than the 1.4, 2.0 or 1.8 petrols... diesels are great though...
Strange but seems to be true. Only mention this as most autos tend to be 1.6's...
Cheers,
Paul
Strange but seems to be true. Only mention this as most autos tend to be 1.6's...
Cheers,
Paul
Arrgh!! if i hear one more comment about VW reliability i'm gonna 
MK4 golfs suck, i had one for about 6 weeks before it was replaced (as a hire car). No toys, boring interior, extremely bad driving position, sloppy handling, gutless engine.
Ok so it had dampened 'Fcuk me handles' above the doors and a 'clever' cupholder, but who gives a toss about that?? VW have been beaten in the JD Power survey (if you believe that stuff anyhow) for years by the likes of Subaru and even ford for goodness sake, so whats this trash on reliability??
And is it only me that thinks that VW should by now have prced themselves out of the market, by offering the likes of skoda and seat at lower prices than their own cars, when they are exactly the same platform!!!!!! How does that work???
Sorry for the rant, but if your car really has to be one of the VAG group, myu money would be on the seat everytime, at least it goes around corners...! and its not silly money either
Otherwise i'd spend less money on the better car, which for some unknown reason is the ford focus.
>> Edited by Buffalo on Monday 17th February 18:20
MK4 golfs suck, i had one for about 6 weeks before it was replaced (as a hire car). No toys, boring interior, extremely bad driving position, sloppy handling, gutless engine.
Ok so it had dampened 'Fcuk me handles' above the doors and a 'clever' cupholder, but who gives a toss about that?? VW have been beaten in the JD Power survey (if you believe that stuff anyhow) for years by the likes of Subaru and even ford for goodness sake, so whats this trash on reliability??
And is it only me that thinks that VW should by now have prced themselves out of the market, by offering the likes of skoda and seat at lower prices than their own cars, when they are exactly the same platform!!!!!! How does that work???
Sorry for the rant, but if your car really has to be one of the VAG group, myu money would be on the seat everytime, at least it goes around corners...! and its not silly money either
Otherwise i'd spend less money on the better car, which for some unknown reason is the ford focus.
>> Edited by Buffalo on Monday 17th February 18:20
Well said Buffalo 
No offence intended to any Golf drivers reading this, but it's getting as bad as the 3-Series. Let's launch our all new model, which has got slightly different lights to the last model.
The thing is, for some strange reason, people seem to flock to buy them. Reliability and low depreciation they all shout, but I cannot see that they are built better, or any more reliable than a Focus. The VW after sales is bad by most standards, and the trade in they'll offer for the low depreciation Golf is shocking!
Richa.
No offence intended to any Golf drivers reading this, but it's getting as bad as the 3-Series. Let's launch our all new model, which has got slightly different lights to the last model.
The thing is, for some strange reason, people seem to flock to buy them. Reliability and low depreciation they all shout, but I cannot see that they are built better, or any more reliable than a Focus. The VW after sales is bad by most standards, and the trade in they'll offer for the low depreciation Golf is shocking!
Richa.
How can an automatic be enjoyable to drive? It's more functional than fun!
As for Golfs , I still say the MK2 16v is the best one of the lot. Im always grinning when I drive mine, ok so it's a bit dated but there are plenty of good J-Reg ones out there. They're cheap, fun and reliable. practicle, tunable and have a cult following so you can always sell it on. It makes a great second car to be used as a daily hack.
I'm on my 3rd one!
As for Golfs , I still say the MK2 16v is the best one of the lot. Im always grinning when I drive mine, ok so it's a bit dated but there are plenty of good J-Reg ones out there. They're cheap, fun and reliable. practicle, tunable and have a cult following so you can always sell it on. It makes a great second car to be used as a daily hack.
I'm on my 3rd one!
Well I have a MK4 Golf admitedly it's a V6 4Motion - and to my knowledge there is no 4 wheel drive Skoda of Seat - the only car that is similar is the Audi S3 - (until the upped the power to 225 recently) Now the S3 has the same 4WD system and Chassis but is 3k more expensive. And how can the handling on similar chassied cars be so much better? - it can't.
Anyway I've 11.5k in mine now and it's been absolutly fine - it's very comfortable and handles very well for Hatchback - you can't compare it to a 3 series because for a equivalent performace model your looking at least 6k more.
As for residuals - doesn't come into it - Anyone who buys a new car and doesn't expect to loose a lot of money on it whether they keep it for 1 year or 10 is living in lah lah land (Unless it's something like an ENZO!)
Just my 2 pence worth.
Anyway I've 11.5k in mine now and it's been absolutly fine - it's very comfortable and handles very well for Hatchback - you can't compare it to a 3 series because for a equivalent performace model your looking at least 6k more.
As for residuals - doesn't come into it - Anyone who buys a new car and doesn't expect to loose a lot of money on it whether they keep it for 1 year or 10 is living in lah lah land (Unless it's something like an ENZO!)
Just my 2 pence worth.
guysh said: Well I have a MK4 Golf admitedly it's a V6 4Motion - and to my knowledge there is no 4 wheel drive Skoda of Seat...
Although in the UK I think there was only the Octavia wagon 4x4 over here we also have the Seat Leon 1.8t and V6 4x4 (essentially your Golf 4Motion). They all use the haldex system. It can get very confusing
zax said:
guysh said: Well I have a MK4 Golf admitedly it's a V6 4Motion - and to my knowledge there is no 4 wheel drive Skoda of Seat...
Although in the UK I think there was only the Octavia wagon 4x4 over here we also have the Seat Leon 1.8t and V6 4x4 (essentially your Golf 4Motion). They all use the haldex system. It can get very confusing
In the UK you can get the Haldex 4x4 Octavia in 1.8T flavour, both estate and saloon. Only issue is it comes stock at 150BHP.
Go for the Skoda 1.8T auto, 4x4 if you like, but if not the boot is absolutely huge. Just check the state of the coilpack....
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