Well that's a nice surprise

[randomman]

As some of you may know I've been looking for a cheap car for a few weeks now. Initial budget had to be upped lest I was stuck with a Kia Mentor (dear god no!) so 2 days ago I picked up an £800 1996 VW Golf GTI 16v.

I love it!

I was looking for reliability so the full VW service history, the massive folder of receipts and the fact it'd just had the belts done were the main selling points but it's totally mint, it's been maintained to an amazing standard and feels as tight as a nut.

Driving it makes me wonder why the MK3 gets so much stick, perhaps it isn't as good 'on the limit' as a MK2 and it may lack the tunability of later golfs but I think it's a real gem. Never really liked them before as I too though it was least desirable (well, apart from the 8v!)

So what are people's views on this model of car? Driven one or put off by the bad press? I'm curious to see if I can convince some people they are worth a look in this budget!

[neil_bolton]

I had one, and had a very nice time in it.

If I was pushed and had no real choice again, I'd do it again.

But that said, there's other kit out there for similar money now, and the choices are bigger.

Engine is unburstable though

[varsas]

Well, first who cares...if you have a reliable, fun to drive car for £800 that's a result...who cares what other people think?

1996, so it's a Mk3? I think it just suffers comparison with the Mk1/Mk2 GTi's rather then being a bad car per se.

[havoc]

varsas said:

Well, first who cares...if you have a reliable, fun to drive car for £800 that's a result...who cares what other people think?

1996, so it's a Mk3? I think it just suffers comparison with the Mk1/Mk2 GTi's rather then being a bad car per se.

The Mk3's main problem was that it was noticeably heavier without any more power, which dulled both performance and handling vs the earlier cars.

I'm also wondering when VW's fabled 'reliability' started going downhill...it was either the Mk3 or Mk4, I forget which. But at that age of car (and price) you don't expect the earth from a car and parts are pretty cheap, so it's a lot less of an issue than paying £20k for one.

[randomman]

It's gotta be the MK4 that started to damage the reliability stats. MAF sensors on petrols, IGR valves on diesels and many electrical gremlins. The MK3 GTI does seem to eat ABS sensors but at £12 a pop that's not too bad.

Oh and I've started saying GTI in the same way Clarkson says Jaaaag. People like this, surely?

[ManOpener]

randomman said:

It's gotta be the MK4 that started to damage the reliability stats. MAF sensors on petrols, IGR valves on diesels and many electrical gremlins. The MK3 GTI does seem to eat ABS sensors but at £12 a pop that's not too bad.

Oh and I've started saying GTI in the same way Clarkson says Jaaaag. People like this, surely?

Plus boost pipes, turbochargers and MAFS on diesels, window regulators, £70-odd-quid-a-pop wheel speed sensors...

[steveo3002]

the 16v mk3 was a good car , it was the mk3 8v gti that gave em a bad name as it wsnt any faster than the average family car at the time , shouldnt have badged em as a gti really