Shed of the Week: Volkswagen Golf V6
A 4WD Shed to see you through the winter, and beyond...
Our tutting overlords might not fully approve of this week's thirsty VW Golf 2.8 V6 4Motion Shed, but as logic doesn't seem to be impacting on many of the Govt's motoring decisions just now, it could be argued that the purchase of a vehicle that does fewer than 20 miles per gallon around town is entirely in keeping with the prevailing political landscape.
Remarkably, given how common they are, only five Golfs have appeared in Shed of the Week in the last five years, and none of them have been V6-powered. This 2003 specimen uses VW's narrow-angle 24-valve V6 to produce 204hp and 195lb ft. Offering a nice dose of flexibility and refinement and a properly whooshy third gear, this engine gives the game old Mk 4 a couple of new dimensions as a relaxing cruiser or a snarly A-road stalker.
Some say the 1.8T is more tunable and less juicy, and that a remapped 1.9 TDI will deliver equally fine or better performance along with decent fuel consumption, but neither of these options will give you the six's fruitilicious exhaust note.
Nor will they have the 4Mo's Haldex 4WD system, which provides excellent traction out of corners wet or dry. This is a full-time arrangement that defaults almost entirely to the front wheels, with the rears getting up to maybe 30 per cent of the power when conditions dictate. Upgrades are available to make the balance more 50/50-ish, or to keep the system engaged when you take your foot off the throttle (at which point standard setups usually disengage), giving a degree of back-end engine braking. 4WD or not, our Shed will still naturally handle like a Mk 4 Golf, but you can de-roll it a bit by fitting a set of ARBs from an R32.
To keep your Fo'Mo running hard and true it's really worth looking after its drivetrain. The engine is a pretty sturdy lump that will take big mileages, but our Shed is at the point where timing chains can start to make themselves heard. Sorting that wouldn't be a cheap job. You're also well advised to change the Haldex oil at 20k intervals and the filter every 40k. Our car is within tolerance.
There are two main issues with these V6s. One is failure of the twin fans. If you don't catch this in time, there will be steam. Replacing the strip fuse atop the battery can sometimes restore at least partial fan operation, but for a proper fix it's a case of pulling the front of the car off to fit two new fans. Pay VW £300-plus for the pair, or about half that for aftermarket items, plus maybe another £300 or so for labour. There's no mention of this work having been carried out on our Shed, so it's something to be aware of.
The other issue is fuel consumption. You can get more than 30mpg if you drive in a stately fashion, but realistically you're looking at mid to high 20s even on a motorway cruise, low 20s on mixed roads, and figures in the mid or even low teens in town or when pressing on.
Springs break, and indeed already have done on this car, not once but twice. Both rears went back in 2009, and the vendor says that these replacements have themselves just been replaced for the recent MOT. Wishbone and anti-roll bar bushes are known to go too, along with all the usual VW suspects of MAFs, window operating systems, anything with the word 'sensor' in it, and coil packs. On post-2002 BDE engines like this one there are six individual coils that cost around £30 a pop, but the general view is that you're less likely to experience the dreaded misfire on a six than you are on a four.
Some owners have reported problems with the ESP light coming on if the MAF is faulty or if the wheel alignment isn't bob-on. You need to be canny about tyre replacement too. It's highly desirable bordering on essential to change all four hoops at once on cars with this sort of transmission. Luckily that very thing happened on this car just 4000 miles ago.
At launch, this was an expensive car (£24,000 plus options). There's no getting away from the fact that it's now an old once-expensive car, with all the running cost pitfalls that suggests, but even with the odd bits of brown showing through on the bodywork this full service history example looks like a potentially nice beater for winter use. The road tax is £305 a year, but you've got no MOT bills to worry about until next November. Use that money to keep the tank topped up - and pray for an uninterrupted supply of 95RON going forward, as the politicos say.
FSH and last serviced on 15/11/17 @ 103645 miles. 2 previous owners. Haldex diff oil & filter change carried out in November 2016. MOT expires 22nd November 2018 and had 2 new rear springs and a rear ABS sensor replaced for recent MOT. It is in good condition, performs well and has the lovely V6 growl.
It does have some surface rust on the wheel arches and there is also some corrosion around the boot handle. It comes with 2 keys. A full set of Michelin cross climate tyres were fitted 4000 miles ago.
It was not exactly frugal, the petrol FWD models were zippier, the diesel was, mapped or not, the one to have in real life for torque and mpg, so the benefits were sparse, wasn't so much fun to drive as excepted.
Consider the usual Golf IV qirks and it being a 5-door, so I would step back.
Cheeep one though, but then go for the last 1.8 T 3 - doors in a good colour and it could be a keeper...
Not a bad car, just probably not worth 20 mpg.
The Golf has been used as the 2nd car ferrying me to work and back mostly. Having previously owned a Corrado VR6 a number of years ago, I was keen to get myself back in a V6 and the Golf option was practical enough choice for transporting the kids. It has the added bonus of 4wd for those less pleasant days. The engine is the big appeal of this car. It has a nice, linear power delivery and the growl as the revs climb. It is definitely not the most frugal of engines but it's character does go some way to balance things out. Other than the V6 badges there is no way of telling that there is anything remotely interesting about it and I kind of like that. In the age of engine downsizing it's nice to know that they used to put these larger engines in normal family hatchbacks.
I laugh at the 20mpg of the Golf if driven hard. More like 10mpg for my 10 mile trip to work from the Isuzu; the best we ever got was 21mpg for driving (at a steady 55mph) from Staffordshire to the Lake District. Nice noise though...
As far as this week's SOTW is concerned - I quite liked the look of it when I first saw the ad, then a dose of practicality kicked in and I just thought about the nagging depression of filling up so regularly. Might be a good stopgap for someone over the winter (especially given the CrossClimate boots) but it's not for me.
Yes its really, really thirsty.
The engine comes alive from 40-70+ mph - its just smooth and strong power, however - I personally prefer my power low down from the get go - my first two cars were a Renault 5GT, Pug205gti (1.6) so maybe I'm biased but in the real world or at least my world that's where I need the power to be ( I only really drive around town not motorways).
The central locking was like it was possessed - most days I had to get in through the boot as it just wouldn't open and three or four times during autumn I came back to my car and all four windows had mysteriously gone down on their own and the car was full of leaves lol (apparently this a common fault with them).
All in all it was an enjoyable car, more or less until I drove over a raised man hole cover and totaled the bottom of the engine and the oil sump and then had it scrapped (it only cost £695 to buy) but you win some you lose some. I'm now driving a £300 Citreon Picasso which has been one of the best bangers I have ever bought!
It was quick, sounded good, well built but really there was something missing - it just wasn't an enjoyable car to drive and seriously thirsty.
If I recall correctly the CO2 emissions were almost off the scale.
The Golf Mk5 and onwards were much much better.
The PD 130 engine suits the car so well though, I'd go diesel if I did it again.
In my part of the UK there just aren't enough severe winter days to justify buying an AWD vehicle specifically for this purpose. I've run RWD BMWs on summer tyres through every winter since 2011, and coped just fine. Snow is like rocking horse poop in these parts.
https://www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?ca...
Just had a look online and there seems to have been a FWD V6 but it was a 12v, not 24v like the 4Motion. Was that your car? Was it a European / US model?
I also find the fuel economy interesting: I have a similar vintage 3.0 V6 petrol with similar manual transmission but with more weight and permanent awd, and yet I'll see 30 mpg average and as much as 36 on a run. Give it a bloody good thrashing and it may dip down to 25, but 30 mpg definitely includes trips around the entirely of the power band.
Unless Jaguar's trip is just wildly optimistic?
The car has never let us down, we give it an annual service at local VW and that's it really. Some air-con and suspension parts needed a refresh a few years ago, that was the biggest bill we've got. Still on the original engine, the build-quality is awesome.
Been used and abused during my ownership, construction sites, long journeys you name it.. If I could find a very clean one I would definitely buy it again.
the 2.8 v6 fwd is really quite a nice machine
was refferd to as the thinking mans subaru in some mags at the time .
the mk iv as others have mentioned gets slagged a bit ..quite a lot by peolple who have never driven them or had ropey old ones .
fact is they are a very tidy design , quite well built ....and have a better more timless look to them then some of vw latest efforts .
the concerns about petrol usage is usually your smallest problems when owning a car ..ive had big 1960,s mustangs with unstressed engines and drivetrains ..and cost me less to run then multi valve small cam cars .
anyway ... would be a cool fun car and for the price would be interested what the naysayers would recommend instead ??
ropey for price french and italian cars ?
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