i would of bought a black one, blue pearl or silver, prob in that order, just that the black one came up at the right money and prety local to me, i have had a silver 4mo so wouldnt of thought the sliver one was 'special' enough, but now i have it i would recommend any of the colours they make them in - wish id bought one years ago
all that said though i wish i had the space to keep my mk2 as a pure track car - was just too rough and ready for the road
Only saving grace is comfort level and toys. Ours had ****ty Dual Mass Flywheel failure cost gazillions. I sold it on cheap instead. Other fails were: -The tacky window retaining clips for the up/down track. PITA to fix. VW want to sell you complete units for millions but you can buy replacement clips from Poland for a fiver that are stronger and a better design. -The door lock that collapses and has a twisty screw assembly to fit it/hold the door handle and locking switch cable all in one. Presumably designed by a three legged ex-Krypton Factor contestant who trained as a contortionist. -The stupid microswitched central locking/comfort module in the door that locks you out, decides to unlock, sets off the alarm and more. Pile of cock. -The EGR valve that waits till you hit the inner ringroad (Peripherique) of Paris on a rainy Friday night in rush hour when there's a blocked lane due to an accident before it screws the revs up and scares you ****less till you can get to a hotel. Drove round France with it acting up. Got home and plugged it in to show no fault. Pulled plugs off the engine till it died/ran better. Found it ran better with EGR plug off.
Sounds like you had a right dodgy mk4! The only problem i've had is the key fob not opening the doors. Also coilpacks going but when changed for Oem quality ones, your good for a few years.
granted the window clips break alot, i never fail to sell the regulator panel when breaking mk4's as for the door catch microswitch failing - thats whats called a common fault with a car, every car on the road has them, could be worse some cars common faults are head gaskets going or massive electrical problems. I personally think the mk4 is a great car for what you get and pay for, they look good against modern cars, they are well built, personally i think they are easy to work on and if you have vagcom you an diagnose problems fairly easily (sometimes the worst part of fixing cars) there are lots of them around so parts are no issues and due to the range of models upgrades are easy to come by from the R32 etc, if you have a 1.8t then power hikes are fairly cheap to come by i cant comment on the 1.4's are 'lesser'models as ive never had one but maybe they are underpowered due to the mk4 weight, either way they are more refined than a mk3 (as they should be) better looking than a mk5/6 imho, also still look good in the carpark against similar aged cars
Bump for modern crapness update seeing as some were trying to turn the thread. Mk4 02K transmission. 5th gear end casing, rather than have the ability to remove said casing by undoing the bolts alone as per oldskool 020, the mk4 in it's sheit way requires the large green VW plug on the end of the casing to be removed to gain access to one bolt before the casing can be removed. Generally this involves damaging the plug, so you can now factor in buying a replacement green plug when you wish to change the clutch release bearing.
Not had a great deal of Mk4 exposure. Bro Dunc loves the estates and he had an APR'd 180bhp 1.8t hatch that was very respectable around Bedford. Prob never own one, although I like the idea of an R32. Old stuff all the way
True that, I thought Id fly through a Mk2 gearbox swap this weekend having done about 6 in the last 18months but I still found it a total pain in the... arm, they where sore yesterday.
Bump for modern crapness too and ill take it direction to those V6 engines they are talking about. The Audi A3 3.2 broke down today on the drive, started fiine, but idle was a little rough shortly followed by engine emission light and a strong smell of hydrogen sulphate. One suspect coil was confirmed by the nice AA man and OBD laptop, he had a replacement VAG part on board so we pulled the old crappy design (who puts a coil touching hot areas like an engine!) but only half the bloody thing came out! Thoughts of a very expensive repair bill flashed by as the head would have to come off it we could not get it out. Anyway good old fashioned hammer and a punch was used to break up the remaining part around the plug so that we could get a hold of the metal casing and pull it out. Now the spark plug hole is full of debris! but at least the car worked. And the offending coil pack... I dread pulling the others, just incase they do the same and at 46 each X 6 it would be a big bill. My MK2 is so much more simple, 26 coil from a F*rd FTW.
^^^ This is the only annoying problem i have with my MK4. Ive had coilpacks go without warning, and they do cost a fair bit for OEM parts! The earlier 1.8T engines - AGU - seem to have bullet proof coilpacks which seem to last! This is why im putting one in the MK2, rather than a AUM
Do you mean the washer jets for the windscreen or headlights? No doubt they will be the most fiddly and awkward design imaginable, and take a book time of 21.5 hours to remove, with me breaking the locating lug after 20.4 hours work, rendering them useless and unsellable. The car is now on blocks, as in between the snow storms and sleet today, I managed to remove the rear wheel bearing and stub assemblies.
Constant battery drain in my mk4 meant a flat battery this morning. Would have jumped in the mk2, but that has a blown heater matrix so no use... Both cr"p when broken, love 'em both when working! Mk4 was back in action after a jump start, so it wins right?!
I don't know how a Mk3 Golf compares to a Mk2, but I do know that a Mk4 compared to a Mk3 is just a joke. The Mk3 is miles ahead on the quality front. For a car that is supposed to be galvanised my Mk4 has more than its fair share of rust issues. The biggest being the front wings. The arch lip is totally knackered. All because of a piece of sound deadening foam VW put behind the wing. Water collects in the foam and sits on the wing, and rust is the result. By the time you notice its too late. Rust on the roof is also a common issue, as is rust bubbles in front of the offside rear wheelarch. These faults are purely due to poor design/manufacturing. Don't even get me started on the quality of the interior plastics ie rattling and squeaking. My Mk3 has 184K on it, and there are still no rattles. So I agree with Danny - Mk4 Golf is modern cack.
I must have one of the good ones then, sweet! No signs of rust anywhere! Alot of people have commented how clean it looks for an 02 model. Is yours an earlier model by any chance?
Nope not an earlier model - its an 02 GT TDi 130 Maybe yours was built in Germany, mine was built in Belgium. Even if yours is from Wolfsburg, I'd still check behind the front wheelarch splash guards at the 12 o'clock position for those foam pads. Mind you, I did have an X reg 1.8t which was from Wolfsburg and it was alot better than the 02 TDi. Still not as good as my Mk3 though.
Yea will have a look at that, cheers mate I've been meaning to remove the rear wheel inner arches to to clean out, as they are also prone to collecting mud ect! Mine was built in Germany
