Sadly my pride and joy for many years has been rear-ended at about 30mph by a dozy... actually shouldn't be too harsh as they got a dislocated shoulder and all I got was minor whiplash... person. First thing I did after the man from the ministry said it was BER, apart from begging him to fix it to which he said "I'll run over the figures back at the office" but I think that was so I would let go of his leg, was to jump on to Autotrader and hunt down another MK3 valver. This simple task was not as easy as I thought it might be, 9 results ranging from the "Why is it so cheap" to the "You must be having a giraffe". Conversation down the pub last night (resting and lubricating my neck of course) turned to what I was going to do, I said that without thinking I had straight away tried to find an exact same model, I mean for heavens sake I've got 2.5k of mods strapped to it, all under the hood of course. In fact not a whiff of Lexus style rear lights or uber pansy BMW headlights, it's a VW for heavens sake, there, got myself started again on that one! My mates all thought that this was daft and that I should take the oppotunity to get something newer and a bit quicker that handled. Of course I protested in memory of my Golf, saying it was plenty quick and handled around the Nurburgring like a dream, the only trouble was that actually it had started to be out accelerated by vans and hairdressers cars and that intresting back axle arrangement kicked up and let itself be out cornered by the works Ford Focus Diesel fleet car... Anyway enough of my inane rambling (its the neck injury honest) what do all you fellow club members think, got 3.5k'ish to play with, get another MK3 valver, MK4 1.8T or a FSO Polonez? VVV Better change that signature to R.I.P I guess... <sniff> [:^(] VVV
you have to realise that the ABF will not be a rocket ship without tons of money thrown at it. i would consider getting a newer car just for the sake change. In my opinion, though, its pretty much one of the last relatively light, simple and useable GTIs. 1100kg is not bad for a hatchback that can be reasonable comfortable. its relatively safe and well built, but with newer cars i imagine it will be easier to get more speed
Cor, that was a quick reply! My dilema exactly, I know it's only got 150BHP (from the factory that is) but that's still better than the pathetic MK4 2.0 GTI's BHP. I would really love to stay with the Golf even if there has been talk of going down the Seat Cupra route. The Only MK4 that seems to be at least a match for the MK3 16v is the 1.8T, seen one for 3.7k but I'm not sure about spending that much out as for a start I cant use any of the parts from my MK3 on it... As you say, the MK3 is pretty light and in my opinion just as comfortable as newer cars, spent two weeks last year driving around France and Spain with a lot of time in the drivers seat and didn't ache a bit, same cant be said for the Citroen ("USS Enterprise")C4 VTR+ hire car I've got at the moment. Been quite scared off the MK4 with talk of it's flabbyness and poor handling.
IMO newer cars can be too overcomplicated for a diy mechanic. i do like to fiddle about with my toys. i had a 2002 audi a4 tdi before this. nothing was simple on that car, about 4 boost sensors etc. a bit of a nightmare
I have a mk3 16v with a few mods, and I love it! The mk4 1.8t is a bit boring in standard form I think. Also I work in the trade, and have seen quite a few problems with them.
I know, I should be enjoying this brand new hire car but it's so, well, bloody magoo, I can't even start the damn thing until it's announced that it's completed diagnostics and that the automatic everything has been activated, I mean for heaven sake it decided to turn the lights on by itself tonight, I can see it's bloody dark and turn them on myself for crying out loud, how you supposed to scare your mates by driving without them if you can't switch them off? Huh? So back in the world of reaility the only upgrade path I could thing of doing and afford is a MK4 1.8T and I would hardly say I've had a ringing endorsement... So It's a toss up between the MK3 16V and a FSO, one vote each...
Darn, the FSO Polonez lost out in the end! Got myself a nice new shiny P reg MK3 16v Anniversary model off eBay, picking it up Saturday. Now the fun starts in stripping my old one and getting the new one up to the same standard...
