Thinking of buying a MK 4 Golf

As the title says really, a mk4 Golf will hopefully be coming my way within a month.

Along with my mk1 clipper we own a 2004 Megane as the family car but after owning it for less than six months I cannot wait to get rid of the French crap, I hate it with its never ending mechanical and electrical problems.

So a mk4 is the way forward, I would like a mk5/6 but they are a tad pricey so the wife and I have decided on the mk4 but we are unsure which version to go for.
We both like the Gti's and the TDi's but there are so many variants so I thought i'd pick your brains on this here forum.

Are there any known issues to look out for etc etc

Thanks.

I owned one for quite a long time and it was a great car! I only had a 1.4 so no first hand experience of the GTI or TDI but my personal preference would be the GT TDI 150 as you wont lose much over the GTI in performance on day to day driving but you'll gain alot in fuel economy!

Bits to look out for (from my own experience):

Never ever put a mk4 in full right hand lock and try to pull away with any gusto! It shears the drive shaft and costs a pretty penny to fix.

On any test drive, make sure you have a good run to get everything really warm. I sold my golf to we buy any car for £600 because the gearbox housing had cracked (as it turned out this is a common fault in some mk4's) and would have cost £1500 + labor to replace. On a short run you couldnt tell anything was wrong but after 20 mins stop start driving or 10 mins fast road youd know theres a problem as gears would become hard to find and there was a loud thumping noise.

me and my misses have a 115 gttdi and i would highly recomend it. its been great just a little warning that if you buy 2001 on wards the yearly tax is 115 as apose to the usual 215 or what ever it is now. its got plenty of guts really with the potential for remap if you wish.

would advise the 6 speed as well round town my misses gets about 43mpg and i get about 39 40 mpg pushing it a little and when we went to the isle of wight earlier in the year on the trip there and back we got average of 56 mpg. the car does around the 500-540 miles per tank which from lthe fuel light being on is about 60 quid.

only things id advise to look for are a good service history
make sure the temp gauge works
knocking on the rear axle which will be bushes.
make sure the climate works ok
make sure cruise works
and make sure the windows all go up and down as they should.

hope this helps

Paul

I think when looking at cars 5-10 years old its lucky dip if you get a reliable one or a money pit.

Being relatively modern they are festooned with electronics which at that age are starting to play up and many parts and repairs are still expensive and not easily DIY-able. The MK3 golf was about last DIY version.

They are however old enough to need battery, clutch, exhaust and suspension replacements and MOTs can be an expensive annual treat.

There is an argument either need to bite the bullet and get a new or nearly new car covered by manufacturers warranty or an old  £500 banger that that can be serviced and repaired DIY or by cheap under-the-arches garages and if the engine, gearbox, or body fails big time you simply scrap it and start again. (hopeing that you've had at least a few months use out of it and perferably a year plus)

Looking at the MK4, never had one but read that they had problems with pastic bits breaking in the door locks and window lifters but many will have been fixed by now. Also the rear brake hose can spring a leak without warning when the aluminium washer gives up.

bigdave said

Never ever put a mk4 in full right hand lock and try to pull away with any gusto! It shears the drive shaft and costs a pretty penny to fix.

Thats exactly what my wife did…. :roll:

Make sure the timing belt has been replaced if its done over 80,000. If not, you'll need to budget for getting that done asap, good idea to do the water pump at the same time too.

We've had our TDi 3yrs now and its been a good car.

Me and the girlfriend have had one each now. She had a 1.4s 3 door in grey which was a nightmare to find , was a good car, quick enough for 1.4 and cheap to tax and insure

I had a 130BHP GT TDI was a great car, did over 130K in it and was solid, never let me down.

My only adivse would be make sure you shop around and are willing to travel if possible as mk4's vary in price now, and for travelling that bit further you may get a better car for the money

have you considered a Skoda Octavia VRS petrol or diesel, good second hand buy

I appreciate all the opinions thanks.

We have been scouring the net and local garage adverts and found quite a few we could be interested in. A lot of 2.0 GTi's seem to be around at reasonable prices but all tend to have 100k + mileage which puts us off a bit, I just have visions of boy racers in them ragging them to death. Lots of GT TDi models around too, some with higher mileage than others but all seem to hold their price up between 3-4k. We have also found a few standard TDi models one in particular grabbed my attention last night. Its a 2.0 TDi with only 74k and one previous owner, its only the bog standard version though and doesent come with allloys oh and its the 90bhp version which I guess would be pretty sluggish but overall it looks a very tidy motor.

I know we are not going to get a minter at the price we want to pay so I am open minded and @ Richyhill yes ive considered the Octavia VRS as one of our neighbours used to own one which I would admire but the insurance group is silly at 15. Ive also considered the Seat Leon TDi but there arnt many around and for some reason they really hold their prices even for a very early version. My wifes brother has the Skoda Fabia TDI VRS which is lovely but prices are crazy on those things.

Anyhow i'm two nights into a four night shift pattern at work so hopefully sometime next week we can start going round and checking a few out, ill keep ya posted .

cheers

I own a TDi engine and they are just great. My Ibiza has a 90ps engine with aprox. 170000 miles and zero problems till today. Mainly because i treat it like a princess lol. Great mileage, great fuel economy and still fun to drive.
If your looking for a family car i would recommend the 110ps version but make sure you get it connect to vag-com or other software before buying it!

cheers

Stanik said

I own a TDi engine and they are just great. My Ibiza has a 90ps engine with aprox. 170000 miles and zero problems till today. Mainly because i treat it like a princess lol. Great mileage, great fuel economy and still fun to drive.
If your looking for a family car i would recommend the 110ps version but make sure you get it connect to vag-com or other software before buying it!

cheers

Ive thought about buying one of those VAGCOM tools before are they easy enough to use/understand?

We also had an Ibiza TDi before the Terrible Megane we now own, man how I miss that car  it was the TDi sport 130bhp and torque was its middle name, very understated you would never have realised it was so quick just by looking at it and many a time ive waved in my rear view and left some 19 year old in their pimped up Saxo or Peugot. Had to get rid though as it was only a 3 door and was getting akward with two kids and ever more shopping trips.

I had a 1.8t 180 Bhp 6 speed but non bodykit one, was a nice drive and the climate control was amazing and cold (best bit for me as I get hot far too quickly!)

I bought mine on an 03 when it was 3 years old and covered 40k, I put on 20 k with no issues and just the 2 normal services (my car was time and date service rather than longlife)

Just after the big service the water pump failed and that ment new cambelt aswell. Brakes needed doing so that lot came to just under a grand! (part of owning a newish car and having main dealer service/ work done!)

Then the car got written off in the big floods of tewksbury.. doh!

It may be worth pointing out I traded in a 6 month old mk5 Golf gt tdi 4moton for the mk4, I was unimpressed with the ride, build quality and performance and didnt think it was as good as the passat tdi sport it replaced. As it was a part company car it didnt really matter to me about the cost but if the mk5 was my own car id have been rather gutted!

There is a mk4 gt tdi in silver round by me with 100k on the clock and its up for 2k at a dealer as a px so there are some ok bargains to be had?

goodluck with the search though

mark78 said

Stanik said

I own a TDi engine and they are just great. My Ibiza has a 90ps engine with aprox. 170000 miles and zero problems till today. Mainly because i treat it like a princess lol. Great mileage, great fuel economy and still fun to drive.
If your looking for a family car i would recommend the 110ps version but make sure you get it connect to vag-com or other software before buying it!

cheers

Ive thought about buying one of those VAGCOM tools before are they easy enough to use/understand?

We also had an Ibiza TDi before the Terrible Megane we now own, man how I miss that car  it was the TDi sport 130bhp and torque was its middle name, very understated you would never have realised it was so quick just by looking at it and many a time ive waved in my rear view and left some 19 year old in their pimped up Saxo or Peugot. Had to get rid though as it was only a 3 door and was getting akward with two kids and ever more shopping trips.

Ahahaha VAG > PSA !!
PD130 with proper software can get very good! About 180bhp  :twisted:
Yes, VAG-COM it's quite easy to use! I have a vag-com cable and it has saved me a lot of money so think of it has a future investment.
Search on Google for vag-com forums to get you started, it's definitely something you wont regret.

mark78 said

ive considered the Octavia VRS as one of our neighbours used to own one which I would admire but the insurance group is silly at 15.

You know many of the GTi's are a group 14 & 16 and the bigger of the TDi's are group 13 dont you?

Buy the car you want and worry about the insurance later!  :wink:

I have had a 115 and have got a 130 with a revo chip. Cant really fault the car easy to drive and economical i do alot of motorway miles and currently getting 70 mpg, 600+ miles to the tank. mine has 120,000 on the clock and drives exactly the same as when i bought it with 60,000. So dont be put off by milage as long as it is backed up with dealer or specialist history.

You have to weigh up petrol vs diesel and the miles you expect to drive and i too get the cheaper tax of £ 115. Insurance isnt bad i pay £400 with unlimited milage and 1st class business use and i am 35 years old.

I will have to sell mine at the end of the year as my company has a silly rule about cars over 7 years old. i went for a late 53 plate i think there are some 04 around but depends on budget i guess.

Try and avoid the 110 and the 90 diesel models as they are not responsive to chip upgrades, bearing in mind you can get an economy chip as well as power upgrade chip.

Good luck

Woohoo we found the perfect mk4 for us.

Silver 1.9 TDi se 100bhp with only 60k and one previous owner from new, it is immaculate inside and out with only one or two very small stonechips on the front bumper as its a 53 reg you gotta expect a couple of blemishes.

Anyway the wife and I went to test drive it yesterday and the drive was perfect just what we expected, nice solid feel to it and enough torque to satisfy us…..not as much as my old Ibiza but as a family car it will do fine. We did the deal with the Megane as a trade in and shook hands, put £100 deposit and he said he will have it mot'd and cleaned for us to pick it up Monday.

We come away very pleased and looking forward to Monday but when trying to get some insurance quotes today we discovered that the car numberplate when put into any reg check website stated it was a 1.9 Jetta L?????wtf

So we ring the guy who we are buying off (he is a local trader/mechanic and well recommended by family and friends) and told him our issue. He said ahhhh I forgot to tell you that but the lady who previously owned it had told the dvla about this and they had sent her some sort of confirmation letter explaining the log book error and told her to send the log book back along with the letter to the dvla and it will be sorted. She never did send it which is why the garage has both the wrong log book and this confirmation letter. Makes me wonder how the hell she tax'd and got insurance on it for the last 6 years.

Now I trust who we are buying off but I told him we dont want the car unless the log book is sorted and I rang the dvla anyway (as you do) and explained the issue to them, they said it can be changed but he would have to take the car to a local official VW dealership and get them to clarify that it is in fact a Golf TDi by matching up the VIN number etc etc then they would have to send off all details…… what a flippin nightmare.

This could take weeks to sort out so in the meantime we are still shopping for another suitable car, im a bit peeved off tbh because it seemed like the perfect Golf that we had in mind….bloody typical with us as nothing ever seems to be straight forward.

And to top it off we are stuck with that pile of Frence rubbish for a bit longer

Hi I am a newbie to the Golf scene and have purchased my first Mk4 Golf two weeks ago (2000X V6 4motion). I would like to ask about the wing mirrors - my electric near side mirror goes left and right fine. Then I adjusted it for up and down, now it doesn't work and it makes the off side mirror go up and down! Do you think it is just a problem in fuse/connection? Or is it the way the mirror is fixed in the case? Anyone who could help?


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It took a while but last week we found one here she is next to my clipper.

Its a 1.9 TDI 100bhp but its only the S version so no body coloured side trim etc. It goes really well and most importantly my wife loves it, it is her car though as she keeps reminding me lol.

Still not a patch on the style and looks of my mk1 though.

WTF, think above user needed removing, what is it some generic computer generated advertising message or something, ha ha wrong golf club love lol

cheers rich

has been removed

Love my 245bhp mk4 ! 5 Years of ownership and it has only let me down once, when a coilpack decided to pop. They do have a few niggles now and then though.

1. Rear wash/wipe pipe can corrode and leak water in to the boothandle or C-pillar lining. If the water is only dribbling out, then it is knackered.

2. Definately get the VW delock kit for the front doors-I won't go into details just trust me on this!!!

3. The front window mechanism is a weak part because it is made of plastic and can snap which leads to the window dropping into the door.  Easy to change and VW now do a replacement one in metal that is a lot better.

4. If you open the doors with the ignition off and the lights on, you should hear an audible bong noise, if you don't then the door lock module has probably broken, apparently can be soldered so it works again. The door puddle light will also be out, but don't leave the keys in the ignition and shut the door-it will lock itself!

5. A large amount of mud can collect behind the front wheel arch liner, the mud will need removing or it will start to rust the sills from the front! I do mine twice a year and both times manage to get a brick size of mud out!

6. Electrics. Coilpacks are a common problem and will lead to the emissions light coming on, the car will have no power and judder everywhere! Easy to fix though! MAF sensors and coolant sensors are also known to be slightly unreliable too.

That should do you for starters