classic Golf as a daily, does it work

I currently drive a 2005 BMW 535d which for the most part is very nice,  although shockingly bad on fuel.

Its getting to the point now where "modern" cars are getting old and I'm getting the odd problem here and there.

Yesterday tipped me over the edge a little bit when I found I had no satnav, on ejecting the disc I found the player had eaten the sticker of the top of it and knackered the laser, seems trivial but is an expensive repair.

As well as this it is just too hard to work on at home on a driveway, it took 5hrs to remove the alternator back in summer.

So anyway I'm strongly considering going for a mk1 or 2 as a daily, maybe even a mk3 vr6.
Im not worried about anything orignal and would actually prefer something with a 1.8t transplant ideally.

But are they practical in this day and age as daily drivers, its been a long time since my polo g40 so I'm quite out of touch with the pros and cons of a daily classic.

Pros:
Cheaper to insure
Less to go wrong
Easier to fix

Cons: 
Colder
Louder
The wife will hate it 

Any input greatly appreciated

Mk1 Golf Cabriolet is the way to go, later model with body kit as they have plastic wheel arch liners, plastic along the sills etc and meaning they are not built by VW but made in the Karmann factory the rust proofing seems alot better than a tin top.

They are not cold cars to drive, I find my heater much better than my wifes VW Touran which takes an age to get any heat in the car…. I can understand why I see people driving diesel still wearing hats and coats!

I've been using my car as a daily for 20 odd years and over 200,000 miles and it's never failed to get me home in all that time, its' stopped at the side of the road twice, once was the fuel pump relay but I had a spare bit of wire to bridge the connections to get me home and second time was the lift pump failed but I still managed to get home if I drove carefully the car would still drive.

Regular service and a dam good clean underneath before and after the winter, keep on top of those little jobs is the way to keep them going.

My Gti does about 40mpg on my 50 mile commute every day, fun cheap motoring and when the sun comes out it's roof down, radio up and off we go.   

Late Mk2 Golf, with an engine transplant. 

Forget mk3's, they were only good to rob the abf's and vr6's out of. 

Mk2 Golf gti's are very good as a daily, I've had a couple of them but the problem is they are getting expensive now, I've never paid more than £700 for a Gti with 12 months MOT and tax, last I bought was about 7 years ago…

I think the problem with engine transplants is you are still fitting a modern engine which uses a computer to work with lots and lots of sensors and they are usally the things that go wrong, VW electronics are not the best...

Keep it simple as less to go wrong in the first place...... 

Buy a Honda if you a modern car that's does go wrong very often.... Never had any electrical faults or breakdown with the several Honda we've had in the family before....
 

I dunno, 20vt's are pretty reliable. Never had a bad one. 

True about their worth these days, but you'll never lose if you keep it tidy.

I've never paid less than 1500 for a mk2 golf…. most I've had were way more than that too.

I've dailied a few Mk1 tin tops before, they're ok, but given the choice a mk2 all day long. 

Can't comment on a floppy top, I'm sure they're much like a mk2??

Nearly all cars were used daily at some time, but yeah mk2 with power steering, leccy windows etc and a modern turbo engine would be best.

Drove a 81 Golf Diesel for 20 years never failed me.
Change the oil and filters regularly.
It was my Daily and had over 300K miles on the odo prior to selling it as I couldn't drive a stick properly after I had a stroke. change the struts and timing belt was about all i had to do….

I have owned a 90 Cabriolet… 40-45 MPG 5spd taller 5th gear…..

I own a 92 and 93 Cabriolet Automatics, I get 22-29 miles per gallon in town highway….

Wife never like the Golf hardtop, or the Cabbies, but she does like the car a tad better since I installed cup holders….  

The Golf Diesel got great mileage, 55-60 when new, 45 when I sold it.

I plugged it in during the winter, and used the ratio of 8 gallons diesel and 2 gallons of regular gas as per the owners manual and never had jellied fuel after the first time…..  " In the advent that winterized diesel is unavailable, you may use 2 gallons of regular gas to 8 gallons of diesel"  Should've  read the manual, instead of buying the VW anti-gel…. way cheaper…  and more truthful….  Best thing about a golf diesel or cabriolet is they are electrically solid…….

Thanks for all the responses.

I wont be using my current mk1 cabby as a daily purely because the mileage is so low and its original. I bought it as an investment so intent to keep it clean as possible.

I have had my eye on a mk2 20vt locally to me.
Its been fully resprayed and has nice ibiza half leather as well as new bilsteins all round.

Thing is I do like my power, the bmw is getting close to 400bhp so realistically I wouldn't be happier with anything less than a fettled 20vt or a charged vr6

It also needs to be capable of a towbar to move my track bike about.

I do understand that the engine will need an ecu and sensors but that will be one ecu for that and that alone as opposed to the bmw which has about 8 just to play a Spandau Ballet single

I'm not sure that a modified golf would be the best as a daily, unless you don't mind fixing it most weekends.

Hopefully I'm wrong as my 1400 16v was built for daily duties!

But that being said, don't forget back in the day 150 bhp was considered to be about the max that a front wheel drive car was able to handle without clever diffs etc.

I've known people with 1.8t engines cars that have ended up in a ditch if it even looked like rain!

Your choice tho mate. 😉

Ian

I daily my MK2 GTI but I don't travel far.  

Work is only 100 k's away (round trip 200 k's), 1000 k's a week.

Love it.

borednow I hear what your saying, fortunately I dont have to drive far.

Maybe 10miles a day, any great mileage I could use the wifes civic.

Im hoping the 20vt box and driveshafts would work just as well in a mk2 as they do a mk4

I've had a mk4 and a mk1 leon (both diesel so higher torque) running 200bhp and 230bhp without too much bother with wheel spin on tramlining but obviously the mk2 would not have the ESC system and cant take slightly wheels what the Mk4 body allows 

I was made redundant last week so the company 5 series is going back, in its place….

My 1988 MK1 Golf F reg GTI Cabriolet.

Yes the MK1 was bought as a bit of fun a toy, but… they need to be used so rather than go out and buy myself a car to get around for interviews the MK1 will make me look Daddy cool and hopefully help me get a new job.

Agree with Mark keep an old car clean, regularly serviced and in my case only use She’ll VPower fuel as it does make a huge difference whilst keeping the engine clean.

The heater is nuclear warm, wind deflector is a must and I will probably add power steering.

Yummy… Roof down motoring.

Happy Days!


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BirchyB0y said

I was made redundant last week so the company 5 series is going back, in its place….

My 1988 MK1 Golf F reg GTI Cabriolet.

Yes the MK1 was bought as a bit of fun a toy, but… they need to be used so rather than go out and buy myself a car to get around for interviews the MK1 will make me look Daddy cool and hopefully help me get a new job.

Agree with Mark keep an old car clean, regularly serviced and in my case only use She’ll VPower fuel as it does make a huge difference whilst keeping the engine clean.

The heater is nuclear warm, wind deflector is a must and I will probably add power steering.

Yummy… Roof down motoring.

Happy Days!


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Bad timing of Christmas birchy. Best of luck in the search. What do you do can't help to tell us all in case we know of something to point you at for an interview.


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Bad timing it is… but hey that’s the way it is so best foot forward.

Work in IT, vendor and alliances management with business development, for an IT Distributor or Vendor.

Anything in the Hampshire Berkshire Surrey part of the world then I’m all ears!!


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Good luck with your job  hunt mate.

BirchyB0y said

Bad timing it is… but hey that’s the way it is so best foot forward.

Work in IT, vendor and alliances management with business development, for an IT Distributor or Vendor.

Anything in the Hampshire Berkshire Surrey part of the world then I’m all ears!!


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Well the job situation is very pants mate.

On the other hand I've just read what you do and it makes no sense to me at all. I guess you must be under 30!

Mind you being an IT-ist I'm surprised that you're punctuation is causing problems to the web site. Thought you'd be able to figure out a way around it!

Good luck with the job search.

Perhaps Santa is hiring? How are you at being an elf?

Ian