Volkswagen Golf

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $22150.00 from Archer VW, Houston T

Year / Model Reviewed:
2005 Golf GLS TDI

Summary:
So far I have been impressed with this car. The build quality seems to be high, and the interior finish is very nice. Also, the diesel engine is remarkably quiet and more powerful than I expected. This car also does well in Houston traffic, which can be quite bad. I would have liked a manual transmission, but the dealership could not find one for me...I have never liked automatics. The remote entry(a standard feature)key is very nice, as are the(standard)power windows, locks, and sunroof. Additionally, the sunroof is operated by a dial, which is a lot more convenient than having to hold down a switch until the roof is open. You just turn the dial to open and forget about it. Finally, the ride and handling of the VW is very good: sharp around corners, fairly smooth on rough roads, and most importantly, quiet.

Strengths:
Build quality, better-than-expected performance(no tweaks yet).

Weaknesses:
Fuel economy is not as good as I'd hoped, but it does seem to improve as I put more miles on the engine. I suppose this can be attributed to engine break-in. No other major problems at this time

Similar Products Used:
No small cars, but two different Volvos(740T and 240 DL), a Ford Taurus, and a Ford F-150.

Price Paid:  $18500.00 from Patrick VW

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 VW Golf GLS TDI

Summary:
Fine seats, great cruising ability, fun to drive, good materials. I test drove 10 cars before selecting TDI over a Mazda 6. A small car, not an cheap one.

Strengths:
50 mpg hwy/40mpg city. Fine ride quality for a short wheelbase, great sound system. Looking forward to 200,000 miles.

Weaknesses:
Noisy suspension, a few rattles from seatbelts in rear.

Similar Products Used:
1997 Mazda 626 140,000 miles/1992 Geo Prizm GSI 130,000 miles/1988 Toyota Camry 128,000 miles/1885 ColtVista 60,000miles POS

Price Paid:  $18889.00 from Dick Hannah

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Golf

Summary:
This car is bad. I do not advise anyone to buy it! Reason-The factory forgot to install a clip that holds the linkage on the transmisson together. When this happened VW stranded me, Yes they towed the car but they did not get me home i had to get home on my own. I owned the car for 2 days when this happened.

Strengths:
Good gas mileage

Weaknesses:
Everything, poor manufacturing, poor service.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $19000.00 from Ed Murphy VW

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Golf GLS

Summary:
I would have to say this is a luxury car although on a small degree. it has a lot of bells and whistles that come standard in every model. and even though it is not a sports car by any means, it still has enough power to take the smile off many fellow traffic light drag racers. The handling is far more than I expected. it hugs the road very well and you can take corners pretty quickly(not that I advise it ;D) The hatchback design allows it to look incredibly small on the outside, yet still leaves a suprising amount of room in the back. I also must recommend going to a ford dealer, and trying the ford focus, getting a great deal(cheap american car companies raise their prices just so they can drop em down as a "deal") then going to the vw dealer and showing them what you have been offered already.

Strengths:
good fuel efficiency standard features looks handling acceleration/speed

Weaknesses:
occassional knocking noise in the back(no idea what the hell it is, though I think it may be something in the back of the roof, possibly some mechanical part of the sunroof that is loose and moving when the sunroof is closed)

Similar Products Used:
Pontiac Vibe testdrive (didn't meet expectations, and one of my friends also went to the dealer looking to possibly buy it, and the salesman started to ramble on about how cars are only meant to run w

Price Paid:  $17000.00 from VW Lithia

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Golf GLS 2.0 Auto

Summary:
I was happy with the car for the first week but some noise problems have started to make me wonder about the overall quality of the car. One main problem is a banging / knocking noise that seems to come from the back everytime I take a sharp corner, drive through a dip or swing the car. What troubles me is that this noise is getting louder and louder. At first it was knocking once, now it sound more like the titanic when it broke in two pieces. At the first service, of course they said "could not reproduce the problem". Next time I'll take the guy for a ride ! I also have very annoying squicking noice from the dashboard at every car vibration. I was totally unable to locate it and stop it.

Strengths:
Interior finish LOOK like a luxury car. Handling, comfort. Lots of details well designed.

Weaknesses:
Lots of strange noises which are getting worse and worse. The automatic transmission.