USED Volkswagen Golf Hatchback (04 - 09)

My car

5,000 miles and still very happy. Couldn't justify the GTi and so went for the 170hp GT Sport - it's fast enough. Heated leather seats included. I opted for the 5 door, manual, with sun roof and most options apart from sat nav and climate control... the TomTom and semi-auto air con do fine. Tornado Red. It looks great. I prefer the shape to pictures of the new Mark 6 due in 2009.

One issue when the ESP warning light came on (not good!) but VW in High Wycombe fixed it quickly and gave me a bottle of Champagne into the bargain. Consistently good, friendly service from them. No other problems but 2 slight disappointments: I initially filled it with Ron 95 but the engine got quite noisy, it quietened with Ron 97 but it's a bit pricier and still not the silkiest engine. Secondly I thought the arm rest would be big enough to hold CDs properly... it isn't and I have to stash them elsewhere.

No rattles, a great drive, a safe 420 miles to a tank. The 1.4 engine is supposed to give economy... the super-charger and turbo charger the fun... it works, but don't expect efficiency of an ordinary 1.4. Nevertheless, the very slight gruffness aside, it's a great engine. If you are inbetween wanting a cheap sensible car and an expensive exciting one, then I think this pretty much hits the nail. Jeremy Clarkson hated it, but his Times review sounded more like he was just having a bad day. All the other reviews I read on it were very good so I risked it… I’m glad I did!

My car

My Golf is a company car, I've had it for 6 months. Its comfortable, feels solid and well built, the Match trim has lots of kit like cruise, multi function wheel and an Ipod connector in the armrest. We went for the 1.9TDI but wanted the 1.4 TSI petrol, but we couldn’t place an order due to the supply problem issue. While the TDI's noise is a bit old school diesel, it has plenty of torque and has more go than my previous 1.6 petrol BMW 1 Series. I would have liked the GT Sport for the sporty look grille and larger alloys, the Match is a bit un-glamorous, but very likable as an all round package. To liven up the standard looks we added front fogs, 16" factory alloys (why no 17" option as on the old SE?) and dealer fitted rear roof spoiler and body coloured replacement body kit rear skirt (to get rid of the awful black plastic skirt that is standard). Niggles: stones from my drive got into a gap between a brake disc causing a grinding noise when driving, meaning a trip to dealer - design fault here! The Ipod adapter needed replacing as it stopped connecting and the top of the dash has an annoying rattle. Good all round car though, I'd be happy to look at a Mark VI in the future.

My car

My wife has owned this car since March 2008. It is the 1.4 80bhp version.While the engine is a bit slow on acceleration it runs very smoothly once up to speed.The road holding and control are excellent and the car always feels very solid on the road. The cabin quality is superb throughout and feels very well screwed together.Simple and classy design. Very good stereo, normal rotary controls,no stupid fiddlely buttons.These cars have an a very good record for reliability and that coupled with low depreciation makes them an unbeatable buy in this sector. Well done VW!

My car

I have a 2006 R32 with many faults the biggest faults being the dealer and VW customer services having owned many cars over the past 20 years VW are in my mind the worst. After reading the reviews I can see I am not the only person with problems VW just do not value the customer its such a shame. Its got so bad with my car that I am having to take VW to court for breach of contract I think that just says it all.