USED Volkswagen Golf Hatchback (04 - 09)

My car

The VW R32 is a fantastic car! but it does have some major faults. Mine is an 08 plate which i have owned from new. As expected the fuel economy is not a strong point especally if you use the performance of the sweet sounding V6. The exhast note is a joy and just a pity that in the cabin you are removed from this. The handling is great and on the whole it is a fun car, prefrably used for journey work where it really comes into its own. The DSG box is a bit oversensitive and changes down in sport mode too easily when you want it in a higher gear. The big bug bear is the poor build quality of the cabin with sqeaks and rattles that remind me of my 1980 ford fiesta supersport. This is a huge disapointment for a VW. But the thing that drives me really mad with this car is the touch screen sat nav which can't navigate its way out of a paper bag! it is trully hopeless and the local dealers are not much better. This sat nav just goes round and round in circles then normally takes you down a cow phoo infested track and leaves you in a farm yard! It is absolute rubbish! On the whole, a nice car but all the niggles are making me fall out of love with it. I wish i had kept my Disco 3 and RX8 mazda which never went wrong in 4 years of use.

My car

Having owned Vauxhalls and Peugeots for most of my driving life, I can honestly say I've never had a better car than my 06 plate Mk5 VW Golf TDI. I regularly get 50mpg, it has a bit of welly when you need it, it's comfortable for long trips, and I've not had a problem in the 30K that I've driven it. Highly recommendable!

My car

quite simply the worst car and dealer service ever please if you value your hard earned cash keep on walking stright past your local VW dealer

My car

On the plus side:

- have the DSG gearbox which is genius - - performance is fantastic. Relentless acceleration due to wicked fast gea changes - beats many a quicker car from standstill for this reason alone so actually quicker than the headline figures suggest. On the motorway, is very good in the 70-90 bracket where you need it for overtaking/pulling out.

- build quality is very good, no rattles or squeeks after 18k miles.

On the downside: -seats are the most UNCOMFORTABLE of any car I have ever sat in. I get out with pins and needles in my legs. I am seriously considering getting rid of the car for this reason alone.

- engine is noisy at all speeds. I came to this from an E class Mercedes which at motorway speeds was whisper quiet. The Golf on the other hand is far less well insulated - fuel economy is coming in at 42-44mpg on runs of an hour plus, which is not very good compared to the headline figure. THis is what I achieved out of the E220!

Overall its a solid car for the money and is very practical being a five door and an ideal mix of performance and practicality. I'm a diesel convert now and wouldnt go back...but would I go back to another one of these? Well probably not, for the seats alone and would like it to be a bit more refined, but a great car for the pric.