USED Volkswagen Polo Hatchback (02 - 05)

My car

When you think Volkswagen you are "encouraged" to think quality, well I've had a 54 plate Polo twist from new and of all the new cars I've had none. I have had as many faults as this, faulty door trim, condensation in a headlight, faulty wipers, bits of plastic in the cabin falling off and a hatch that requires jumping on to close it sufficiently to remove the warning light. With front seats that dont slide forward to access the back and something I haven't seen in a new car in a while, a radio cassette player. The Volkswagen dealer hasnt called to see if I'm thinking of trading up, maybe he knew I wouldnt be, not to another VW anyway.

My car

I bought my 1.2E 6v at christmas in 2003 from new and for the first three years and 55000 miles all the car needed was new tires and brake pads at 38000 (new ones going strong at 69000), it never missed a beat or failed to start once at 60000 miles it needed new spark plugs and one ignition coil but it only cost 80 pounds so hey cheap motoring!

Good points. good Mpg 40 to 43, simple engine most places can service and sort. excellent reliability nice gearbox.

Only bad points. The headlamp bulbs changed them about 6 times! not alot of money! The other down points are the lack of comforts in the car no e/w or a/c.

My car

I bought a Golf, which has been great. On the back of that I bought a '52-reg Polo as a cheap runabout. Big mistake - BIG mistake.

Insoluble problems with the heater - full on, 24/7. Dealer can't fix it. Next, brake problems/imbalance/whatever. I'm sick of hearing VW's excuses. The car vibrates at 50mph on the open road, it vibrates at 18mph in town. The speeds don't change - it suggests some kind of harmonic vibration maybe? VW don't want to know. Headlamp dip-beam failures; the only solution is guess what? Replace the ENTIRE UNIT. Worst of all, coils spring (suspension) failure. Despite multiple reports on this website and others, that suspension problems are a known issue, VW says it knows NOTHING ABOUT IT and is not interested in looking at a contribution or repair.

This has been a terrible, rotten, expensive and disappointing mistake. Maybe I got the Friday afternoon car but the treatment from VW has been abysmal. I feel totally let down and wish I'd never bought the thing. It's even spoiled the Golf ownership experience for me. The month after next I'm getting a Yaris as a runabout, and I never even considered the new Polo.

For a manufacturer with pretensions to compete with the big boys, VW has a long way to go. Bad, bad, bad.

My car

This is the worst car ever. I had this car for nearly 2 years now and is 52 plate. For the first few months it was fine, but everything went wrong after 7 months: timing belt, headlights, spring coil 5 TIMES, something wrong with the brakes which cost me £340. This car was meant to be reliable, but really it is not. Also, the car shakes badly coz is only 3 cylinder. I just bought an Audi A3 and this car is really good compared to the VW, which is the worst car ever. Take advice: do not go near this car.