USED Volkswagen Polo Hatchback (94 - 02)

My car

I have owned this car for three years now and apart from servicing and the very occasional part failure due to the age of the car I cannot complain. I find it quick and nippy for around town, far quicker than other similar cars I have test driven. It is very quick off the mark. I've never had any serious reliability problems, it travels well on the motorway for the engine size and gives fair fuel consumption. I like this car and will be purchasing another one when this finally does give in to old age!

My car

I acquired my VW Polo 1.4 auto in 2005 with 21000mls .... it is now at 38000 mls .... daily running costs are fair , but servicing and others are expensive .... the first service in my ownership required a 4th-5th year timimg belt/tensioner change (a very expensive exercise which was done at VW dealer - as car was under 12 month used car warranty).... Of late the EPC sensor light and Engine light seems to come on/off at their pleasure ... a MAP sensor was changed this week ... but the problem has re-appeared in less than 24 hours ... so its off to the garage again (this problem seems to be quite common and expensive to rectify ; ref - web blogs on various sites i have found on Google) ... So all in all not happy with this apparently reliable mode of German transport !!! ... Its back to Japanese vehicles from here on !!

My car

This car is incredibly cheap to run, with average fuel economy in the 60s even at high motorway speeds. The car hasn't gone wrong (apart from one electric window seizing, and that I fixed myself) in six years/60,000 miles. It looks nice, too, and is easy enough to service yourself.

However, it has dreadful handling and ride. It manages to be both firm and crashy over bumps, yet leans and understeers on the corners. For such an economical car, you'd think VW would have fitted better seats.

You can save a packet on fuel on long journeys by using the car, but it's so uncomfortable you won't want to. The dealers are a joke.

My car

This is an absolute pig of a car, I bought it as I wanted a cheap to run reliable car. It ran well at first, but soon after problems started to develop. Absolutely everything has gone wrong with the car, The car stalls everytime you stop, the electric window got stuck then failed, the ABS light comes on and off, the temp light flashes from time to time, the service warning comes on all the time, the dash lights goes off every now and again the electrics burnt out nearly setting the car on fire. The starter motor sometimes grinds, I can not think of a worse car. I will definately not be buying a VW again. Avoid like the plague.