Opinions on buying this model please.

GolfBravo

Cambelt (kit) service due at 40K. Otherwise major problems with pulleys. £££

Also this VAG engine doesn't like standard unleaded, prefers premium. £££

And only 30mpg - the engine is so gutless that you really need to redline it to move, hence poor mpg. A bit pointless really.

36K miles/5 years = just over 7K miles a year = will most likely drink oil.

S-spec = poverty pack. Very basic car.

oliverr

eschaton wrote: »

14.7 seconds????

Would be quicker walking.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

swingaloo

So its mostly a no for that one then!

Ive looked at dozens of sites and it seems Skodas tend to be a good deal?

Also does anyone know which cars have the really cheap road tax? Ive seen some garages using this as a selling point on various cars but is there a definitive list of which models qualify for the cheap tax anywhere?.

bodgerx

oliverr wrote: »

The Golf is a solid little car, the only thing I would say is the S trim level is a little sparse. Have a look and see if there are any SE models available round your budget.

The interior is solid.

Reliability surveys say VAG reliability on the rest of the car is below average.

oliverr

swingaloo wrote: »

So its mostly a no for that one then!

Ive looked at dozens of sites and it seems Skodas tend to be a good deal?

Also does anyone know which cars have the really cheap road tax? Ive seen some garages using this as a selling point on various cars but is there a definitive list of which models qualify for the cheap tax anywhere?.

Any car that has under 100g/km of CO2 qualifies for free road tax. You can how much each band costs here https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables and scroll down a bit.

Whatever car you look at should give it's g/km figure, how much CO2 it releases, e.g a car with 120g/km of CO2 costs £30 a year to tax. Under the technical details of the car on the page all about it it should tell you it's CO2 g/km.

Ultrasonic

GolfBravo wrote: »

And only 30mpg - the engine is so gutless that you really need to redline it to move, hence poor mpg. A bit pointless really.

Where do you get 30 mpg from? Looks more like 43 mpg going by Honest John Real MPG:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/volkswagen/golf-v-2004

oliverr

bodgerx wrote: »

The interior is solid.

Reliability surveys say VAG reliability on the rest of the car is below average.

Mum had a Golf for 8 years before she got her current car, no problems at all.

Ultrasonic

This website will tell you the road tax (strictly VED) band for any cars you consider:

https://www.parkers.co.uk

bodgerx

oliverr wrote: »

Mum had a Golf for 8 years before she got her current car, no problems at all.

No doubt. On *average* though, not just considering your sample size of 1, they do worse than the average car.

oliverr

bodgerx wrote: »

No doubt. On *average* though, not just considering your sample size of 1, they do worse than the average car.

Fair enough, just from personal experience and anyone who I know who has owned a Golf has never had any serious problems with them, the Golf also shares a lot of parts with the Leon / A3 / Octavia.