Hi,
My much better half has been looking for some time now to replace her old Clio auto,and has seen a MK4 Golf 1.6S auto,51 plate,47k miles,one owner,FSH,for £4295.
It seems a reasonable example but having read HJ's report on the MK4,and also some troubles who people I know have had with them,I have my doubts.She likes car,but I have also come across these locally:
Astra 1.6Life(AC) auto,04,28kmiles....£4,495
Focus Zetec,3dr auto,03,8k miles.......£4,495
The Golf has a very nice feel inside,but are they any better really than the others.
Any opinions most gratefully accepted!!
Thanks....Phil.
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£4K is way too much for an 8yo mass-market hatchback. You're paying for the overhyped reputation of the Golf, and for the fancy plastics
For that sort of money, you could get a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla automatic, and for a bit less you could get an Almera. All have a much better reliability record than the European cars
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A friend of mine has a Y plate 1.6 16V Golf. This year he's spent £3K on repairs, gearbox rebuild, clutch, headgasket, cat.........Some 16Vs are super unleaded only, people don't bother toread their handbooks and feed them regular brew and they burn valve seats - another large bill.....................
Avoid the small petrol engined Golfs IMO, your budget should buy a TDi of similar age with stronger running gear.
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Sounds hugely overpriced to me at £4.3k........ especially for a 1.6.
If I were in your boat, and fancied something from the VAG stable, then I would suggest a Seat Leon (probably the 1.9 TDI-130 if you can find one) or Skoda Fabia vRS.
The Fabia is the best car I have ever owned, and having chopped mine in for a Mk4 Golf, I can confirm that the Golf does not have much more room in it. The shallow boot of the Mk4 means its carrying capacity is quite limited (when compared witht the deeper boot of the Leon or Fabia)
Failing that, £4k should buy you plenty of Corolla.
Edited by NickS on 29/09/2009 at 12:12
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Hi,
Thanks for all so far,but I am talking auto only here.
The price of small automatics seems to have rocketed recently despite not being very quick sellers as far as I can see!
My wife is looking for the best she can get in either Yaris/Corolla size.
Just seen Yaris CDX auto,02reg,for the princely sum of £4500,would this be overpriced as is the Golf?
Thanks again....Phil.
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My wife is looking for the best she can get in either Yaris/Corolla size
Whenever I have checked that market, I have usually found that Yaris-sized cars are at least as expensive as Corolla-sized, and sometimes more so.
£4500 for a 7-year-old Yaris is about 50% of what it would have cost when new. That looks to me like really bad value for a car almost enough to qualify for scrappage
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Err do they? I don't see many people on here compalining about high oil consumption on their Focuses unlike Corollas. Oh and then there is the Almeras rust problems the MK1 was about the worst car for rust produced in the past 15 years and I have seen some MK2s who's sills have now given up.
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I,ve owned a 1.6 Golf Auto (8 valve) for 5 years now and i think it,s a great car. My previous car was a Mk3 Golf auto, and my next car will be a Golf auto. Ican,t comment on the price.
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Having driven all 3 of these vehicles I would say that the plus point of the Golf is its interior quality, it feels very nicely put together. The Focus and Astra feel cheap in comparison but the Focus is the best driving car of the three and I also found the Astra easy to drive as well. My opinion is that the Golf is not worth the premium over the others and I would go for the Focus.
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Hi shara,
Yes,I think you are right,will go and have a nosey at the Focus,particularly as its very low
mileage.
Thanks everybody for your help,
Phil.
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Astra 1.6Life(AC) auto 04 28kmiles....£4 495
I'm not sure it means much but just by way of comparison, about a year ago my FIL bought a very nice year old/ 10K mile 57 reg Astra 1.8VVti Design 5dr auto from a car supermarket (MotorNation in Widnes). He paid about £7500 for it (difficult to be exact - there was a p/x involved).
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