hi there,
I'm thinking of buying a VW Polo in order to replace my old 1995 Corsa (that has had its doors bent back so much, they're like tin foil :( ).
No overall reason for a Polo, other than the percieved VW reliability, I just want a car that goes forst time, every time, and doesnt need servicing too often. The Corsa has been no end of hastle. Also, I rather like the looks of the Polo. : ) I'd be looking at spending between £1000 to £1500 on the car, can't really afford more at the minute, but I do need a runaround.
Can I get peoples opinions of the Polo?
Is it reliable?
Will I be able to get one that isnt a complete shed for the money?
How is it on fuel consumption?
Can you suggest any alternatives I might want to look into? (I know the budget is low, but that cant be helped at the minute)
Many thanks if you can help me. : )
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Get a Mk ii Polo, budget £200 with 12 months ticket. Bomb proof, provided the oil is changed regularly otherwise the oil breather blocks.
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Unfortunately, I dont really like the shape of the Mk II's : ( Love the Mk III's though.
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Polo MkIII's are mechanically reliable due to being of the old VW tune it low idea. My wife had a '97 1.6GL with 75bhp.
Just watch out for rust. These Spannish built cars a serious rot boxes round the sills, A pillars and doors.
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I rate my Mk ii as possibly my favourite ever car. Even London cabbies jumped out of the way when they saw it coming.
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Are we to understand, Mapmaker, that it was menacingly battered and often approaching them sideways at 5,000 rpm in second amid clouds of tyre smoke?
I think we should be told :o}
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IIRC it scarcely *had* more than two gears, being a 'formule E'. It was 20 years old, rust free, prang free, but being red was quite faded.
German built, so rust free. Unlike the Spanish MK iii's, like poster above said.
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Can't priase the Mk3 Polo enough. Go for the 1.4 if you can - quite nippy and good fuel economy.
£1500 will get you a nice example with reasonable miles on the clock.
I've got one myself and I do a daily commute of 110 miles - never let me down in over 30k miles - parts nice and cheap too. Buy a good one and you won't regret it.
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seems a waste of money to me going from a carp p reg corsa to a carp r reg polo
they are both old and whats to say the doors wont be pulled on the polo anyway? much more chance of delectable goodies being stowed in a middle class pretensious polo than a working class corsa
keep your brass OP till you can move further up the ladder
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Everone knows that VW's are pink fluffy dice. Don't buy one, it will go wrong straight away. Oil troubles, cambelts, they don't handle properly, I can't understand why anyone would be so stupid to consider such a pink fluffy dice car.
Except my Passat, which after 6 years is wonderful. Never gone wrong, good mpg, very comfortable.
But beware this is the only known VW which has been OK.
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they are both old and whats to say the doors wont be pulled on the polo anyway? much more chance of delectable goodies being stowed in a middle class pretensious polo than a working class corsa
Well, the Corsa is an SRi, and its the only car on my street to be repeatedly pulled. I assume the thieves see value in it, personally I think its a load of crap, cant see why they want it, but apparently they do.
keep your brass OP till you can move further up the ladder
I'd love to, but I can't really. I need something that will be reliable and get me about the town on a daily basis, can't wait until I have more money unfortunately, otherwise I would. : (
Everone knows that VW's are pink fluffy dice. Don't buy one it will go wrong straight away. Oil troubles cambelts they don't handle properly I can't understand why anyone would be so stupid to consider such a pink fluffy dice car. Except my Passat which after 6 years is wonderful. Never gone wrong good mpg very comfortable. But beware this is the only known VW which has been OK.
Hmm...I'm not sure what point you're making there. Its just left me more confused than before. I was under the impression that the VW's were reliable old things, but if they're not, would you care to suggest an alternative?
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Duality, he's making the point that whenever anyone on here says they want a VW or are pleased with theirs, they are immediately shouted down or told that all VWs are rubbish, the people who buy them are stupid and taken in by the brand and they should get a Mondeo. ;)
I had a Mk3 Polo on a P reg and sold it last year for £1500. The best car I ever owned, and way more solid than a bean can Corsa! That said, the Mk3 Golf was a good one too...
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Everone knows that VW's are pink fluffy dice. Don't buy one it will go wrong straight away. Oil troubles cambelts they don't handle properly I can't understand why anyone would be so stupid to consider such a pink fluffy dice car.
SNIPQUOTE!
Without doubt the biggest load of rubbish anyone has ever typed on here. Grow up.
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cs gmart, I was joking as PoloGirl has pointed out, calm down dear.
PoloGirl, however daft my posts have been, I have never sworn on this site. So can you tell me why the "pink fluffy dice" was used when I put in some ***'s
Duality Nation, VW's in my opinion are very good cars. I have a Passat and I would not swap it for a Ford TDCI for all the tea in China!
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PoloGirl however daft my posts have been I have never sworn on this site. So can you tell me why the "pink fluffy dice" was used when I put in some ***'s
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=33415
explains it all. Regardless of whether you add the ***, or the swearfilter does, it'll get edited or deleted: - the former if we have time, the latter if we don't.
DD.
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Nonsense. I've had two Jettas and my current Bora over the past 15 years and all have done high mileages (the first Jetta had 66,500m on the clock when I bought it); none of them have ever leaked even a drop of oil, never needed topping up and my Bora has done 62,500m so far on its original cambelt.
I know, I know, it's time to get it replaced, but the other half has so many hospital visits and appointments it's finding time to fit it in...:-(
The exhaust, like the battery and cambelt now just under eight years old, began emitting nasty noises last week, so I nipped into the local independent quick fit tyre and exhaust centre.
Turned out the heatshield had worked slightly loose and was vibrating - it was quickly sorted FOC.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What's for you won't pass you by
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At the vintage you're looking for, a Polo is a good bet. VW had a dip in quality between about 2002 and 2005 but they were fine before that and I believe improving now.
A froend needing a cheap car got an R-reg Polo about 3 years ago and has had no trouble - she said she wouldn't have bought an R-reg anything else.
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To pick up where bell boy left off, at this end of the market, I would be looking much more for condition than for any particular brand or type of car. In fact, you'll probably be better avoiding the typical types of car favoured by people who have recently passed their test.
By the time a car is 8 or 9 years old, the way it has been looked after makes far more difference than if it's a Ford, Vauxhall, or VW.
In terms of real life reliability, I don't VW are particularly special - they're just well hyped.
Polo-girl mentions bean can Corsa's. I'm sure she realises the reassuring thud of a VW door is contrived by carefully placing soundproofing blocks rather than by the intrinsic quality or weight of the steel or of the basic design itself - or perhaps she isn't?
I would be looking for something just a little unfashionable, a little bit different, but cheap and in good nick - perhaps something like a Nissan Almera?
Number_Cruncher
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Specification is" just want a car that goes forst time, every time, and doesnt need servicing too often"
That says only one car: Japanese.
(Polos are like people : they have issues...:-)
Japanese cars tend to be more like robots.
A Toyota Starlet would be ideal..boring, bland, likely to be regularly serviced (Toyota owners tend to believe what Toyota garages tell them) and very reliable.
And thy are worth buttons s/h
for £850 you can get a 56k miles one.
My Autotrader search under 60k miles...
tinyurl.com/2357p4
madf
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VWs are well hyped but they were good. That's why my mate's dad has had them for over 30 years. He has, however, just defected elsewhere because his latest Polo was garbage. This echoes my own well documented experience with VWs i.e. that the older ones were far better than the newer ones which have been beset with electrical problems. This suggests this one could be a good buy. I wouldn't buy a recent one though.
I suggest you are a tad blinkered PoloGirl? Just wait until yours goes wrong and the dumb dealer can't do anything with it.
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"PoloGirl, however daft my posts have been, I have never sworn on this site. So can you tell me why the "pink fluffy dice" was used when I put in some ***'s"
Twasn't me! But Dave has answered you.
"I suggest you are a tad blinkered PoloGirl? Just wait until yours goes wrong and the dumb dealer can't do anything with it."
It's a lease car on a full maintenance and replacement vehicle contract. It can go as wrong as it likes!
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We bought my parents-in-law's owned from new 55,000 mile R plate Polo 1.9D CL in 2005. Dreadful car - wouldn't recommend it at all.
Rust bubbled through on the rear arches
Power steering rack had to be replaced
Rattling and buzzing interior trim.
They're also really nothing special to drive. Vague steering, choppy ride and too much road noise.
The mkIV Fiesta we bought a couple of years later was quite frankly in a different league in all respects.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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I drove a MK4 Golf TDi prior to getting the Megane. Having had VWs previously I was disappointed. Dreadful racket from the TDi engine - light years behind the Renault unit for smoothness and refinement. Also I wasn't that impressed with the build quality or the drive. VW are off my shopping list for the time being.
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I'm on my eight successive VW, a Passat now at 103,000 miles, and have owned various Polos, Golfs, Jetta, Corrado.
Enjoyed every minute of it. Not all been trouble free but a pleasure to own and drive.
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We had three Golfs:
Mk1 - great, wish we'd not sold it.
Mk2 - HG went at 50k, intermittent starter lock problem on the auto box, but OK.
Mk3 - HG went at 140k, and very badly (terminally) rusted through underneath, though near perfect paintwork. Not the first the garage had seen with the rot.
I had a Mk2 Jetta Formel E - very tough, eventually wipe out by a bus after I'd sold it. Dog slow, but great mpg.
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Dreadful racket from the TDi engine - light years behind the Renault unit for smoothness and refinement.
I agree, but the performance and economy are superb.
We were out mkIV Golf TDI hunting last weekend for my in-laws and the bottom end welly of that PD engine is always a pleasant surprise after a while away. I also drove the one we bought back from Bedfordshire to Surrey, and despite traffic and not taking it particularly easy, still averaged an indicated 57 mpg. But it sounds and feels so agricultural after the dCi.
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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How about a Skoda Felicia? Very similar to the Polo but much cheaper. Get one with power steering though unless you want to build up your biceps. 1.3 engine is a bit rough too but economical and easy to work on.
Or a Corolla? Great on fuel and the post 92 ones don't seem too rust.
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Do it!
I bought a Mk3 Polo TDI estate 5 years ago and have no regrets - the car is now 8 years old. It has been 100% reliable. The others are right in saying so. It costs no more to service or buy spares for than any other car I've owned and is certainly cheaper and easier to work on than my previous Renault 19 TD. The car has done 85k miles and has needed nothing other than routine (under the bonnet) servicing. Front pads and discs are orginial and fine so is the battery and other electrics.
To sum up- My Polo is strong, bodily and mechanically, returns an average of 60 mpg (daily 80 mile commute helps)
Only downside as pointed out watch for rust on Mk3's. I have a small area on one sill that I cleaned back to bare metal. the sill itself is very thick so I didnt go through it. The rust appears to be on the surface only - so probably down to bad preparation at the factory
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"How about a Skoda Felicia?"
Seconded! Completely image-free, so your money should get you a better one than a Polo. 1998 onwards had power steering as standard - the earlier non-PAS cars were OK (my father had the 1.3 51 (!) bhp estate but you won't enjoy squeezing it into parking bays all day long.
Also, the later cars come in brighter colours, so they look quite smart if kept clean and tidy. All the early ones seemed to be navy, dark green or muddy silver, and strangely Communist-era gloomy to look at.
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