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Golf MKs 1-4. Are they all the same?

A friend of mine told me that the VW Golf MkI, MkII, MkIII and MkIV are basically the same car. The mechanic thinks they were just slightly upgraded just to adopt new engines and the weight of the car, while the platform is the same except the bigger wheelbase.

I think that's not possible! It's just unbelievable!

Asked on 21 January 2011 by Mateo

Answered by Honest John
Yes. It's rubbish. Some of the engines and transmissions did carry over from one Mk to another, but not from Mk 1 to Mk IV. What is a fact is the Mk II was the best and the Mk III was the worst, closely followed by the Mk IV. The Mk IV had a tragic series of faults that makes nonsense of the myth of VW reliability. See: www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/golf-iv-1...d

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