Volkswagen Golf GTi reviews

Unfortunately my Golf 8 GTI was an all round disappointing experience. Bought second hand from a VW dealer with 20,000 miles, the approved used inspection was never completed properly and I had issues with the dealership prior to collecting the car, however I persevered because I loved the car. Despite having a service plan and approved used warranty, I sold the car after owning it for 14 months. It is a complete waste of money. Warranty claims over the course of the year: new steering wheel due to touch sensor failure (causes multiple modules to fail), wheels resprayed due to paint failure, new fuel door/flap due to actuator failure causing fuel door to be locked shut, passenger window seal replacement due to failure. Car generally unreliable, would not own out of warranty. Radar or side assist modules would frequently generate errors which only clear when the car is restarted. Infotainment is clunky, slow and clearly an unfinished product. Paint was thin and chips everywhere on front bumper. You could get something so much more well designed and more refined and reliable for the money.

I bought the performance model and have not been disappointed.The performance and handling are top notch and even the ride quality is not bad for a sporting car although there is some road noise.My car is a manual version and i have to say that the gearbox is excellent allied to a decent clutch.This model is fitted with a LSD which really helps when exiting corners. There is sufficient rear leg room and the boot is a decent size.As far as fuel economy is concerned i am currently averaging 39MPG which i would consider as pretty good for a car with such performance.I also got a really good insurance deal from VW Insurance Services. To date there have been no reliability issues apart from an annoying intermittent vibration from somewhere within the dashboard.Speaking of the dashboard the new digital instrument cluster is really good and certainly better in my view than the previous analogue version.I also like the fact that the car comes with a CD player.

This car does what it says well built punchy engine always power available. These were 20k+ cars when new so well built. It's all things to all motorists. Love mine !!!

My VW GTi does exactly `what it says in the tin`. It is comfortable even on long journeys, has very spirited performance and has not once refused to start or required any fault rectification. My regular MOT/servicing agent always states " It`s still like new !". I would recommend it to anyone. By the way, I`ve had it from new.

First Volkswagen ever purchased. This car is so easy to drive. Comfortable bucket seats which give you the needed support for your back. Get no back stiffness after driving A little expensive on the insurance but not too much as we are now over 60 and have 10 years no claims. Makes us feel young again. We love it!!!!!!

Good compromise between practicality, performance and build quality. Expensive, but worth it.

My Volkswagon Golf is quite comfertable, its very economical, its quite low and not so easy getting in and out of now that i,m getting on in years,

this is my 6th Golf and I like some of the changes and dislike some others. I like the automatic handbrake but don't like the automatic air conditioning.

Excellent car. Very happy with it and its economy. Would like a bigger boot.

Would not change it for the world best car I have ever had

Found car on website salesman phoned next day spoke about car answered all questions & asked would you like me to send you a video clip of car happy with what I saw went to see car nice clean tidy good price now it is mine 90per cent happy with purchase.

The VW Golf has proved to be excellent. Ours has a TSi engine. Excellent. There are two small issues which prevent it getting 10 out of 10. Judging where the rear of the car is when reversing is hard, after several years we still leave much more space than we think we have. The newer cars probably do not have this problem. It does not have as good a turning circle as cars we have owned in the past. Sometimes parking between cars in a supermarket car park can be tricky. We have always had it serviced at our local VW dealership and they too have been excellent. Would we buy it again? Yes.

This is my 3rd Golf 2 litre turbo diesel and have found them all to be extremely reliable, economical and comfortable easily fitting my 6ft frame. In between the 2nd and 3rd Golf we switched to a Honda which was a huge mistake finding it rather poorer quality than the Golf and nowhere near as economical

I bought this car new in 2007, and, depreciation aside, it hs been the cheapest car I have ever owned .. long service intervals, only 1 small thing has ever gone wrong with it. It's comfortable, fast when you want it to be, and extremely practical. Great car.

Very reliable

Although the car is 10 years old and its mileage is 80,000 I have perceived no decline in performance of the vehicle, and it still looks good despite developments in design and taste during this period. On more than one occsion I have been asked if I would be interesed in selling the car to younger people - (on one occasion I was asked if I would like to exchange it for a BMW of a higher spec.) The bodywork is still rust free and the only downside is the fact that the alloy wheels are begining to corrode. I love the car and feel that when I do replace it I will be lucky to get one of equal quality.

Level of comfort is excellent with road and engine noise kept to a minimum. The plastic gearstick and handbrake surround start to creak after a while howvever an easy fix by adding some fabric tape between the joints. VW in their wisdom coated some of the dash with a soft touch finish which goes sticky and looks a mess after a while. A little elbow grease to remove the coating leaves a shiny plastic surface that can be left as is or recoated. The drivers seat suffers wear on the bolster nearest the door with most models suffering from tears. The engine is sturdy if looked after however servicing is costly and with a new cambelt kit required after every 60K or 4 years it becomes questionable whether its cost effective to keep the car when other manufacturers can go upto 200K before such an expense is necessary. There's two most common problems that appear to come up, one being crankshaft sensor costing £180 from approved garage and upto £300 from a dealer. The other being the wiring at the transition from roofspace to rear hatch where it flexes some of the wires tend to break sending the electrics into a frenzy of failures. Mostly though the Golf is a good all rounder, from going to the shops to motorway travel the comfort and reliability(if looked after) is second to none.

I have been driving 55years I would like to keep my car as long as I can . its done 185,000 miles I love it . need I say more.

Goes well as very simply engineered ie no on board computers or gizmos. Awful MPG. But has passed MOT every time with tiny costs.

Good solid reliable car.