1999 VW Golf Gti on TradeMe

[TTEETT]

Working on any French cars or machines will drive you nuts

With the training and manuals they are not bad, without them they are a nightmarish, I have the technical documents with walk through so its quite easy... I mostly just pay a pro do to the work though!

[fuel]

I enjoyed my Peugeot, granted I had a few little niggly problems with it but they were quite easily sorted. I didn't find it expensive to run or maintain, and it gave a very rewarding driver experience. Would own another.

[rollaholic]

golfs are generally well supported here now, and who else offers a 5 door turbo hatch?

in general i personally would steer clear of euros in NZ, mainly due to the number of singapore imports we have - which i reckon are a large part of the 'euros are junk' thing. most of them havent recieved the regular love and attention they need to stay reliable.

Just quickly off the top of my head.

Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Lancer Rallyart, Renault Megane RS225, Ford Focus XR5, Holden Astra SRI-T, Fiat Bravo, Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Mercedes A and B Class, Audi A3's, Skoda Octavia, older there's the Lancia Delta.. and then there are the Turbo Diesels that go well.

As for "number of Singapore imports" I think you will find they would make up about 1% off all euro's in NZ.

yeah ok should have thought that one a bit further through.

but 1%?! you have got to be kidding me.

[Al]

The euros from Singapore are usually the large luxo cruisers. 7 Series BMW. Merc E and S classes.

[Mr Revhead]

Quite a few Lexus too from Singapore

[rollaholic]

we got heaps and heaps of all sorts from them before they changed the rules on emissions etc, less so now but still alot more than 1%

[Looonie]

Some interesting opinions in this thread. Good reading.

Strangely applicable as myself and my partner are looking to replace the MX5 with either a MKIV Golf GTI, Audi A3 1.8T or VW Passat 1.8T.

Ironically enough, both the A3 and Passat we are looking at are both singapore imports

Personally I think the A3 is a little more refined in the interior over the Golf, but the Golf can look "tougher" with the right kit, and potentially easier to find bits for the Golf than the A3. The Passat offers a "best of both worlds" type scenario, while being cheaper... but I have concerns over the reliability due to the fact its cheaper than its alternatives...

Any thoughts?

Budgeting 8-10k for something tidy with near 100k mileage.

[BZG Wagon]

Quite a few Lexus too from Singapore

So what makes Singapore imports bad?

[rollaholic]

have worked extensively on all three loonie, would avoid the passat, more of a pain to work on, can be more expensive to maintain due to being more complicated. golf and A3 might as well be the same car, is probably down to which one you prefer the look of.

in theory VAG develop their cars through three stages, skoda being the test bed, what works there moves into their VWs, and the best of that stuff makes its way into audis. and lambos i guess, heh.

i'd probably take the golf myself, since the gti is at or near the top of the models range.

BZG, cars from singapore are (or were in particular) essentially purchased by dealers here from car graveyards there, most of them have low mileage but huge running time (idling in extensive traffic etc) and are generally poorly serviced since they are replaced often. the heat and humidity really kills alot of the plastics in the engine bays which wasnt of the greatest quality to start with in most cases. so oil leaks, damaged wiring looms, screwed suspension bushes, breather hoses on their last legs etc, are generally par for the course. the plastics in sensor plugs gets so brittle that the locking tabs snap the second you try and unplug anything... i saw heaps and heaps of singapore imports come through my work before they changed the rules, like dozens and dozens a week. wouldnt have owned any of them, and put me off singapore imports for life. sergei will have some stories to tell on that front too.

[Mr Revhead]

Also on a few cases with the Lexus they were different spec so some parts were not stocked in NZ and had to come from Japan.
Bit of a pain if you just failed a WOF due to that part.

[Looonie]

have worked extensively on all three loonie, would avoid the passat, more of a pain to work on, can be more expensive to maintain due to being more complicated. golf and A3 might as well be the same car, is probably down to which one you prefer the look of.

in theory VAG develop their cars through three stages, skoda being the test bed, what works there moves into their VWs, and the best of that stuff makes its way into audis. and lambos i guess, heh.

i'd probably take the golf myself, since the gti is at or near the top of the models range.

Thanks for that. I will agree I was a little dubious about considering the Passat as an option, yeah its cheaper (but surely theres a reason). As we'd like leather, its more of a Golf GTX than GTi we're looking at, and of course finding leather in an A3 1.8T could be a bit of a challenge, let alone finding one for comparable money to the Golf (that isn't ex-singapore).

I'm curious as to whether the performance/handling is substantially different between the Golf and the A3... same engine, theoretically similar weights (although from the research it looks like the Golf weighs more? And it also looks like the Audi may have come with more power/torque). Anybody driven one?

Perhaps Harlet could chime in if she has ever compared to an A3?

[Nuty|Mike]

Hey loonie ,

Stay away from the passat they house all sorts of issues .....same with the A3 .

Golf gti in manual would be your best option as nice as the leather recaros are in the GTX the gearboxes are made of butter and will crap out ....

Whats your budget im sure you would rather a golf 5 gti ....I even think we have an Edition 30 in manual floating around somewhere and a Blue R32

[TTEETT]

in theory VAG develop their cars through three stages, skoda being the test bed, what works there moves into their VWs, and the best of that stuff makes its way into audis. and lambos i guess, heh.

You have that the wrong way around, VAG test the latest and greatest on Bentley and Lamborghini and on the top Audi's like the R8 and A8 and then over time it trickles down to regular Audi's and VW and eventually the bottom feeder companies Skoda and Seat.. This doesn't take long to trickle down either. They way VW and Audi are they are IMHO in risk of cannibalization, especially in a small market like NZ. They do have the ambitious plan off being the worlds largest automobile producer though.

When I said 1% it was a slight exaggeration to make a point, I don't have figures and i'm not sure they exist, if you were to actually think about it though you would quickly discover the majority of European cars are NZ new, maybe 75%, i'm not talking one brand i'm talking total European cars, this includes Ford, Holden, hell even Toyota's, from there the second would be Japanese imports, these are distinguishable because they will not fit a Euro Plate and run Japan/USA speck bumpers and plate housing, after that its imports from Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries.

[TTEETT]

Hey loonie ,

Stay away from the passat they house all sorts of issues .....same with the A3 .

Golf gti in manual would be your best option as nice as the leather recaros are in the GTX the gearboxes are made of butter and will crap out ....

Whats your budget im sure you would rather a golf 5 gti ....I even think we have an Edition 30 in manual floating around somewhere and a Blue R32

They are all the same underneath so it wont mater what you get.

Personally I would only buy a NZ new European car with a FSH, especially when we are talking very old cars like the Mk4 Golf, they are at the end of their first life and will need a lot done.

[TTEETT]

Ironically enough, both the A3 and Passat we are looking at are both singapore imports

Personally I think the A3 is a little more refined in the interior over the Golf, but the Golf can look "tougher" with the right kit, and potentially easier to find bits for the Golf than the A3. The Passat offers a "best of both worlds" type scenario, while being cheaper... but I have concerns over the reliability due to the fact its cheaper than its alternatives...

Any thoughts?

Budgeting 8-10k for something tidy with near 100k mileage.

Really, if you look on Trade me most are actually from Japan.

As said I would be looking for a nice stock standard NZ new car wit a FSH, or taking the 10k.

[TTEETT]

I would go a VR6 Bora just to be different, they are a nice drive also.

From Japan.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-ca ... 273299.htm

[fuel]

Some interesting opinions in this thread. Good reading.

Strangely applicable as myself and my partner are looking to replace the MX5 with either a MKIV Golf GTI, Audi A3 1.8T or VW Passat 1.8T.

Ironically enough, both the A3 and Passat we are looking at are both singapore imports

Personally I think the A3 is a little more refined in the interior over the Golf, but the Golf can look "tougher" with the right kit, and potentially easier to find bits for the Golf than the A3. The Passat offers a "best of both worlds" type scenario, while being cheaper... but I have concerns over the reliability due to the fact its cheaper than its alternatives...

Any thoughts?

Budgeting 8-10k for something tidy with near 100k mileage.

Dave is that grey NZ-new Mk4 Golf 2.3 V5 still floating about in Botany? I drove that back to back against the NZ-new Mk4 GTI and I found the V5 a much more enjoyable drive, even though it was auto and the GTI was 5 speed.

[rollaholic]

in theory VAG develop their cars through three stages, skoda being the test bed, what works there moves into their VWs, and the best of that stuff makes its way into audis. and lambos i guess, heh.

You have that the wrong way around, VAG test the latest and greatest on Bentley and Lamborghini and on the top Audi's like the R8 and A8 and then over time it trickles down to regular Audi's and VW and eventually the bottom feeder companies Skoda and Seat.. This doesn't take long to trickle down either. They way VW and Audi are they are IMHO in risk of cannibalization, especially in a small market like NZ. They do have the ambitious plan off being the worlds largest automobile producer though.

When I said 1% it was a slight exaggeration to make a point, I don't have figures and i'm not sure they exist, if you were to actually think about it though you would quickly discover the majority of European cars are NZ new, maybe 75%, i'm not talking one brand i'm talking total European cars, this includes Ford, Holden, hell even Toyota's, from there the second would be Japanese imports, these are distinguishable because they will not fit a Euro Plate and run Japan/USA speck bumpers and plate housing, after that its imports from Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries.

i'd be surprised if we have many euro manufactured japanese cars here. if you want to include ford and holden its a different story, though when i say euro i tend to mean the more obvious marques.

'slight exaggeration' is a slight exaggeration

A3 and golf are very similar underneath, the only thing they share with passat though is the engine, (and i guess a VW badge in the golfs case) which is actually mounted longitudinally in the passat if you've ever opened the bonnet on one. i wouldnt own a passat for love nor money.

as for VAG's development process, i was merely quoting what i was told by an audi mechanic. i have no personal insight into their world.

[Looonie]

Cheers for the thoughts guys. Went to look at a nice Golf GTX today but unfortunately serious signs of sludge in the engine, and possibly BHG Definitely not looked after.

Mike: At the moment we're budgeting 8-10k and prefer an Auto as is predominantly my partners daily. Don't want to be spending too much more than the MX5 will sell for as we have better things to be doing with the money at this stage. A nice MKV would be awesome, but I suspect its closer to double our budget. Why do you say the GTX gearbox is butter? Wouldn't it be the same box as the GTi?

Phil: No Golf's around anymore, think there was a coupla months ago. There was also the Polo GTI which I drove, nice and peppy but not what we're after.

I'm curious about what the V5 and VR6 models are though... guess I should research that also...

[Elmendorf]

Why do you say the GTX gearbox is butter? Wouldn't it be the same box as the GTi?

Yep both have the exact same gearbox, only difference between the two is the GTX has leather interior v's cloth interior in a GTI.