Tell me about: VW Golf 90 TDi, Mk4

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

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Joined
24 Apr 2007
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Southport
Hello all,

I have been offered the above in S spec (1 above base) and wondered if there were any owners on here :)

It would be a second car, saving the Ti for weekends and days out.

Are the Golfs reliable, and what is driving like? I'd probably have it remapped to about 110bhp, and it has done 159k. Been offered it silly cheap as it needs a new panel.

Cheers :)
 
The old TDis are a workhorse - rough but hardy. I believe they're pretty reliable, so it shouldn't let you down. What sort of money are we talking?

Driving it - It will be slow, but the power delivery of them is quite smooth for a diesel even if it sounds rattly and rough. Handling is crap, equipment in the S spec is quite poor also.
 
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all true so far. they can suffer boost leaks and stuck egr valves.

if you want some fun, get the inlet manifold off, clean the EGR's crud out. block the EGR, descreen the MAF and youll have a bit more go.
 
Matt82 said:
youll laugh when you see the state of the inlet manfold ;)
Click to expand...

It cant be as bad as mine was - there was a gap in the gunk smaller than a 5p for the air to get into number 4!

As has been said, they're a boring workhorse, which sounds like what you need. Why a remap though - seems pointless on a car like this - you've got a fun car so save your money to fix the Rover when it breaks again ;)
 
Didn't someone buy a MK3 Y reg Mondeo derv with like 100k on the clock for about £800-£1000 a while back.

Doesn't sound like a good deal, and seriously who has an old Rover saloon as a second weekend car :confused:
 
rover416i said:
Because the Ti is pretty quick, and the Golf gets to 60 in 12 seconds. Hardly mental fun :p
Click to expand...

That isn't the point. It's a run of the mill family saloon, that just happens to not be dog-slow. It isn't a fire-breathing monster that costs a fortune in servicing and consumables, it isn't special, and it certainly isn't a "honey, lets take the weekend car out for a lovely drive in the country" car.

You need to face the fact that if you can't afford to run the 620ti day to day, then it isn't worth owning. As running a 2nd car will not be a cheaper alternative to running the 620 every day. Two lots of insurance, two lots of tax, two lots of tyres, two lots of brakes, two lots of...

Either sell both and get a decent all rounder (as if you have the cash to run two cars, you might as well get something that suits you properly), or get two cheaper cars, one being mundane, and one being sporty. A small diesel hatch and an MX5 would fit the bill IMO.
 
Think it was a 1.8 petrol, but still a bargain.

As the other guys are saying - if you want a daily car and a weekend car, get something properly fun for a weekend car!
 
Fair enough, I'd ideally like something that's a mix of two - the Ti does everything I want, but 30mpg is killing me at the moment.

Living at home on my wage I should be able to go out, buy pretty much whatever I want, see mates etc, but I always end up broke at the end of the month - I spend about 33% of my wages on fuel alone.

Looking online, the Golf in question seems to average about 55mpg, near enough halfing my fuel costs. It's just a case of how horifically slow it would be in comparison, which I'm guessing will be very, very different :(

Edit: It costs so much to run as I do 25k a year including social mileage; my friends and the better half live a good distance away.
 
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