Hi Guys

 

Need some advice on a new car purchase......have a maximum budget of £1600 and have found this mk3 Golf GTi 16v which seems to be a minter but need any negative points about these cars......have only found out that the gearboxes can be expensive if they tend to crunch or not be smooth

 

Any other advice would be great......or recommendations

 

Cheers

 

Fas

I had loads of trouble with the rear brakes on mine and talking to others its seems to be fairy common, the handbrake mechanism seizes and causes MOT failure or brakes to seize on the rear. Other than that the gearboxs that you mentioned are the only other common thing I can think of.

They're much slower than the MK II GTi.

 

The hot model in the MK III range was the VR6.

i had one for about 18 months before i bought the zed. only problem i had was the exhaust going. really good fun car tho. :D

Thanks guys, anything else i should look out for?

Check for rust:

 

 

"The Golf has a strong reputation for reliability, but it still has a few areas that need to be checked carefully. One is the manual gearbox in high-mileage cars. These can have worn bearings which need expensive repairs if there's a lot of noise from the gearbox, get it checked. Corrosion is rare on a Golf, which speaks volumes for Volkswagen's rust-proofing methods and the quality of the steel it uses. A Golf with rust should scream "badly repaired accident damage" at you. Steer well clear, as a bent chassis will probably have caused mis-aligned panels and subsequent corrosion. "

its a vw they are great cars, not as quick as you would thoink for a gti, the gearbox will whine when cold if its on its way out, make sure you drive it from cold

 

there really isnt uch to worry about with them if they look like tye have been looked after, dont buy one modded, people mod mk3 gti's because they aint as quick as they think they will be so mod them and lash them