So after much deliberating, I’m coming round to the idea of a mk 4 Golf TDI. Have test driven one tonight – 130k miles, 2003, PD 130 6 speed engine (which my internet gleaned wisdom tells me is the one to go for – hoping this will be economical and robust). Has had recent cambelt, tensioner, water pump and clutch. Feels good to drive – clutch and gearbox feel pretty sharp and the overall drive seems taut, but engine sounds a bit rattly – is this normal for a / this diesel? Anything else I should watch out for? Cheers!

the 1.9 diesel is a bit rattly by nature, the dual mass flywheel could rattle if its on the way out but that would also be accompanied by vibration ( should be able to feel it through the gearlever) i would also check the tyres for uneven wear and get the car HPI checked for piece of mind.
other than that they are good cars my mates one is now on 220k with no probs

mk4 likes to eat steering racks in its old age. listen for whining when the steering is being turned

its not a cheap fix and its a pain in the hoof to fit !

Great car, great fun to drive, looks cool, economical, comfortable and you can easily fit 2 bikes in the back with the seat down.

How much are you paying?

To give you a guide I bought a 120k Passat for £500 last month; good service history, 12m MOT and only needed the window regulator/door cable and lock sorting (these are pretty much VW issues, so check yours).

And yes, diesels rattle, from new 🙂

PD engines need a particular oil, can be expensive. Pretty bulletproof engine though. My PD 100 hp ibiza’s done 125k and has done nothing to moan about. Rest of the car though I guess they still break window regulators. Also have the clutch on the alternator checked as they rattle and give up (mine at 120k) this sounds like and annoying rattle which it sounds like yours has.

A certain prolific poster will be along soon to say that he’s ‘thinking of buying one’… 😕

If the water pump has been replaced, ask if it was swapped for the metal blade version, as the plastic version can break.

They do sound rattly

Check all the electrics, windows, radio, speakers, etc. as all three I have owned have has something wrong with electrics.

130k is nothing to be worried about either, as long as its been serviced.

Most are run on long service intervals, unless you are do mega motorway mile each year, it might be worth swapping to the yearly service plan.

As mentioned above, check the dual mass flywheel, costly to fix.

All the mechanics that service mine still run MK4’s Tdi’s, which might mean they like them 😉

PD engines need a particular oil, can be expensive

It is, but they don’t exactly drink it!

I’ve got a PD 130 one, and it’s been great. It’s now on 111k and a few bits are going to need doing soon, so I’m thinking of changing it, but it’s never let me down. Only thing that did come as a bit of a shock was the DMF, they really are expensive!

nice comfortable mile muncher but get out of shape pretty quick if you push them hard

A certain prolific poster will be along soon to say that he’s ‘thinking of buying one’…

I’ve owned or driven just about every Golf variant sweetheart.

Rattle is not the same as diesel sound – the PDs are quite dieselly, but it’s not the same as a rattle. If the oil’s really really low the tappits will sound really loud, but you’d probably have a dead turbo in no time if that was the case. It should also not sound rattly when driving in a gear above second, really.

Thanks all – some good tips there – will check more thoroughly when I go to see again. Checked electrics / air con / windows and all fine. Should the DMF have been replaced when the clutch was done? Will check anyway. They’re asking £2.4k which is a couple of hundred more than the max I’d go to. Its carrying a bit of a premium for the service record and recent work done. Was nice to drive – made my petrol passat feel like a barge when I got back in.

wow golfs still go for silly money.

guess it depends if its worth it to be en vogue.

Mk4s aren’t ‘vogue’ 🙂

2.4k isn’t ‘bad’.

However I’d probably look at a Passat TDI estate if I was in the market for that price range.

jekkyl – Member
great fun to drive,

No its not…

jekkyl – Member
looks cool,

Pass it round…

jekkyl – Member
economical,

yep even by more modern standards

for 2.4k at age + milage they would need to be vogue.

the old “thats low milage for a vag” doesnt wash with me.

diesel mk4s suffer horrendously from understeer thanks to the engine weight – the lighter petrol engines do not and actually handle reasonably well.

Mine had head gasket problems.

For the head gasket, give it a good thrash then check the coolant. If its got a leaking head gasket the exhaust goes into the coolant and it flows out the overlfow pipe and you’ll get low coolant warnings. Plus the airvents in the car get ridiculously hot (if its set to hot in the car).

Mine had a few other niggling issues too. Rear washer pipe breaks and leaks into car. Drainage holes in doors can clog, then rain water leaks into the rear footwells and it smells. The handling is utterly terrible. The rear bulbs break if you shut the boot too hard (you see lots of mk4 Golfs driving around with a rear light broken). Also, the coolant level sensors rust, giving false low coolant warnings (which i assumed was the case when the above happened!). Solution was to scrape rust off with a screwdriver.

Given their “german build quality” image, i wasn’t impressed, which i realise goes against common opinion.

Most of this stuff is just irritating though.

Double check the electrics, things wrong with ours:

The locks, check both passenger and drivers side doors open all the locks when you put the key in. Apparently an easy thing to fix with a bit of a solder, but a complete dismantle of the door means it is a long job. I just live with the passenger side door not working the central locking on ours.

Check the interior lights and boot light; if they all don’t work, it is a common thing, needs a completely new positive feed that bypasses the ‘comfort control unit’, cost me 80 quid to get done. Stupid design.

Ours has moss growing on all the door seals too, but at least the doors on ours drain water fine.

And I wouldn’t say it was ‘easy’ to fit two bikes in the back with seats folded down, unless your bikes are very small and don’t have mudguards. It is doable, preferably with both wheels off but the boot is teeny tiny given the car’s medium size – nothing like an Astra or other similar sized cars.

Mine had a few other niggling issues too. Rear washer pipe breaks and leaks into car. Drainage holes in doors can clog, then rain water leaks into the rear footwells and it smells.

yep has all those on my V6 4Motion. Plus window catches snap and glass falls into the door….

we had all those on our mk4 1.4 petrol.

Our fronteras actually been a major improvement both reliability and drivability – and thats says alot for me.

I have a 2003 GT TDI 130. My impression of it is very economical, but dull with very soft wallowy suspension and found it would understeer terribly especially in the wet. The standard tyres were 195/65/15, so once worn out I changed the wheels to the next size up (16″) running 205/55/16 and the under steer is vastly improved and the grip much better. When looking at cars, if it has climate (and possibly also with aircon), check that the 2 radiator fans are running when the climate is on (set to auto). If not the resisters in the fan will have burned out and replacement fans are not cheap. This is a common, well documented issue (see honest John) and if you don’t replace the fan the engine will cook. With this sort or mileage expect the front suspension wishbone arm rear bushes to be worn (again common). Not too much of an expensive job, but a job none the less. Top tip here is to fit the bush from the Audi TT as its a lot more robust, so will never need doing again and adds precision to the steering. Mines at 120,000 and will need to have this done in the near future and I will also change the worn out shocks at the time (not leaking, just don’t control the car well) for upgraded ones to improve the handling. A good thing about these cars is that there is loads of info about them out there on the web to help you fix them and as there are many different cars from the different parts of the VW family using the same chassis you can get upgraded bits to improve its weaknesses (like with the bushes). I would check out http://uk-mkivs.net for info, support and advice.

I’ve got a Mk4 turbo, petrol.

Also check the numerous hoses that run off the turbo, they split with age and are silly money and a pain to fit as my mechanic can confirm.

I seem to have encoutered most of the faults above……..

Get a Focus, cheaper and drive better.

And I wouldn’t say it was ‘easy’ to fit two bikes in the back with seats folded down, unless your bikes are very small and don’t have mudguards. It is doable, preferably with both wheels off but the boot is teeny tiny given the car’s medium size – nothing like an Astra or other similar sized cars.

Really? I can get 2 bikes in mine with just the front wheel out, certainly seems capacious to me.

Plus window catches snap and glass falls into the door….

Ah yes, that happens, I actually managed to catch the glass and lower it gradually into the door so it didn’t smash!

your little then nick ?

Our mk4 required both wheels out and the seatpost out …. IF i was driving.

with the mrs driving we could get them in with just front wheels and seatpins out.

1 bike in lying on its side was no issue. i swear i had more room in my mk3 fiesta.

It depends on the bike, I think. Back in the day we’d get 2 bikes in the boot of a MkII Fiesta with the wheels off, no trouble. It’s a lot harder with a 7″ travel Patriot.

I drive a Mk4 GTi and all of the above comments about known problems are valid, but they don’t usually all happen at once on the same car. Having said that if you are going to run an older car you have got to plan to spend a few hundred pounds a year on servicing and maintenance. I’ve probably spent over a grand on mine in the last year, but I could have done things more cheaply if I was so inclined and I am covering 500 miles a week.

BTW £2,400 seems a little steep (I paid £2k for mine with 99,000 miles a year or so ago), but shopping around will give you a good idea of the going rate.

Good luck,

Anything else I should watch out for?

Can’t remember if this applies to the Mk4 as well as the Mk5 – there is a design flaw that VW recognise on the front wings – something inside absorbs water and expands pushing the wheel liner into the wing lifting the paint.

Check the edges of the front wheel arches for rust, the guy at the garage said it’s common on the diesels for some reason. VW replaced the wings on ours for free but we were the first owner so not sure if you’d get much mileage with it being second hand.

your little then nick ?

I put them with the rear wheels over towards/against the passenger headrest, admittedly it’s pretty close to the passenger’s head though!

Check the edges of the front wheel arches for rust, the guy at the garage said it’s common on the diesels for some reason. VW replaced the wings on ours for free but we were the first owner so not sure if you’d get much mileage with it being second hand.

Interesting, mine’s done that, little blisters on the N/S wheel arch, water squirts out when you poke them.

My 130 TDI mk 4 is on 205,000 miles. Bought it at 183,000 and i have done 22.000 miles in last 10 months. So far so good and feels fairly tight for the mileage.

get one, they’re great.
I’ve had 2 mk4 tdi’s. I had the pd130 engine in my Alhambra. I would have had a mk5 golf, but went with a touran diesel, for the extra space. go german!!

i had a 2002 one from new to 125,000 miles over 8 years and was pretty perfect. one front window dropped off into the door and that was it. Broke the undertray as well but that was driver fault on speed humps. Got £2,500 for it i think.

Buy a Focus.
Cheaper
Drive better
The equivalent 2.0tdci 130 is heaps more refined (although in fairness a bit less economical)

If you must have a Golf then fair enough but to my mind its too compromised. For a long time I was vw fixated. Three completely different occasions over 5 years i test drove a mk4. Each time it was a fast diesel or gti. Three times I bought something else including a focus and a 306gti. Both of which whipped the golf fordriver enjoyment and were very easy to live with and reliable.

Sorry rather a lot of chip piddling. My mother’s owned two mk4s she loves them (spends a lot of time on the motorway) but from what I can gather both have been ‘pups’ mechanically.

Honest John gives the golf mark 4 two stars compared to three for the pug and four for the focus, but thousands of golf drivers would disagree. To be honest when you buy a thirteen year old car I think it is more down to the individual car than the make and model, but I have never felt less than happy to drive my golf and that has to be worth something.

I had a golf estate mk4 tdi. Kept it for a year. It was the worst handling barge I’ve ever had. Only returned 43mpg. My diesel mondeo estate mk3 is about 47. Having said that it was reliable only needing a new wiper arm cradle and front anti roll bar bushes doing in 10k. 😯 Oh yes and when the sidelights fail on the front its a bumper off job to change them takes about 40mins. I was sick of doing it so I replaced mine with white Led conversions, they were pap but it passed it’s MOT . Ever wondered why you see so many with LED conversions that’s why. Seriously the chassis is rubbish but they will run to stellar mileages if your prepared to do the work. If you can find a focus mk1 facelift 1.8 tdci with the 115 bhp motor its better in every way.

Oh yes and when the sidelights fail on the front its a bumper off job to change them takes about 40mins.

They can be changed without taking the bumper off. It’s a bit tight on space but can be done with just removing the battery cover. Have done all mine with the bumper still on

Yeah I’ve done both. It’s easier to remove the bumper, but not essential.

Golfs are very comfy, and if I had loads of money to spend on a new one I can see the point, but spending that much money on an old one seems mental – the difference in comfort between an ancient golf and a newer version of a similar car like a focus, surely means that for the same money, you’d probably get something better in the less trendy car.