It’ll either go on for a while, or something will go, pot luck these days, but if you know the person it’s a bit easier, PD engine is a good one, but as always, just got to hope there isn’t something on the way out, i won’t even guess as that would be bad luck!

The MkIV seems to wear it’s miles well based on the couple my mum has had and the number you still see around. Her 2002 one is still going strong with some big miles on it.

You’ve presumably got one of the last versions of the 1.9PD engine too which iirc was fairly solid although pretty dirty by modern standards. I had it in my early Mk5 in 105ps guise.

Good luck.

Not a MK4 fan but cant go wrong for £400. Bargain there, the PD130’s are a popular engine conversion in the Caddy circles. If my PD BLS 105 ever goes pop I’ll probably go down that route

It’s the 130hp engine but

Just a good engine, had one in a b5 Passat.

Also had the scabby wings which were apparently a notorious problem for golfs and Passat’s of that vintage. Something about dampening sponges between the wing and bulkhead holding water and rotting from the inside.

Good to hear about these leggy golfs. I had to get a car pdq when I got made redundant on 30 Sep and started a new job on the 1st Oct and lost a company car.
Got a 58 plate Golf with only 68k miles. Wasn’t a bangernomics price with those miles but it’s hard to believe it’s a 12 year old car.

Was only supposed to be a stopgap but I can see me keeping it, especially as the cam belt has just been done and it has the capability to do stellar miles.

I’d read on Pistonheads about the foam under the front wings recently so may have a look at removing them.

A mate of mine has a MKIV diesel which is about to click over the 250000 mile mark. It has a full leather interior which looks half that old at most. They look pretty dated now (but still better than the MK3) but if I was looking for a cheap workhorse I’d be happy in a MKIV.

Had a pd130 passat from 16 to 178k here and mirror above sentiments. V solid. Always felt quite quick but think this was due to pronounced turbo kick in more than outright performance in a heavy Passat. Should be decent in a golf though.

Mrs had the same which she bought for 400 quid 12 years ago. It wouldn’t start after it rained. It had an oil leak. The alloys were porous and all four tyres went flat each week and the turbo whistled. The trim was held on with woodscrew.
She consistently reminds be of how great it was. So much I bought get a low milage mk6 golf. Still not happy

It’s the 130hp engine but feels more than that so don’t know if it’s chipped. It’s been doing 55mpg on its mway commute.

I’ve had two PD engines, both economical. The 130 in a Polo which would get to high 50s mpg on the motorway-I can’t remember the exact figure now. The other was a 140 2 litre which would get 57mpg on a sustained cruise. Both felt faster than they were as per what joshvegas said. It was like the unit injectors took a breath before hard acceleration which gave the impression more was happening than actually was.

My current common rail is more economical, just on my commute but as soon as I give it some welly the mpg drops fast where as it only dropped slightly when hammering the PD engines.

Edit- the 130 was not around long enough to judge reliability, 10k to 40k but the 140 did 120k with me over 12 year and engine wise only needed a new turbo.

I also believe the Mk4 was the start of the cost cutting at VAG, it had a higher cost to build ratio than the following, so had a little nicer finish and fit, i’ve got a MK5 and it’s nice, was going to upgrade but they do seem to cut little bits every model, or make them extras!

Also as they get older the cost of a cam belt change can exceed the value of of the car

Can’t understand the logic. Yes it may be c£500 but if everything else is fine why not spend that rather than buy something else?

I bought mine from my redundancy pay and started a new job immediately, so the car is “free” getting over 50mpg* on a 30 mile daily commute means I’m just about in credit comparing fuel, tax, insurance and service costs to what my BIK tax was.

*helps that I now drive like my Dad now I’ve got to pay for my own fuel!

I won’t mind if I have to pay for any additional costs if needed as it will be a hell of a lot less than financing something newer.

My commute will be c8k miles pa so I can see me keeping this a while. I have even been tempted to look for a leather interior to tart it up (it’s a 1.9tdi Match) if I’m going to keep it. A previous owner fitted GTi wheels and the original alloys came with it for winter use. I can’t decide whether to sell the GTi wheels or not.

I had a Mk 3 2.0 16v GTI, Mk 4 1.8T GTi & Mk 5 GT.
I’d say the Mk4 was the most unreliable as the vacuum hoses seemed to always need replacing as they split with age, saying that all of Golf’s got to the point when I’d had enough repair bills and wanted shot of them to be someone else problem, and looking at the MOT history online thereafter that was the case.

My current Audi A3 2.0 quattro is a far better drive than any of my previous Golfs but still the same VAG reliability – will the coil packs play up today, let’s wait and see….

Nice! Proper bangernomics, respect! My VW is 21 years old. Cost £350 and flies through MOT every year. Best car ever. Can’t be far off classic status I wonder? If that brings any benefits? Hmm..

Also as they get older the cost of a cam belt change can exceed the value of of the car.

But that’s the beauty of bangernomics. You just do it yourself. If you mess up you’ve wasted a few hundred quid. It’s not even a hard job. The first time is daunting but after that it’s easy.

PB motors ace.

That’ll go mechanically for ever.

RustyNissanPrairie
Full Member
It’s the 130hp engine but feels more than that so don’t know if it’s chipped. It’s been doing 55mpg on its mway commute.

I had an Ibiza with the 130pd engine in it.
Took it from 24k to 274k miles. Only got rid of it when my daughter arrived and we needed more space.
Only engine related failure was a couple of boost pipes.
Biggest cost was new AC compressor at £500 fitted.

Average mpg was 58. Driving carefully I could get 62mpg to a tank.

You mention a retrofitted 6 speed box, but that was standard in the Ibiza. The 110 version had a 5 speed box.

The guy who bought mine had it mapped to 180bhp and replaced the clutch with a single mass version. I can’t imagine it lasted much longer.

“possessed” central locking thing can have you questioning your sanity.

Tbh the whole MK4 electrics will have you doing that. They were sodding awful.

The dash on ours was more like an Xmas tree …… You couldn’t tell if it was an actual fault or not as from one day to the next you got different lights.

I remember on my Mk4 Tdi golf estate the side lights kept popping. To change the bulbs you had to drop the bumper to get the head lights out, so in went some LED bulbs. Drop links on the front had a habit of going as well. An easy car to work on though. I think mine was a 110 bhp. Felt lively for only 110bhp but they had a narrow power band.

Bet you kept the plate though Adam 😉