hope to find a golf for my daughter. possibly diesel.
all help welcome.

Cheers

We have a mk4 and love it. Our 2nd one, gave our first to our oldest and he drove it to near death. Great cars, only issues we have had are bushes in the lower control arms in both cars, about $40ea to replace and electric windows playing up, just need cleaning the switches. Great cars, clutches seem to be an issue. Our 1st had what I diagnosed as a clutch on its way out but did 40k with Darren driving it and still ok when he sold it. Our current one had a new clutch fitted at 160km by previous owner.

I had a 1.6l MK4 golf (manual) and it was a great car!!
Although it was no rocket it was cheap and economical (I got 750km from a 55l tank driving to valla!!) parts are easy to get and are not too espensive. Plus It's an easy car to drive and it's not heaps complicated to work on!
Things to look out for on them are
- the clips that hold the window glass to the regulators are plastic and often break leaving the glass to drop into the door. Replacement clips are metal and cost about $40 to buy. I've done a couple and they aren't hard to do (take a couple of hours)
-shift linkages on gearbox (there's 2) have plastic ends and they wear causing loss of gears as they fall off. They cost $15-20 each and take 5-10min to replace.
- as MR390 said the lower control arm bushes wear out.
- I've also found that the shocks and strut tops often go soft - a more expensive excercise (about $400 for parts plus labour) it can be done yourself but there is a fair bit involved.

The clutches in them are usually pretty light even when they're new. And the 1.6l gearboxes don't like being smashed into gear really hard (especially 2nd gear) as the syncros will fail!! The 1.8l and 2.0l have stronger gearboxes but have more engine problems and use more fuel.

If you are considering an Automatic Golf, avoid the MK4 auto as they are full of problems and are only worth converting to manual. (I know people who have put 3 new gearboxes in a 120,000km car!!)

Several of the mk5 and later models have timing chain and cylinder head issues which are very expensive and again some of the autos also have problems

Personally I would stick to a 1.6l mk4 as they are a reliable car that will go forever if driven sensibly

Hope this helps!!
Mitch

I've got a NB 1.6, the same as a Mk4 under the skin really, great little car!

Don't buy a 1.4 twincharged Golf, they brake pistons with just normal driving

My daughter has a 2006 1.6 Beetle, which is essentially a MK4 Golf. As above a great little car
It's an auto, even though she has a manual licence - much easier in the city traffic - no issues with the auto.

One issue I have had is the heat hardening and deterioration of plastic engine bay plastics.
1. Checked the oil and the whole dipstick tube came out with the dipstick - all plastic (2 min replacement with the new part)
2. Crank case engine breather - all plastic ($25 on ebay $100 from Dealer)
3. Various plastic hoses . Will usually trigger the yellow Engine light. Once hose etc replaced you can easily extinguish engine warning light with an OBDII WiFi unit and your iPhone with App.

Main tip - don't get your parts from the VW Stealer - quality parts can be sourced on ebay for a fraction of the price.