Is the polo reliable

[david burton]

anyone finding they do not need to spend over the odds on keeping their Polo 9N obviously don't use it much

not entirely true, just because a few cases are that way doesn't mean they all are bad. 47k in 3 years isn't exactly using mine lightly and I've had no issues yet....

most people come on the 9N forum to report issues and trouble find so you get that nature with responses a lot of the time. I'm not saying they're without faults, but you'll get a twisted view by asking here IMO.

[david burton]

Have a look here:

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/

It's based on statistics and warranty direct use the index to base quotes for warranties so it should be statistically sound - rather than getting a bias on a forum designed to help people with problems with their cars! The Polo from 2000 onwards has a rating of around 60, and lower is better. As a comparison, the average is 112.

[fivetones]

I have a 2003 TDI SPort 1.9.

I think it's pretty solid though the ventilation doesn't work right now. Need to replace the motors, a common fault and not cheap.

In the above posts I notice someone saying they had the dash lights coming on etc. This happened with me, it behaves like a broken alternator. Each of the systems shuts down to get you home (abs, then power steering etc). It's actually a common thing on 9Ns - it's the earth strap under the engine. I fixed that and its very reliable now.

As for build quality. My wife had a similar era Ibiza mk4 TDI Sport 1.9. That felt a lot cheaper in fit and finish and the panels were very thin and damaged easily. My 9N is much nicer in that respect.

Hope that helps.

[ihpj]

These cars were (are?) marketed on the basis of them being reliable - and this is where the problem exists because they aren't.

My Mother's 9N has been as reliable as I have expected it to be, and other than the issues I documented on the Forum here, its been faultless for the past year. However I would never dream of owning/running it without a VW Extended Warranty though!

So whether or not it is reliable, is of no concern to me - because when it breaks, I make it VWs problem.

[RUM4MO]

Have a look here:

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/

It's based on statistics and warranty direct use the index to base quotes for warranties so it should be statistically sound - rather than getting a bias on a forum designed to help people with problems with their cars! The Polo from 2000 onwards has a rating of around 60, and lower is better. As a comparison, the average is 112.

I would never contest "warranty use" statistics, my problem is that once I had wised up to the fact that small Fords stealthly bleed your wallet dry, I changed to VW and quickly had too many large wallet damaging "hits" just outside warranty, for a car that VW boasted to be very very tough, not just class leading but unbelievably better and tougher than the rest of the pack. Now lots of people might take the view that extended warranty is the answer to these problems, but mainly people vote with their feet when any brand covers up its short comings but selling extended warranties. For instance, in TV speak "Philips + extra cost warranty" or something a bit like Sony that probably does not need an extended warranty. BTW, the Polo 2000 onwards covers a lot of 6N Polos at the peak of their development - so they should be bullet proof.

I fully understand that forums like these will generate a lot of passionate positive reports and lots of passionate negative reports, but I'd doubt if anyone could contest the general feelings of being let down with being hit with bills for parts that normally do not fail and if they do, do not cost as just as VAG designs dictate. BTW I tend to run my cars from new to about 10 years old and do expect to need to spend quite a lot of money to achieve that in a reliable manner - but this Polo has needed a bit much a bit early on in its life - and mainly to replace incorrectly designed (not fit for use I'd reckon) parts.

[RUM4MO]

As for build quality. My wife had a similar era Ibiza mk4 TDI Sport 1.9. That felt a lot cheaper in fit and finish and the panels were very thin and damaged easily. My 9N is much nicer in that respect. Hope that helps.

I do completely agree with your comments about Seat quality of finish, but they are aimed at a different sector of the market - one that would rather pay less and get a more stylish and "sporty" car. My daughter had a 6K Ibiza and the interior panels were not very durable - even if they were being compared with a 6N Polo. She has a late 2009 6L Ibiza SC now so I hope that they have improved things a bit.

Again this is really part of the big let down of buying a Polo as the quality of trim is generally equal to or above that of its competition - but the running gear, ie the important bits is not really any better than the Skoda it is based on, I just feel let down by VW who have used badge engineering to make more money out of selling a cheap car (Skoda Fabia) with smarter clothes.

[david burton]

It's good to have a mix of opinions, after all this is a forum for that sort of thing. I think this post covers both extremes and even a bit in the middle.

Trust me, if I'd had suspension issues like some people have had here, my 9N would have been sold. I'm surprised there are some newer ones with the issues though - I'd have thought it would have been all early model faults that get ironed out by VW through the years. Maybe me swapping to KW suspension helped a bit?!

[JB_UK]

i agree with David. Asking on a forum, your obviously going to meet people who have had problems. In my opinion my polo has never failed me once, little minor thing occur like topping up coolant etc but touch wood nothing major has ever happened. I have another polo in the family and have had it for four years, nothing has ever gone wrong with that bar a few light bulbs going and its pushing 60000 miles.

[RUM4MO]

I think that I will say, it may sound that I'm pointing the finger at Polo 9N and only Polo 9N, when in fact I'm pointing the finger at Skoda Fabia, VW Polo 9N and Seat Ibiza 6L as they are all the same car in reality, although the bodies and final assembly takes place at three locations, two in Spain and one in CZ. Mainly I'd try to offload most of these problems to the source model, ie Skoda Fabia, but ultimately, if VW try to do a bit of brand engineering and it shows up weaknesses, then I, as someone that bought their product new and in good faith, do really have a right to feel ripped off.

[Motoract]

It's all about how there treated.

I have a 52 plate 1.9 TDI PD100

I know it's been looked after REALLY well.

it's just rolled onto 50k miles - & it had it's MOT y'day.

Passed, no advisorys.

Not even a hint of oil leaking, brake lines corroding no nothing, just a car that's been kept in good nick

It's been serviced using high quality oil & filter, & things when it's needed them doing (brakes)

I think that's pretty good for reliability tbh

[RUM4MO]

It's all about how there treated.

I have a 52 plate 1.9 TDI PD100

I know it's been looked after REALLY well.

it's just rolled onto 50k miles - & it had it's MOT y'day.

Passed, no advisorys.

Not even a hint of oil leaking, brake lines corroding no nothing, just a car that's been kept in good nick

It's been serviced using high quality oil & filter, & things when it's needed them doing (brakes)

I think that's pretty good for reliability tbh

In my experience, that statement is simply not true, yes I'd agree that when people mistreat or "hammer" their cars they will fail quicker, but I'd think if you took the time to consider the majority of common failures listed on postings then you would see that it is not down to rough use. My wife certainly does not treat her car roughly and I do tend to look after it a lot more than it really needs (it gets used 5 days a week and must start first time - and so far it has always done so). I'd still say its down to the crappy "under carriage" that VAG used on these cars (Skoda priced and Skoda sourced), if we removed all the failures we have seen from that area, and lived with the fact that heater flap motors from VAG are all rubbish, then the Polo 9N would seem to be a bit higher up the reliability tables (user/owners tables not warrant or trade tables). BTW, the brake pipes on my Audi sourced Passat B5 are a copper alloy with brass end fittings - so they will never corrode through. Oh, and I've only used OEM brake parts (Textar and Pagid pads - but ATE discs which are non OEM - for that part).

One thing though, have you ever taken the plastic side under covers off to remove trapped mud - doing that is another way to take care of your car. Also helps if you remove all loose black paint from springs, rear beam etc and coat liberally with new tough (hammertite) paint.

[JUV]

That was a smart choice of next car (VX Astra), most people despise VX but when it comes down to "£ and ease of ownership", I think that all the smart motoring pundits have missed the point - they are cars first and if used as cars instead of icons then you will have a different view of things.

Exactly - my wife has a 50 mile round trip to work and we need a car we can actually rely on to get to and from places - the "bulletproof" Polo was most definitely not that. It looked very nice in the driveway, but behind the badge and the svelte looks it was just a long list of let downs, dodgy design, and outright failure.

Someone above tried to suggest that our dashboard lights were caused by a simple loose wire or somesuch - not true. We had second and third opinions from mechanics, we had full diagnostics done, we were shown the problems with the parts being replaced (like the broken throttle body, and the EGR valve which had blown itself apart). The only time the dashboard lied was over the ABS, which was a broken (not blown, but broken) fuse, and not the pump as reported by the ECU. We were lucky to have a mechanic who knew that was another common fault with the 9N.

The Vauxhall couldn't be more different - it's common as muck, smart but in no way pretty, but has a sensible engine under the boot (with an entire four cylinders), no-nonsense solid build quality, and it just goes, day after day after day, without complaint. It started first time after being literally buried in the snow the other day - I don't dare think what the old Polo would have made of the recent wintery spell. We can have it serviced at any old garage (no more tied to a VW "specialist" with the right computer), and parts are a fraction of the cost of VW's too - not that we've needed any yet.

[g__humm]

The Vauxhall couldn't be more different - it's common as muck, smart but in no way pretty, but has a sensible engine under the boot (with an entire four cylinders), no-nonsense solid build quality, and it just goes, day after day after day, without complaint. It started first time after being literally buried in the snow the other day - I don't dare think what the old Polo would have made of the recent wintery spell. We can have it serviced at any old garage (no more tied to a VW "specialist" with the right computer), and parts are a fraction of the cost of VW's too - not that we've needed any yet.

well my brother has had many vauxhall all cost him lots of money. his mk4 astra ran him up a bill over a year of more than £1000 then still need more work it drank more oil than petrol in the end that was 60000 miles my dad has a zafria gsi 30000 turbo was blown.

it is down to luck at the end of the day parts are made to a tolerence then u may get two parts one on the lower limit the other on higher limit when this happens they dont like it as much and wear or brake fast as is shown in any mass produced car

[JUV]

well my brother has had many vauxhall all cost him lots of money. his mk4 astra ran him up a bill over a year of more than £1000 then still need more work

The Polo cost us the same if not more over the year, it also cost the previous owner a similar amount the year before (when the timing chain jumped due to the well known design fault in the tensioner, we saw the receipts), and we know that the next owner will have a leaking radiator and probable suspension issues to deal with at the very least - and that's ignoring all the "minor" faults like the heater not working etc. Yes, anyone can post a horror story relating to any car, but the litany of *known* faults in this generation of Polo is longer, and more expensive to fix, than most.

it is down to luck at the end of the day

No, I disagree - luck is involved, but when buying a used car you're mostly at the mercy of all the design and build faults that appear over time in most mass produced cars, and some makes/models are far worse for that than others.

Take the Mk4 Astra - there are two 1.6L models, one with a older, more basic 8V engine, and one with a newer Ecotec 16V engine. We bought the former - history shows the only recurring problem it has is an occasional EGR issue that can be fixed with a software update, and probably has been on our car. Worst case scenario, a new EGR valve is about £50 (as opposed to the £150 odd we paid for the Polo's, a genuine VW part that blew itself apart months later). The 16V engine on the other hand has had other problems, it's more expensive to maintain (more complex design) and is generally costlier when things go wrong - so we steered clear. Simples.

This thread asks a simple question - is the Polo (the 9N Polo covered by this forum) reliable. My answer, based on our own experience and everything else I've read about the *known* problems with the design and build, has to be a no.

[crappe_coupe]

I have a 1.2 55hp 52 plate for 2 years and its not a bad little car. It had 78k and now has 90k, well serviced by previous owner. Things I've had go wrong:

1. Broken front spring.
2. Broken rear spring, both front and rear broke in very cold weather so not that unusual.
3. Rear washer pipe leaks under passenger front wing, not done this yet
4. Front and rear brakes, first time they've been done.
5. Broken servo vacuum pipe, push fit, v easy to do.
6. Rear control arm bushes need doing soon.
7. Driveshaft outer gaitor.
8. Heater works but the range where it changes from hot to cold is limited to about an 1/8th of the switch rotation, still works fine tho.

Engine wise it's been excellent. Always starts, runs very well just slow. I drive mostly around town and get 300 miles to the tank (40mpg). Long dual carriageway runs i can get about 350 (47ish mpg). Driving faster than 70 on motorways hurts the mileage, as does putting your foot down to accelerate hard (obviously!). Theres no point doing this anyway as it accelerates virtually the same at half throttle than with foot planted, just the fuel map dumps more fuel in. Once up to speed its fine.

The spark plug holes are a little annoying as the coils dont fill them completely and mine got bits of grit in them which i had to suck out before removing the plugs.

Clutch, gear change and interiors pretty good too, much nicer than fabia 1. For a 90k mile car i dont think that list is too bad.

My friends got a 9n 1.4tdi. If i could choose again i'd get that one. He's had no problems with it apart form lower control arm bushes and its much more fun to drive than mine and much better mpg.

Having driven a fabia 1, micra K11 and MGZR i think the 9n is the nicest.