UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

The offer / push / gunpoint forcing of my folks to, ahem, reconsider my stubborness to sell has turned up a potential beaut in the shape of a black, G-reg, 1.8E (112hp!) Audi 80 5-door saloon on nice alloys at a local dealer, thru Autotrader. In the obligatory postage-stamp sized pic it looks slick like KITT (well, almost). And I can even afford the insurance (under a grand!) and running costs for the thing!

Potentially dodgy (they're within 3 miles and appear to have some kind of premises in the picture, but i've never seen them on my comprehensive local travels and can't find in yellow pages - so cant view it for real yet and might be someone's back garden) and quite possibly snapped up already, but I'm kinda taken with the model. It just looks nice, and, well, i might eventually have to put the bosh on the Nail but i'll be keepin' it VAG!

There's also several on Ebay for not-quite knock down prices including a totally mint looking red one (F-reg!) only a 1.6 (might be a slug, but i doubt a 1.6 towing a hummer would seem slower than the polo) but also on decent alloys....

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this car, particularly in the realms of reliability, maintenance hassle/costs, and the handling! Don't want to end up with something that will last forever but with cornering to match (ie like a double decker bus), despite the company's Quattro reputation (or one that will fall to bits!)
Both the 87-91 and 91-94, though the former is actually more likely!

Is it rear wheel drive, too? It appears in the odd bonnet-open photo to have a longitudinal engine... I know VW made the north american Fox (similar platform?) as a longitudinal FWD, but RWD would be stupid fun even if it's "only" a 75hp 1.6..


Yeah, of course, i have my other options... Vauxhall Astra of similar vintage (heavy, boring, but seem about as bombproof as a polo)... Another Polo (!), 86c thru 6n... or keeping this one as an act of defiance, and putting a bit more work more slyly into it
(the Daewoo i've had to drop as a contender, after checking out several online owner reviews for all the cars i was interested in - and the Nexia got an absolute pounding in the reliability stakes despite being loaded with toys and fairly quick)
.......however, a bit out of ideas after that, unless anyone shouts "forget the audi" and suggests something else!

I've only ever drove my uncles 16v - t'was brilliant, felt just like my Golf.

Never heard him complain about anything in particular and it was never off the road.

Well the engnie sounds like its the same as the golf 8V GTi or perhaps the scirocco equivalent (has different fuel injection but same power output) about as reliable as you can get id say. whats the mileage on it?

havent a clue, was just a dodgy looking autotrader advert but it put some wheels in motion

its a G reg repmobile tho... probably intergalactic

They are FWD, apart from the Quattros naturally.

They're a fairly solid car, but watch out for:

Accelerator pedals: If the foot pedal mechanisms broke its £40.00 to buy a new one.

Temperature Warning lights: Nearly always a Temp sender, but its near impossible to detect which one. They range anything from £6-£75.

On 92-96 Cars, drivers/passenger door lock microswitchs tend to play up. Its a whole new door lock at around £35 IIRC.

94>> TDIs use the new style Air Mass Meters which are a common fault, around about £75 plus VAT to replace.

On Avants theres a twin rubber pipe thats used for Central locking pump vacuum and washer fluid which can wear with age. This then sends water into the Central locking pump. £267.00 plus VAT to replace.

Other than that, a fairly solid car. If Audi were still selling them I'd be out of a job!

Nelson_Wilbury wrote:They are FWD, apart from the Quattros naturally.

wierd... must have some funkystyle gearbox on it
whats handling like? i need to be kept awake

Accelerator pedals: If the foot pedal mechanisms broke its £40.00 to buy a new one.

well, i've already had that with the polo....... i'll take the chance, if it comes to shakey fruition

Temperature Warning lights: Nearly always a Temp sender, but its near impossible to detect which one. They range anything from £6-£75.

day-um!

On 92-96 Cars, drivers/passenger door lock microswitchs tend to play up. Its a whole new door lock at around £35 IIRC.

hmm, unlikely, but hey... they might already have been replaced!

94>> TDIs use the new style Air Mass Meters which are a common fault, around about £75 plus VAT to replace.

no fear - i'm not in the TDi (or sub-10 year) league quite yet!

On Avants theres a twin rubber pipe thats used for Central locking pump vacuum and washer fluid which can wear with age. This then sends water into the Central locking pump. £267.00 plus VAT to replace.

well, i was already totally ignoring the avants so i can see it's with good reason.
why did the quality of motor vehicles slide during the 90s for the top brands just as it was coming upwards for the crap ones?

It was basically (and still is) 'Money Becomes King'. VW/Audi especially have moved production of parts to America, Far East etc and at the same time have pushed the suppliers so hard for cheap contracts that the parts are either;

A) Underdeveloped (Ignition Coil problem a fine example)
B) Not up to the job.

i guess you just have to look at daewoo for that then

Mk2 Astra, built by Opel/Vauxhall in germany and britain. tough as nails and kept it's value quite well.

Daewoo Nexia, a retooled Mk2 Astra built in korea or somewhere stupid like that. Horrible reputation for falling apart and the value has dropped like a stone....

same design, different manufacturer... in the same place where a lot of outsourcing goes now.

mothers eh....

* if you're going down to see if the garage is open and look at dealers forecourts, there's a nice blue VW just off =some sideroad= by the garage that you might want to look at, if you want to replace that one with something similar *

any more details? type, size, age, price, condition??

* no, i was going past fairly quickly *

ok...



turns out to be an X-reg Lupo in a rather nasty shade of Lilac... mint condition, but a little small/new for my needs... and £4000 !!!

how did she pick up on it being a bloody VW, but not that it was about 3ft shorter than the polo or quite obviously of a very modern design?

feh...

can't live with em... can't learn how to make moussaka (mmm) without em