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The Mini or the Golf? Help us decide!
- Thread starter AlBDamned
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Congrats!
Pictures!
Cheers Devilot. Your info on the '02 '03 models having problems was very handy.
I'll post pics when we get it. The advert ones don't do it justice and I don't want to jinx it.
Congrats, I think you will be happy.
Maintenance on a Mini can be expensive. A buddy of mine had one, loved it, but paid and paid and paid. It seemed like something was always wrong with it. It was an older model.
I really didn't wanna talk bad about my precious MINIs, but, I also couldn't live with the guilt if y'all got an older model and it was riddled with issues. That said, not all of them had issues and it's likely that whatever issues they did have, the original owners would have hopefully already worked through and fixed them. Still, better safe than sorry, no? I getcha. Still, gotta be pretty exciting, no?I'll post pics when we get it. The advert ones don't do it justice and I don't want to jinx it.
Absolutely. We'll look at them again some time I'm sure, just when we can get a nicer one than what was available.
Very exciting. It's a great car and a good buy. We were deliberating all evening because we had to offer a little bit more than our budget, but I think it's still the right one for us. Will be a busy week getting everything sorted!
Thanks Sushi. We definitely didn't want to risk the reliability on a four year old, first gen model given their reported troubles. The Golf still has 16 months warranty
It's the only option though once you get to the kind of output that the R32 produces.
I forget the name of the fella from Ford Motorsport, but he said that 220 BHP is the absolute usable maximum for a FWD car, after that even with a limited slip, you'll end up with excessive torque steer, understeer and intrusion of the traction control as the car scrabbles for any resemblance of grip.
FWD is just the wrong layout for the output of modern engines.
Actually, it was the first year that had the problems, but only in limited areas and they were fixed in recalls. The CVT was a big issue in 2002, but I don't believe that will be a concern for many buyers. FWIW, my 2002 is fine after four years. It's not for sale. Probably never will be.
To the OP's question, these are such different cars -- choosing between them should be a matter of preference.
I know very little about Mini's reliability, but VW's have horrendous reliability and cost a fortune to repair. Everyone in my family that has owned a VW has pretty much gotten rid of them due to bad reliability.
One time at the dealer we saw this young newly married lady almost start to cry when she saw the maintenance cost for her Passat.
One time at the dealer we saw this young newly married lady almost start to cry when she saw the maintenance cost for her Passat.
And yet you had no problem recommending a Land Rover as an affordable alternative to Honda/Toyota last week.
Being the proud owner of a black 2000 VW Golf 1.8T, I'm a bit biased
I loved my 1998 1.8T. had a lot of fun with that car
Muscle cars aren't about about cylinders, they're about performance.
This is a whole other thread, but I don't really agree with that to be honest. For me, "Muscle car" [generally] means V8 or similar, rear-wheel drive, lots of power and a good power-to-weight ratio. I don't think the MINI really fits that description.
Modern day muscle cars that I can think of immediately are things like the Holden Monaro, and maybe that butt-ugly Chrysler 300C, plus a host of BMWs like the M3, M5, M6. Probably a few Mercs and whatever else.
True muscle cars are things like the original Pontiac GTO, the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler Hemi.
VW has a bad rep for reliability, but I'll be honest with you, I've never really had any major trouble with my car. Of course I don't drive it like a bat out of hell either.
That said, the repairs (and even scheduled maintenance to some degree) can be very expensive.
VW's reliability is a friggin' joke. I am a victim of the 1998-1999 Pasat oil sludge engineering disaster. Rather than sing the blues over my own personal experience, I would recommend anyone considering a VW to Google the subject. Not only will you come to terms with "German engineering", it will also show you clearly how VW is going to support you when one of their inevitable engineering screw-ups, costs you ~$7000 to fix.
I am not telling anyone how to make their own auto purchase decision, or which brand to choose. I am just suggesting you do yourself a favor and do the research.
The newer models have improved though. Their troubles ran from (around) 1995 to around 2003, did they not? They're still not the most reliable cars on the road, but they're not the risky purchases they once were.
The Golf was the better purchase in this case.
The Golf was the better purchase in this case.
With the previous generation Golfs, there was also a ridiculous problem where the window catches (holding the window up) would snap without warning and send the window disappearing into the door, requiring a £200 repair bill (even though it was an inherent defect in the OEM part). I argued quite a lot with a VW dealer about that problem.
Apparently they've fixed the catches in the new ones by making them out of metal, not plastic (duh) at the cost of about 10p per car...
Apparently they've fixed the catches in the new ones by making them out of metal, not plastic (duh) at the cost of about 10p per car...
Yup. Recall on the window regulators, faulty coils (meant rough to impossible cold starts) and even whole cylinders crapping out. I'd know. The ex drives/drove a '01 (?) 1.8T Wolfsburg Jetta (Bora for the outside of US-ers).
Window regulators that was it. I remember the coils problem too. When looking for info the regulators I found lots of angry Golf/Bora/Jetta owners with coil problems on their cars.
Let's be honest though, lots of cars have problems, I guess it just depends how they're dealt with.
Also just consider that our original shortlist also included Alfa Romeo 147s!
In the U.S. there was a recall and VW extended the warranty on all window regulators to 7 years, and they offered credit to anyone who'd been charged for the repairs previously. But yeah, in every single Golf and Jetta manufactured from 1999 to 2002 the windows will have already dropped and been repaired.
The 1.8t coil pack cracking was another recall item. Brake switch was another. If you keep ahead of some of the other little things you can take care of most everything on your own, like preventing the dreaded but rare coolant migration problem.
Every brand has major recalls and defects, though. I've heard the new V6 Camrys are having a hell of a time with the automatic transmission, for instance.