Wife is getting fired up..... about a convertible. It's a '97 Golf , 2.0, auto, good top, leather, no rust, runs good, 158k, $1350 asking price.
I know nothing about this gen VW. Looking for pros/ cons and any advice you care to give on this car. Would mostly be a summer car but may see winter duty if needed.
Again, for the wife to get worked up over a car, which she never really has done since her last convertible (15 years ago), says a lot.
Fast it will not be... the 2.0 is a solid enough but a dog with a slush box. It is what it is and might give you some interesting electrical issues. We have a 1998 2.0 Beetle and it has given us few problems save a recurring MAF sensor failure for about a year there.
I think it would be worth your time to look for a 5spd car. Mechanicals are mechanicals. Electrical can drive you nuts as mentioned before, also things like latches and door handles don't always last forever.
Yup, avoid VW electrics as much as you can. I searched long and hard for my Gold because I wanted the TDI, but manual everything else.
I have had three VW's of this era. All 2 liters and 5 speeds. They were all reliable to a fault, got silly fuel economy (35 in town? how?), cheap to maintain and as capable as they needed to be. They are the least interesting to drive of the A1-A4 era cars and as such I get bored of them and sell them off pretty quickly. Now that they are at the bottom of their depreciation it makes no sense to flip them anymore.
That said I would avoid any one with the automatic. VW just made terrible auto transmissions. They have a short service life and are pretty awful to drive.
I would agree on staying away from the auto ones. The manual ones all need a new clutch because the valve cover gasket leaks and pours oil into the clutch and it starts to slip. Other than that, the reverse gear is likely partly broken if it was abused (again on a manual one), and it will badly need struts and front suspension bushings. I don't even like vws at all, but I don't think there is anything else too bad about those.
A3 Golf's are pretty reliable. As others have said . . . auto ewwwww!
Not only are the auto's crap, they also bleed power so it will be slow.
My wife has a 90 (old style Rabbit body) and loves it.
Technically the early style is a Golf Cabriolet, what you're wife is looking at is referred to as a Cabrio.
Ditchdigger wrote: I have had three VW's of this era. All 2 liters and 5 speeds. They were all reliable to a fault, got silly fuel economy (35 in town? how?), cheap to maintain and as capable as they needed to be. They are the least interesting to drive of the A1-A4 era cars and as such I get bored of them and sell them off pretty quickly. Now that they are at the bottom of their depreciation it makes no sense to flip them anymore. That said I would avoid any one with the automatic. VW just made terrible auto transmissions. They have a short service life and are pretty awful to drive.
Yeah my non hybrid Civic gets much better mileage (53 mpg average over the last 3 months) with lower rpm city driving than higher rpms on the freeways.
I was thinking the autos sucked but glad you all confirmed it. I've wanted her to learn how to drive a manual for a long time but she's pretty stubborn. As much as I love cars, I don't have any garage space left to park another one.
You'll need to log in to post.
