Golf's on rainy days

[Stokstert]

I'm just popping by to drop my extreme distaste for the VW Golf on the table.
The Citi Golf is probably the worst car I have ever driven, and I've driven a few. I have absolutely no idea why someone would even consider buying such an overpriced, boring and breakdown prone piece of crap when there's a ton of other options out there.

Hehe, then why did you buy one????

 

[Rouxenator]

Gee, Rouxy get yourself an Ipod or similar modern player as your broken gramophone vinyl record-player is getting quite old now. That needle is stuck deep in it's groove and will not last much longer. Repetitions on that anti VW theme must be very energy wasting, use it to enjoy your weekend instead. :erm:

:erm: my two posts actually came out in defence of VW :wtf:

 

[Stokstert]

Bah.

Had a Golf once. Never again, it cost me a lot of money to keep running. Clutch plate kept on breaking That, or either the pushrod drill a hole right through the pressure plate. Poor design. I don't want that sort of junk anymore.

Don't drive with foot on clutch.

I had four Jettas in my working live and all had >200-275k Km before being sold or traded and had never replaced a clutch or reconditioned a motor. In fact only replaced a water pump and a burst water bottle, nothing more serious ever.
Regular (own) maintenance and long distance driving kept them running happily.

 

[Pooky]

I loved my citi golf.

 

[droidx]

I had a mk1 and mk4 golf (both well over 200 000kms), they served me well and never broke down due to rain, the mk4's alternator died once and the mk1's k-jet injection gave me trouble so I tossed it and converted to electronic injection as not many people were able to work on k-jet.
Remember the mk1 is a low cost car, all owners likely don't have the money to maintain it correctly and end up with problems down the line.

 

[Flidiot]

The only real problem I have had with my citi/chico/whatever was a fuel line that perished. Obviously still ran fine, just wasted some fuel. Also had one issue where the battery wasn't charging properly, cleaned up the terminals and all was peachy since then.

As mentioned before, looking after it properly makes a huge difference.

 

[genetic]

Roux's second account

 

[ponder]

Still, my dad owned two caravels while we grew up, top of the line expensive cars and they sucked. The engine was a V5 audi in both cases so it was OKish (used oil) but the bodywork was horrific. Endless issues with things falling off, aircon, central locking, electronic parts, you name it.

My boss had a 2.5i Kombi in the early 90's. Gave him lots of problems. Overheating was the biggest problem.
It was a straight 5 engine.

Never knew they had i5 engines, was always under the impression they were flat 4s or flat 6s (oettinger)?

 

[Fazda]

Roux's second account

Precisely what I was thinking - open a couple of accounts, then you can agree with yourself!

Never knew they had i5 engines, was always under the impression they were flat 4s or flat 6s (oettinger)?

The Oettinger was a flat 4 or flat 6, you are correct.

And as for the OP's original point that Golfs tend to stop in the rain, that is rather a sweeping generalisation...

Here is a shot of one of my rally cars, that proved that they certainly do NOT stop in the rain!

Stannic 1985 after first dirt stage by PaulO Classic. ©, on Flickr

Funnily enough, the only rally car that we had, that absolutely flatly refused to run when confronted with ANY water, was an Opel Kadett GSi!!

 

[CoolBug]

I had a 94 kadet that was very consistent at failing in heavy rain, always had to pull over and dry out the spark plugs.

But that car also over heated in traffic, thermostat was a problem and the fan never kicked in.

After a while the head cracked, I got it welded and sold it for 15k

 

[Captain Beer]

I had a Citi and it used to leak like a sieve, the water would collect in the center console just ahead of the gear lever. They are crap cars, but they do have character and are cheap to maintain. A service was R400, back silencer was R200, cheap 13" tyres, small battery etc.

 

[Rouxenator]

PS. Not every VW hater is me

Roux's second account

Precisely what I was thinking - open a couple of accounts, then you can agree with yourself!

Read much ?

Never knew they had i5 engines, was always under the impression they were flat 4s or flat 6s (oettinger)?

VW only made them with engines up to the 2.1i water cooler flat 4, had one and it was an impressive car. VWSA on the other hand, true to their roots of selling ancient cars for decades past their sell by date, sold them with inline 5-cyl Audi engines in sizes of 2.3, 2.5 and 2.6l These models all had a higher floor in the boot to accommodate these engines.

My first car after getting my drivers license was our '89 2.1i and I just loved that van. I consider it one of the last true VWs because of its flat-4 engine and that awesome sound you now only hear from crappy Scoobys.

 

[Vlad]

statistically speaking, you will always see more broken down cars of the most popular brand, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a worse car..

 

[Cius]

Does not mean it ain't either. Even if a car is the most popular car in a country it probably only owns 5% of the market due to just how many makes and models there are out there. So for there to be 4 broken down and its random coincidence??? I think not. Like I said earlier, I have known a lot of VW's in my time and an astonishing amount of them where just bad cars.

 

[Vlad]

So for there to be 4 broken down and its random coincidence??? I think not. Like I said earlier, I have known a lot of VW's in my time and an astonishing amount of them where just bad cars.

not commenting on whether they're bad cars or not, just saying yes, it IS more likely to be coincidence than not.

 

[Grimspoon]

My golf 3 and golf 4 both used to leak badly in the boot. Drove me NUTS. Car would stink.

 

[morkhans]

My golf 3 and golf 4 both used to leak badly in the boot. Drove me NUTS. Car would stink.

I think the OP meant water repulsion rather than retention?

 

[ponder]

VW only made them with engines up to the 2.1i water cooler flat 4, had one and it was an impressive car. VWSA on the other hand, true to their roots of selling ancient cars for decades past their sell by date, sold them with inline 5-cyl Audi engines in sizes of 2.3, 2.5 and 2.6l These models all had a higher floor in the boot to accommodate these engines.

Ah ok, wiki confirms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Type_2_(T3)#South_African_Models

Edit: diesel inline 4s were also available in other countries.

 

[Unhappy1]

My golf 3 and golf 4 both used to leak badly in the boot. Drove me NUTS. Car would stink.

Hmmm my golf 4 also did that , i replaced one of the rubber seals and it didnt leak again.

 

[MOEKETSI MHLONGO]

Possible solution to cars dying in the rain.

So I always take a perverse kind of interest on very wet days seeing which cars break down. Yesterday during the JHB downpour I passed 4 broken down cars on my way home from work. Every last one of them was a VW golf. This did not surprise me at all. I really don't get the love for VW some people have, especially the Golf. I have driven a few VW's that other people owned and have personally known 20 VW's owned by either friends, family, businesses, etc. Of those 20 VW's I seem to recall 5 where complete lemon's perpetually breaking down or costing money. Another 5 or so where not outright lemons but they caused occasional issues. The rest where good to great. Funnily enough of the 20 VW's most of the bad one's where Golf's or Caravels and most of the decent one's where either Jetta's or Polo's. The Golf fanboys need to explain this to me.

I seriously don't understand why people still go for such a crap brand. On the other hand I have had the opposite impression of Honda's. They seem indestructible and the most reliable car you can own these days. Also the KIA/Hyndai brands seem to have fixed up their image in a big way. I am hearing all kinds of good things about the newer models of those cars as well as about their value for money.

So what is your impressions of different brands. Share your most and least reliable car brands here.

[/SOLVED] I had the same problem with rain vs my vw polo for the past 4 years, until last night. It turns out that the ignition coil had a microscopic crack under the main lead. So every time the car hit a water puddle, the coil would get wet and the spark would leak killing the engine.

More often the problem would last a few minutes and then disappear, until the next water puddle. Many trips to the service technicians brought no relief. The solution is the either, replace the ignition coil if it stop working completely (scrap yards not recommended), or invest in epoxy resin, find the crack, fill it and give the coil new coat, allow it too cure properly, usually over hours just to be safe.

I hope this helps others with a similar problem. Cracked spark plug leads can also give the same symptoms.