1998 Volkswagen Golf Review

great daily driver

Written by: bricknord on 10/20/2009

Vehicle

1998 Volkswagen Golf 4 Dr K2 Hatchback

Review

Bought a pristine K2 with heated seats for $4k-ish. Great daily driver. Good on gas, just enough pep, simple to work on yourself. Airbags, so relatively safe. No better $4k beater out there. 5 way heated seats a bonus in winter. Nice cold A/C.

Favorite Features

Reliability. I've owned this car from 90k miles to 140k without a hiccup. Replaced an ignition coil for $70, that is it. Every bit as reliable as any Asian import I've owned over that span of miles, and a lot more personality. Love the versatility of a hatch.

Suggested Improvements

Bring the A3 Golf back out.

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Good car... until Maintenance and Parts

Written by: MrMaynard on 03/06/2009

Vehicle

1998 Volkswagen Golf 4 Dr K2 Hatchback

Review

I purchased my Golf K2 2 half years ago with 100K miles. Great little peppy car. But the back windows were dead and sunroof wouldn't open. I though it was a good car at start. But when the maintenance comes, you may wanna reconsider. All VW engines now must have Full Synthetic oil (which is pain in my area), sunroofs are known for leaks and failure, parts are way overpriced, or cant be found. Even repairs from Dealers are much more than compared to other car makers. They say the car the nickel and dimes the most from VW is the Corrado.. honestly, I think its all! 1st VW I owned.. last VW I'll own. Maybe I should have gotten an Older Beetle. Those hold up MUCH better than these modern VWs.

Favorite Features

Peppy 2.0, Gas Economy, Cargo space. Stock Recaro heated seats, K2 etching on seats.

Suggested Improvements

Maintenance and Parts are WAY over priced than other car makers out there. Electric windows are impossible to fix. Suggested Oil type should be normal 5-30 (not 0-40 synthetic).

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First 10 year car!

Written by: Mayja on 09/25/2008

Vehicle

1998 Volkswagen Golf 4 Dr Wolfsburg Hatchback

Review

Trading in the ol' girl. Bought her when we got married. sensors and exhaust manifold is forcing the retirement. The thing handles awesome and still and gets 34 avg mpg. little rust in the hatch, looks great though. May buy the Nissan Rogue. The VW is a little narrow for regular sized guys.

Favorite Features

Handling in snow (with winter tires), carrying capacity, acceleration, paint (red looks awesome with dark tinted windows).

Suggested Improvements

electrical, sensors, rustproofing (which I heard they did), cruise for standard died early (like my old audi), factory brakes

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Cheaper than what we expected

Written by: kyboy on 09/12/2008

Vehicle

1998 Volkswagen Golf 4 Dr GL Hatchback

Review

Cons: Rear CD-changer won't release at 20k, automatic trans that won't shift up on a warm day at 30k, Door trim falling off at 35k, rattle in dash at 50k, oil leak at 55k with fumes into pass compartment. Pros: Performance, mpg, interior room especially for cargo hauling, the wonderful mechanically adjustable drivers seat, ride and looks (except for the headlight bezels, which looked outdated even in 98).

Favorite Features

Cheap exterior door trim that won't stay on (eye-roll-here).

Suggested Improvements

V styling on new VWs suck, and for reliability we're going back to Toyota.

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Fun and reliable so far

Written by: Scott on 05/11/2006

Vehicle

1998 Volkswagen Golf 4 Dr GL Hatchback

Review

I bought this car several months ago with about 68,000 miles, and I've put a couple thousand more miles on it. So far my only maintenance has been scheduled items like replacing the timing belt and new tires.

Favorite Features

This car is fun to drive. I like how there are not not many others on the road. It has great brakes (no ABS). It gets fair highway mileage (around 30 MPG). I also like the clean cockpit styling, rear interval wiper, and good clutch. It is nice how the daytime running lights only use headlights, not sidelights, taillights, dash lights, etc., that causes Volvos and Saabs to chew up bulbs.

Suggested Improvements

Seats are a bit too firm, the "premium" stereo only has one FM preset band and poor bass response, and the 5-speed shifter can be rubbery.

5 out 5 people found this review helpful

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