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I had a Y reg (2001) GTi 1.8T which I sold within 12 months (then bought my S2000 and the rest is history) - too much understeer and it really wasn't that quick at all. However, mine had 150bhp and I believe the later Mark IV GTis had more power?

I had no major problems during my 12 months of ownership. However, the customer service from my local VW dealership is particularly poor.

 

From memory the later 1.8T's did have 180bhp. The 2.3 V5 had 150bhp, but later on that went up to 170. The 2.8 V6 4motion had 200bhp and the 3.2 R32 230+

The 2.0 GTI only had 115bhp

I know a few people who've owned various models/engine sizes and they all say the same thing. The car is far to heavy and doesn't handle very well (probably as a result of it weighing so much). It really was a marketing success over a decent product.

I know VW had a problem with coil packs on the mk4's, and I think there was a recall on some cars for that, other than that I think they were well built and generally very reliable.

 

If you get a 1.8T get it remapped asap - it'll make it much more interesting to drive

 

Yup, terminal understeering into the scenery is quite interesting.

As with the 128/Golf I, VW copied the FIAT Tipo, gave it better stance & style and created a success. And spun off 101 other models from it.

By no means a bad car but c'mon, a 540 is rather more interesting.

Am I the only one who LIKES BMW's V8?

 

I currently have a GTI (180bhp) as a company car. I find it comfortable and effortless on fast roads but so so so boring. All the power has real difficulty getting to the road, it wollows around corners and as others have commented it really is heavy. MPG around 29 combined so not great. One postive is build, it feels solid no rattles.

VW customer service is ordinary tbh. Done 70K with only a ecu problem.

Looking forward to picking up a new Golk 1.4 GT in the next few weeks which seems to be a better motor.