My 2003 Volkswagen Golf

Zaris

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
47
Location
Pasadena, California
Car(s)
2003 Volkswagen Golf
I apologize for the long-windedness of this initial post. I enjoy and make a career out of writing so if you wish, you can skip to the thousand-word pictures below.


Background
I've been driving my parent's car for years until I rear-ended it one November evening last year (story about it here). Since then, I've been looking to purchase a car of my own - my first car, something I would feel genuinely attached to and would take care of it very seriously like I do to everything I own (sorry mom & dad). I was moving to Los Angeles for work and the old can would definately not make the trip down there, crash or no crash. So I started looking for one as early as December 2008. There were a few criteria to meet:

- Must be manual: My dream car is a Porsche Boxster 987, and Top Gear has repeatedly stated that the proper way to drive sports cars is with a manual. So despite having no experience with such transmissions , I would have to buy a manual. This would be a training wheel for me in preparation for my dream car.
- Couldn't be too long or too wide: Driving my mother's Mercedes-Benz W126 has given me a natural loathing for big cars. I've always found it difficult to park in one, reverse, or judge distance to the curb or the wall.
- Two doors: Since I felt it likely to be transporting just one other passenger in my car 99% of the time, a two door car would suffice. From what I've read, they are safer than four doors because of a much more rigid central pillar.

I'd be lying if I said Top Gear didn't influence my choices in cars. In fact, before Top Gear, I didn't have much of an interest in cars at all. So with that in mind, the three cars I considered were the:

- Volkswagen Golf: Won Top Gear's 2004 Car of the Year award but I didn't know at the time they were referring to the GTI exclusively.
- Ford Focus: Jezza has said nothing but good things about the Focus, but I didn't know that Ford US and Ford EU were like apples and oranges at the time.
- Honda Civic: Probably the most obvious choice for reliability, fuel efficiency, and cost.
- Honda Accord: A bit more expensive than a Civic, but I was under the impression I would be commuting from LA and SF frequently, so I was considering a bigger engine. And one of my friends had attested to its value.


The Search
Money was no issue for me at the time. Preferably I wanted to spend no more than $10,000. But I wanted to make sure the car I purchased would be good. I searched Craigslist for third-party sellers, some led me to second-rate car dealerships. My uncle, who worked as a Honda mechanic in Taiwan, came with me to test the cars and judge their condition since I couldn't drive a manual at the time and I didn't know how to look at cars effectively. I recall a time we went to one of those backstreet dealers and found a 2006 Civic for $10,000. It seemed too good to be true, until my uncle pointed out how the car showed signs of a serious collision in the rear that wasn't mended properly. He pointed out things like missing caps in the trunk and rust underneath the carpet where you store the spare wheel. So we left quietly.

Over the months I went through several phases. From an old Civic to a new Civic (another Uncle's niece worked at a Honda dealership and was able to extend about a $2000 dollar discount during the holidays for an '09 Civic) to an old Accord to a new Civic again. Once, my dad took me to a second-hand dealership that had an '06 Civic and an '04 Accord to test drive. My friend suggested an '04 Accord since, he having owned one, says it is comparatively quieter and quicker than a Civic old or new. And he was right. The '06 Civic, despite how cool it looked, was incredibly loud at highway speeds and had too much dashboard for my liking. The Accord was more comfortable with its leather interior and heated seats, but the asking price was too much, even when we tried to haggle.

Dad told me to pick a car that I myself thought was good. Instinctively, I wanted to drive a Golf, so against the better judgment of my family and relatives, I started looking for Golfs under ten grand. In February, 2009, I found an ad on Craigslist and immediately called to schedule a drive. 2003, less than 66,000 miles, $6800.

Me and my uncle met the seller one Saturday morning. His name was Bafaiz and as my uncle test drove the car, I struck up a conversation to get to know the guy. His family immigrated from Germany because of work and he personally wants a BMW M3, but in the meantime owns two Golfs (the other one is a GTI). This one was originally going to be for her daughter to take to UC Davis - she even requested it have a sporty side bodykit (I think it has the sporty side bodykit). But because she lived on campus, she soon had very little use for it, what with expensive parking permits and everything. That said, they decided to get rid of it. He is the second owner, having bought it when the first owner, an elderly woman, traded it in.

When we parked at an empty parking lot, my uncle reported nothing seriously wrong with the electronics, the clutch, or the transmission. We asked for $6000 but that was too low for Bafaiz; so we negociated to $6500. Sold. The tax was $551 so technically, the car cost a bit more than seven grand. But that was still three grand less than what I was prepared to buy. After handling the transferring of title and ownership a week later, the car was finally mine.

He even did an oil change, replaced the wipers, and got the radio fixed as a courtesy (the latter would only pick up static when we test drove it). When I found that there was no manual weeks later, I asked if he could provide us one and he did, though it says "Jetta" on the cover.


Initial Ownership
There were no serious problems that my uncle found when he tested it. But after getting lessons on driving manual and take it places for myself, I found a number of small issues.

- The carpets are not officially for the car. There's this button that, if you had the proper carpets, they would snap into place and wouldn't ride up as you stomp the clutch.
- Some bits of plastic are loose. The ashtray can be removed with a bit of wiggling and force and I nearly lost a credit card in there when I put it there momentarily . A small cubby behind the coin holder can easily fall inside the center armrest that houses the handbrake if you push at it with a finger. And the passenger side foot air vent is loose.
- The car at some point had been host to a large, wet party. The back seats have quite a few water stains and so too with the front seats. Fortunately, it's just a problem with appearance and it doesn't bother me that much. Plus, the forward seats have been covered with a cloth (the biggest stains were up front).
- The driver side door electric switch was broken. It would bend out of place everytime I try to open the driver side window.
- The left headlight has some clouding up and the left turn indicator beside the door would collect some condensation inside the light whenever it rained.
- A piece of plastic that responds to the fuel filler cap release was snapped off. As a result, you can't electronically open the filler cap. You can, luckily, open it by hand, but it took me half an hour to find out which way.
- The 12V plug in the trunk doesn't work, nor do the buttons on the other side that read "Sound" and the emergency triangle symbol.
- Some kind of glue residue is below each side of the door, as if something was put on below the doors and left to ooze slightly before hardening. You can't wash it off.
- The driver side seatbelt was twisted 180 degrees (yeah, I'm that OCD).
- The strings that lift the trunk cover when the boot lid goes up is missing (yep, that OCD).
- The steering wheel is slightly off (definately James May OCD).
- The windshield wiper washing liquid doesn't come out. I don't know if this car even has that function (but if it doesn't, why is there a tank for it?).
- Two weeks after I got the car, the "Check Engine" light came on. Turned out to be a faulty catalytic converter.

I was able to glue the air vent plastic into place and drill a screw to keep the ashtray from budging (the inlet behind the coin holder was left alone for fear that mechanics will need to get at the area under it in the event of a repair). My uncle knew how to rip out the coverings to adjust the seatbelt for me. I got a used electric switch and installed it into the door for about $90. I don't believe the condensation and clouded headlight is a serious issue right now.

The catalytic converter was replaced in warranty at a VW dealership, though they said that, due to heat over the years, the nuts that had to be removed had fused with the metal and in the process, damaged an exhaust manifold of sorts. So what would've been a two day repair ended up to over a week because they didn't have the parts. And they said that the previous owner had used the wrong cooling system fluid. A flush and refilling would need to be done. I agreed to the process and though it costed $170, they gave me a 10% discount for my patience and I figured, I got a sweet deal on this car already so I put my faith in their expertise.

I've yet to address the trunk electronics, the glue residue under the doors, and the windshield washing system.


Overall Thoughts and Feelings
I'm the first person in my family to own a Golf, let alone a Volkswagen. And so far, my experience with the car over eight months has been largely positive. The size is excellent for getting around town and parallel parking and there's plenty of space in the trunk. When I go back to see my friends and folks, the seats fold flat and accomodates so much luggage without blocking my rear view mirror. It's excellent. It's lighter than a Civic and quieter too. I sat in my former college roommate's '09 Civic a month ago and could only come up with complaints about it, including the fact that it was noisy at highway speeds and felt cheaply made. I'm glad I didn't pay double for a worse product. Now whenever I have friends considering a car, I recommend them that they buy a Golf.

Even though it is only a 2.0L 4-cylinder engine producing 113 horsepower at the most, it sounds wonderful when you hit its maximum torque at 3200 rpm. At first, it sounded like it was crying for mercy above 2500 so I would always worry and upshift at 2000. But I learned from my best friend that, despite what Boris Johnson said on the back of a London bus about changing gears at lower revs, I was shortshifting too frequently and would potentially reduce my fuel efficiency. He taught me some proper driving techniques such as keeping the engine above 2000 rpm at all times and not changing gears till I hit 3200. I'm told these 4-cylinders are resiliant and can be pushed quite hard towards its redline of 6500 without worry. Suffice to say, over time, I have become much more confident in the performance of my car.

So much, in fact, that I've taken it on several excursions down the Pacific Coast Highway 1 in California. Yes, I add 50+ miles and 3 more hours getting between LA and San Fran, but the drive is 10 times more exciting and viseral than the quick route that I opt to use it now every time whenever I go between those two cities. The car just outperforms everything. On the bends, I can go 10mph above what the signs advise. On the straights, I can overtake RVs, SUVs, minivans, and basically drivers who are just not as confident on ocean cliffside roads because they don't have as good of a car as I do. I am just absolutely in love with it. This is how ownership of a car should be.

Click for larger images. Sorry, all I have is my BlackBerry camera for now.






The only dynamic criticisms I have is that the pillars between the windows makes it difficult to see my blind spots clearly (and having sat in my ex-roommate's Mk5 GTI, it's even worse with the new one). And I have to use the side mirrors to judge distance with the curbside when parallel parking. Oh, and when I did have rear passengers, although comfortable, the air con doesn't reach very well.


Modifications
I've thought about making some modifications to my car. Nothing so extreme as a bodykit. Just a few tweeks here and there to enhance the driving of the car. As you can see in the pictures above, I got an aftermarket MP3 player: a Kenwood KDC-MP342U. It was on sale for $20 less at the Fry's Electronics (typically $140) and since I don't know anything about working the insides of the car, I paid about $130 for additional parts such as wires, labor, and a two year warranty through them instead of the manufacturer - totalling about $250. I was getting tired of 70 minute limits on the CDs I was burning. And with the premium 8-speaker monsoon sound system, it really does sound nice and makes for enjoyable long trips.

But I'm not sure what other cheap mods I can do, if I should do any more at all. Another forum says that anything short of a GTI isn't worth spending loads of money on tuning (for a moment, I felt I got the wrong car and should've got me a GTI instead - same mpg, more power for $1000 more - but realizing that they run on premium fuel only, I now feel I made the right purchase). Halogen headlamps, maybe? LED tail lights? Here's where I welcome suggestions from fellow forum members here.

Or maybe I should just save the money on my future sports car since I wouldn't know how to install them myself anyway.

I should probably do something about the oil pan below the car. When I was getting my mp3 player installed at Fry's, I parked and grinded with the concrete slab in the parking lot. The oil pan had offset slighty because of this but I told myself I would resecure it when I got home (I had removed it once before to do an oil and filter change days ago). However, on the highway home, I heard a loud "CRUNCH" going over the left wheels and looked through my rear view mirror to see this huge piece of plastic flying in the air. It's my first damage to the car and although not that big, oil does drip onto the ground. All the replacement oil pans I see online are metal and hundreds of dollars. Crazy.

Or maybe change the awful water stained beige interior. lol

That's all for now. October 13, odometer reads 73770. 7770 miles in eight months...
 
I very much doubt the steering wheel is truly "off". That's virtually impossible. What you have is most likely a wheel alignment issue. Have the wheels re-aligned at a tire shop. Takes about half an hour, and shouldn't cost you more than maybe $100-150.

It's well worth it, since the car will handle better, and there will be less tire wear. Wheel alignments are a regular maintenance issue. You may need to re-align the wheels every 3 years or so, depending on your driving style and how many miles you put on your car.

And good on you for going with a manual! Once you've mastered the stick, it's time to learn some serious driving skills:

http://www.turnfast.com/

See for example the articles on "shifting" and "heel-toe downshifts". Learn to double de-clutch all your downshifts (same as heel-toe, but without the braking part). Oh, and if you drive like I've seen most Americans do with your backrest leaning way back, left hand at 12 o'clock on the steering wheel and your right hand on the shift lever or stereo, you should probably start with the articles on "seating position" and "steering".

No offense, but that kind of driving is just sloppy and NO it does not look "cool" no matter how many hip-hop "artists" drive like that. :p

Think Jeremy Clarkson going round a corner, hands firmly at 9 and 3, arms crossed, shouting "POWEEERR!!!". :D

Edit: One more thing: That "oil pan"-issue you describe is probably not as serious as you might think. The plastic thingie that fell off is NOT the oil pan. It's a skid plate PROTECTING the oil pan! The actual oil pan is, as you say, made of metal and usually a bit expensive. It is of course attached to the engine block, and hence not easily removed or offset. It can be cracked, however, so watch out for those concrete slabs from now on, since you no longer have the skid plate...

A new skid plate will run you another $100 or so from a VW dealer. Have them look at the oil leak aswell. If it's just a small leak it could be the O-ring for the oil plug (cheap), or (worse and expensive) it could be the gasket between the oil pan and engine block.
 
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You're right, peh. It's the skid plate I was referring to in my header post, not the oil pan. The pan is perfectly fine. I haven't ran my car into a pothole or anything that might grind it against the pavement. And the wheel alignment is likely what is causing the steering wheel to be tilted about 3 degrees clockwise. I still don't have my car terms right.


Pep Boys and My First Tire Rotation
I didn't realize until 8000 miles into owning my car that it was about time I did my first tire rotation. The wear between the front and back tires were so obvious that it was starting to get to me. So last month, I went to my uncle's place to use his car jack in conjunction with my Golf's emergency car jack and do the rotation myself (lift the car up on one side with two jacks and swap the wheels).

But there were a couple of problems. The emergency car jack that Volkswagen provides just isn't good enough. The design of this bloody thing makes it so that the jackscrew presses into the sport strut that runs between the wheels below the doors the higher you lift it up. Plus, all four wheels have arrows dictating their proper forward direction and all four have been spinning the wrong direction. The only way to correct this would be swapping the wheels along an X-fashion - far more complicated than simply working on one end of the car.

So obviously, this meant I needed to get this done at a professional shop. So I did it at an autocenter called Pep Boys. Imagine my surprise when I asked the cost of doing it and they said for free. I even asked him if he was sure. Earlier that day, I went to my nearby VW dealership and they said it would be $35.00 (they had the MkVI Golfs out. They're so clean). So without a second thought, I took up on Pep Boys' offer.

Two more problems, though. First, they found a nail in my forward right wheel and I would be charged $10.49 for that (discounted since I was a new member to Pep Boys). Second, when they lifted my car up on the platform to do the tire rotation, one side of the H-shaped platform bent the sport strut below the passenger side door. I didn't notice it until me and a representative lifted it up a second time to show me the nail in the wheel. It's not serious; imagine a ruler slightly folded at the sides. That's kinda what it is, except closer to the front passenger wheel and about half a centimeter pushed out. Compared to the driver side, the bent sport strut is somewhat squeezibly flimsy, whereas the driver side is perfectly stiff.

Naturally, I wanted them to take responsibility and repair it. The following day, I dropped my car off for them and the rep I've been talking to would see to the repairs himself (since most the staff at the Pep Boys were just mechanics). Well, it took two days longer than the expected two days for the man to remove the panel, clean it, apply new adhesive, and put it back on - partly due to other cars in queue. But he did it, and I'm happy to say he did it well. I was a bit concerned when he told me he put three screws to properly secure it, but since they're places I couldn't see (not even the one in the wheel well), I accepted it. And because of the wait, he gave me the nail in the wheel fix for free.

I will, however, be going back to Pep Boys this Sunday. The middle part of the strut is still somewhat flimsy (though nowhere near as it was before) and the man is going to take an hour to put a block under it to stiffen it up. Plus, the nail fix isn't holding up well. Compared to the other three wheels holding up at 40/44 PSI, the fixed wheel is losing air quite steadily (30/44 when I was washing my car today).

AND... I don't think I asked for a wheel alignment when they did the tire rotation because the steering wheel is still in a bit of a tilt.

The only 100% working thing from my Pep Boys experience is that the car feels much more planted on the ground. Whether it's the wheels spinning in the right direction or the fresh traction on the front wheel drive system , it doesn't veer off on its own on uneven stretches of highway anymore.


Detailing My Car
I bought some interior car wipes, a proper microfiber wash sponge and drying towel and my latest wash today was even better than before and took less time. It's amazing what a difference having the proper car wash tools can make. Even the rims are nice and bright. Tomorrow, I'm gonna use shop towels to wipe the engine bay.

I'm considering waxing my car (a source says to do it every 4 months?), but the truth is, I'm nervous. Washing, I know how to do. Waxing, not in the slightest. There's like this polishing and shampooing thing you need to do first but I don't know the difference. And all things considered, I don't know if this car's even appropriate. There's a lot of little specs where the paint has been chipped off - some have even turned to rust - and one area in front where the paint's literally peeled off (about the size of the palm of your hand). The source says you gotta repair it before even waxing the car shiny. But I don't even know the first steps.

Some other things I have planned for tripping up my Golf:

- Replacing bumper marker lights from orange to clear (European style)
- Cleaning fogged up driver side headlight cover
- Buying new tail light covers

I also intend on having my car serviced at the VW dealership at 80k miles and address all the things they say they'll look into in that manual list - timing belt, brakes, etc. By then, I'll probably opt for new wheels too.
 
You are a Subaru driver/owner who is in denial.
 
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