As a guy that owns a mk4 20th anniversary most maintenance isn’t too bad, this is a super popular car that shares the motor with the Jetta and other VWs so 1.8t videos are EVERYWHERE and since it’s a older VW parts are kinda cheap because there’s ALOT of aftermarket brands that make parts or used ones you can find at junkyards or eBay. An Exhaust for my 2018 Golf R is about $2000. My fully custom built 3” exhaust only cost me like $950. If you find one for cheap that’s in good condition get it! This is the first car I’ve ever worked on and I love learning on it

The turbos on the 1.8t hardly ever fail, I’ve hardly ever heard anyone say their stock turbo has gone bad. I have 2 1.8t gti’s both tuned and have over 200k km. Both still on factory turbos. One has been tuned for over 100k km on 20psi.

Ok imma be honest as a mk4 guy who currently owns 2 mk4 golfs. This review is honestly quite fair. In relation to timing and water pumps and things often it’s the tensioners that go out. But not often it’s mainly cos these things are old getting old. The factory water pumps the impeller is made outta plastic from factory so if u replace the water pump with a metal impeller u shouldn’t have any problems ever again. Also in terms of what a 1.8t sounds like not the greatest example but. These things can be great but are better when u know what ur looking at. If u don’t they can be quite complicated and frustrating.

Owned a GTI 132KW for the past 10 years. Been working on it since i got it. Had a lot of mechanical neglect. Good car overall. Not very fast or powerful but looks great and very comfortable. Affordable to maintain, lots of aftermarket parts available and not a computer on wheels like newer moddels. Love mine.

You already know this is a classic Mark roden W 🔥🔥🔥as always

my dad has a tdi one, bought it in 05 with 40k and it has 450k km now. never had big problems

stay healthy mark, onto the next one!🙏🏻

Been with your channel since around 17000 subscribers. Of course i remember these

I had the 24v 2.8L VR6 that was highly modified for track racing and made 300hp with a 6 speed stick. I had it for 10 years. The downside was the door interior was flimsy and soft-touch turned sticky and fell apart easily. The transmission/clutch broke 3 times and had to be replaced. It was amazing on corners. It sounded amazing (VR6 was mean compared to peoples 4s).

I owned a 180HP AWP motor MK4 5spd from 08-2017 only problems were One coil pack and strut went bad at 45k miles. Cam chain tensioners wore out around 125K and started rattle on start up. Timing belt blew off at 130k+ after only about 20k miles on that belt for some reason. Went from about a 4-5000$ to worthless after that belt blew off. Never modified that car, in fact i "downgraded" to 15" VW alloys and 215/60R15's to help deal with rough roads. The stock 225/45R17's could be a bit harsh on poor roads. What it excelled at as with all FWD was rolling races. Lots of torque and sub 3,000lb curb weight did well and was fun

I own two Golfs MK4 TDI, one is 96kw Variant (estate), and the other is 110kw 4motion (AWD) I wouldn’t agree that there is cheap plastic inside. In fact, even by today’s standards, it’s better than a brand new VW Polo, and definitely better than an MK5. The build quality is amazing. TDi emgines start at 66kw or 90hp. The 64hp one you mentioned is not a turbo-diesel. It is naturally aspirated dirsel engine and is called SDI.

I bought the 2004 GTI 2.8L VR6 new in 2004. Today it's still my daily driver. No mods. Near the end of the year I'd like to garage it and take about a year to fully refurbish it to as close to factory condition as possible. I agree with you on every point made but somewhat disagree on characterization of the VR6 reliability. The engine has been highly reliable. The biggest issues experienced are: 1 failed coil; an oil leak; water pump failure (coolant pipe was replaced at the same time); vacuum hose leak. The car currently has a 173K miles and... wait for it... the original factory clutch. Granted, the car mostly has highway miles, but still, I've never heard of anyone with a manual transmission having more miles on their clutch than my nearly 20 year old daily driver.

this car has been the car i’ve been lookin at, glad there is now a good video from a guy i like covering it.

Ive been waiting for this good, bad, and ugly 👍

I'm running VR6 2.8 AUE Golf 4 with 4motion. It's 365.000 Km and it's still running on original timing chain - no issues, no sighns of wear, chain is still perfect. I'd say that it's waay more reliable than 1.8T for example. But the car itself isn't that fast, maybe 0-100km/h is decent but 1.8T and 1.9TDi will be better considering gas milage and speeds above 160km/h+ The V-max on 2.8 AUE is 250 km/h GPS meanwhile on my other golf 4 1.9 TDi the V-max is around 200-205km/h. 1.9 Burns around 5L/100km meanwhile 2.8 at the same pace burns 12L/100km

Would love if you did the E46 next, such a fun, iconic and beautiful car

Yo you think you could do the Mitsubishi starion/Chrysler conquest next? That would be really sick- keep up the good work on the vids btw! Consistent as all hell

The cup holder comment haha I was lucky enough to have the 05 GLI and the cup holders were usable haha

W vid 🔥

you can find many 1.9 tdi golfs with 4 wheel drive too and stationwagons

sloth ave finally getting some shine

Hey man I own a 2002 vw golf mk4 with a gls 2.0 i just wanted to know what type of mods i can do with it because ive heard putting a turbo is no good so i wanted to know the facts about my own car

So i learned in this video that im guetting that 1.8T on market place🔥

Completely neglected the fact that there is a huge aftermarket scene for the 1.9tdi PD engines in these

1.8t, 1.9tdi, 2.3vr5 and both 2.8 and 3.2 vr6's all came in 4motion aswell just not as many as fwd

I want one bad as a 2nd car. Love the 20th anniversary GTI.

I have an R8 V10 6 speed and id sell that anyday of the week before I ever thought of selling my 24v GTI. I can find another one of those, ill never find a nice well sorted black on black leather sunroof 24v ever again.

currently own a 337 and love it

I have the 3.2 VR6 thing is lowkey a beast

My dad had a wagon Golf 4, it was a pretty alright car, but it missed something from the earlier gen. You don't need to worry when you buy a 1.6 16v (no, not V16), it's very, very reliable, same with 1.9 TDIs below 120 hp, but these are literal Nokia 3310s. WARNING FOR PEOPLE THAT WILL BUY THE GOLF 4 CABRIO: It's still a Golf 3. Seriously. While hatches, wagons and sedans (Bora/Jetta) are based on the new construction, the cabrio is still based on the earlier gen, just with the outside stuff changed.

I found a 2000 automatic Gulf would you recommend? It has 159kmikes for 2600

Can you do the six gen Honda Civic coupe and sedan models? I believe you did the hatchback version, but I want to see a video about those too.

I have the 1.9 GT TDI ARL engine. Soooo reliable. Can’t find an engine cover in a red TDI😭

mk4 is a heavy car for its size, i think mine from the factory was close to 2900 lbs. which is wild since its a lil baby boi hatchy. still a fun car and it handles like a dream with the coilovers i slapped in there. just need to start weight reduction and give it a lil tune.

Notification squad

My 03 4 door manual tdi ALh mk4 golf is my favorite car ive owned. Kerma tdi tuned and it pulls like a tractor.

I love you mark

Love the mk4 gti but it's in the shop for the 2nd time in 12k miles and down for the 10+ time period. Won't start again after starting perfectly twice with new parts after they were installed. Currently waiting to see what's keeping it from starting now.

Thoughts on the 330ci?

correction: there were TDI variants with 4motion system, not only r32 got the awd.

sloth ave🧼 💥💥🔥🔥🔥

Wheres the Mark Score from the e39 good bad and ugly

hp/kg ?

Nice vid but 2things were incorrect 1.there were awd (haldex) mod3ls but i dont know if the USA got them because in europe the was never a vr6 gti 2. Do not unterestimate the speed of those things there are some people pushing 500hp on the 1.9tdi and over 1000hp on the vr6 models

My favorite body style Jetta or golf gti

Hey Mark, could you do an episode about the Honda Civic 6th gen? I think a lot of people would be interested in it.

just missed fender and rocker panel rust but accurate video

2:40 this is wrong. 1.8-2.8 engines all had the option for 4WD. The 3.2L engine was the only one that came with only 4WD And the Automatic transmissions on the MK4 are awesome. For the GTI and R32 I would recommend manual, but for the rest I can recommend the torque converter auto transmission.

I see more high mileage vr6s than 1.8s. Especially if the Vr was taken care of. I daily my Mark4 R32 it has 200k and pullls like new.

Can you do a good bad and ugly on the mazdaspeed 3

1999-2004, 2.0L ,1.8T ,1.9TDI ,2.8VR6-24V. Unless youre from England or something.

That is not true, not only the R32 is AWD (4 Motion), The 2.8 VR6 and the 1.9 TDI also came with 4 motion

13:00 you mean a base civic or and Si? I'm between EP3 Si and MK4 gti 1.8T, VW its a little bit cheaper where I'm from

1.8t boy here.turbos never fail only if you oil starve them. secondly .the timing belt,just change it every 50k meters.about ignition coils.. change them once to the upgraded which cost 100$ and forget it forever.. that is the truth ..aaah oil sludge. regular oil change every 7-8k meters and use once every 2-3 oil changes an oil cleaner.thats all.otherwise they are more reliable than many jdm newer cars

CB Accord sometime?

I found the worlds cheapest 20th anniversary golf and I was debating on getting it or not

The Cabriolet is not a mk4, it’s a mk3.5, only sharing the front end look

Buick regal GS please

Nissan Sentra SE-R ?

2.8 vr6 its also 4motion

All caps DO NOT USE THE FACTORY CUP HOLDERS

I have a remapped 1.8t AUM mk4 GTI ko3s best I Can get mg is 42mpg on motorway on e5 99 Octain Super Unleaded if not peddle happy.

2002.5 silver 24v vr6 6sp king of fwd mk4. I wouldnt sell ever

BMW z3!!!!!!

A vr6 will always outlast a 1.8T. GTI has an awesome racing circuit in Britian, VW usta sell bare bodies. The interiors will always be far nicer than any Honda imo. I daily my Mark 4 r32. 200K

PLEASE do the BMW z3 next

Imo the interior still holds up really fell,

Go over the tiberon hyundai im digging it genesis coupe too pricey for me

Bro... two corrections; 1. my european 2.8 VR6 is AWD and I think NOT GTI, so not only the R32 that is AWD. Also it is 204 HP and not 201. 2. The VR6 is hailed by many as the best sounding engine of all time. Why the hell did you just show the sound of the 4-banger? xD

Sold my rhd k swapped civic looking at a mk4 weekend/project. One reason: Hondas get stolen.

As a guy who owns a mk4 gti I would never buy a Honda 🤮 can’t beat the shape of a mk4 unless your a mk1 or mk2 🤣

Someone made a Golf look like a Dodge Neon🤣🤣 A shame the Jetta GLX doesn't get any recognition because it is an awesome car. But they really didn't make many of them. There are more Jetta VR6s but that's not the same car. I've drifted my MkIV plenty of times. It can be done it is just that most people don't know how. Frankly most drivers don't know how to drive a FWD car, period. At 10:05, that is literally a drift🤦‍♂🤦‍♂ What you mean is you can't do a burnout drift in a FWD car, at least not one that anybody wants to see, lol. Pretty dumb to just smoke your tires for no reason anyway. Yeah, the 1.8T is good for tuning - if you are going to do it properly. If you just want to do a stage 1 tune, you really want to get a VR6 because that can push out way more extra power without internal mods and not compromise longevity. IDK where you got the idea the VR6 is less reliable because that absolutely is not true. As long as you mind the timing chain replacement interval (which should be stated as 110k mi, not 150k mi), they are bulletproof. On the other hand, you might get 80k mi out of a VW turbo if you baby it and they aren't cheap to replace. Part of the problem with the Mk IV reliability is a lot of people put natural oil in them. This will cause the timing chain on a VR6 to fail very quickly and cause greatly accelerated wear in the valvetrain. Maybe this is where you got the idea they are unreliable. If you don't take care of an engine properly, it will be unreliable.

why is there skyrim music in this bruh

WTF happend, who hurt you bro, Lmao. The turbo on a 1.8t is the most straight forward job youll undertake in your ownership of said vehicle. TBF its a one day job if youre really motivated and a weekend romp if you want to leisurely get it done. And the 65-75k timing belt is a change the damn water pump while youre in there at a minimal check it. The coilpacks are what they are and by now anyone who owns a 1.8t for more then 5 mins are aware of the more reliable 2.0t red coils for that extra 10hp, Lol. I owned my 1.8t for 4.5 years and beat the living shite out of it, not one week went bye without a 130-140mph pull @22psi. Always fired on the first crank, nothing leaked and she was happy to cruise 100 miles or run like I stole it. Buy a good jack and a solid tool set, man up and learn how to maintain the car you love to abuse.

First

Not buying a fart knocking honda... GTI is more than good enough.

Had one a real long time ago, like 06 - 09... I miss it. The fuel pump broke 3 times in a year. You know how much of a B it is to do the fuel pump on a GTI? The first time it broke I didn't know how to work on a VW cuz I was a 17 year old moron and I spent close to a grand at a shop. What other car do you know that has a fuel pump break 3 times in a row? I had a E46 330I and after a cooling system overhaul and a oil pan gasket fix it's still fine. I miss the GTI but I must've had a real lemon and it totally spoiled it for me

Oil Pans and Heater Cores