PoloDriver

Shaking off its winter chills, Rich Gooding’s 2001 Polo GTI sprung into spring. But as the warmer weather arrived, so did a small list of jobs…

Not all old cars feel old. Take my Reflex Silver 2001 Polo GTI for example. Its funny when what’s termed as an old car is distinctly modern when compared to old cars a couple of generations ago. It’s been a busy five months since my last report on Y464 GHJ, which has now covered 92,000 miles, 24,000 of those under my ownership. It’s still proving to be an able and enjoyable companion, fast and feisty when you want to be, and quiet and comfortable when you don’t. That’s a trait which, in my opinion, a GTI should automatically have bestowed upon it, and Volkswagen did a commendable job 12 years ago.

It’s a common problem with turn-of-the-new-millennium VWs, but the interior door handles of my car were peeling dreadfully when I bought it. The plastic paint coating comes off the handles at quite a rate. To be honest, I didn’t take much notice at the time, but have wanted to replace them ever since. Back in January I ordered a set of door pulls with corresponding screw cover panels from Inchcape Chelmsford, and they were recently fitted when the car was in the garage recently for another job. And they look great, and improve the interior appearance no end. A job well done. Not all parts are available to order, though – the inset panels for the electric mirror controls and matching blanking panel on the passenger side are no longer available. I’ve made do with the old ones – thankfully you can’t see the join…

In February, the cold weather took its toll on the battery. After a quick and dirty recharge, it was back to Sani’s Motors of Chelmsford (01245 460040), my local VW specialist and the only garage I trust with the car, to see what the friendly chaps could diagnose. A new item was the only option and after a £69.60 (including fitting) lightening of my wallet, the GTI and I were on our way again. The new battery has needed charging once after I left it for over a week thanks to the arrival of a SEAT Toledo test car, but it currently seems to be fine (pun intended). In the spring I also fitted a brand new ‘GTI’ badge on the front grille and red ‘I’ badge on the tailgate (the ‘G’ and the ‘T’ still don’t look too bad – they’re only a little pitted) that I’ve had since Christmas 2012, but was waiting for better weather to get the job done.

March saw the MoT come and go. Uneventful at the time, there were advisories for the brakes. The nearside rear brake disc was worn and pitted, but was not seriously weakened. It was the same story for one of the front discs, too. The nearside rear parking brake only just met the required efficiency, and a similar affliction affected the rear service brake. Spring was a busy time for the Polo, as it was back in the garage again a couple of weeks later when it suffered a broken driver’s side wing mirror. Another driver was going slightly too fast down I road I used to use regularly (I stopped using it as was so busy but was running late that morning) and swiped the GTI’s mirror back against the window glass, smashing the mirror glass and cracking the case. The impact was so hard, there was no mirror glass left and the window now has permanent marks on it where the casing struck. £120 of new casing, glass and painting later and the Polo’s battle scar had gone. An expensive running late mistake…

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Rich Gooding is now 18 months into Polo GTI ownership. The car’s proving largely reliable, but maybe the driver needs some attention…

March 2013 marks the full 18-month anniversary of the Polo GTI’s and my time together. We’ve covered almost 20,000 miles in that time, and I’m please to say, we’re still the best of friends. Y464 GHJ has had quite a busy life since my last report in December, with a few unplanned for jobs being completed. First up, was the fitment of aero-style wiper blades. First fitted to Polos from the 9N in 2002, the single-blade rubber wipers have no exposed metalwork, so that in theory, they should create a much quieter passage through the air. Fitting is easy: just insert the end of the wiper arm into the wiper and snap the cover shut. They’re cheap, too – for less than £5.00, I bought a set of two 19-inch items for the front, and one 12” blade for the rear. To be honest, with the repeated cold snaps, I’ve not noticed that much difference to the noise due to the blades being cold, but they look much neater.

Throughout the colder months, the car had been quite reluctant to start, too. It did start, but not without losing the temperature gauge and also the trip meter mileage display. It didn’t really matter how cold it was either, as there was no pattern as to when it would complain. Then, one morning in February, I was down at the local sorting office, when it absolutely point blank refused to start. A jump got me on my way, and I called in straight away to Sani’s Motors (01245 460040), who diagnosed a flat battery. By a stroke of luck, the ever-friendly chaps had a genuine one in stock, so managed to squeeze the GTI and I in there and then (I was on my way to work), and £69.60 later, we were on our way again. It hasn’t happened since.

Finally, just last week saw the car go back to Sani’s once more for its MoT. While it flew through with no immediate problems, there were a few advisories. Well, five to be precise. The handbrake only just met the required park brake efficiency, while all four discs and sets of pads will need replacing. They’re all worn and are close to the limit for efficiency, but as I’ve not replaced them in the whole time I’ve owned the car, it wasn’t a total surprise. The next service is impending, so I’ll get them sorted then.

Talking of flying, the Polo very nearly went for a hedge excursion the first week back to work after Christmas. Driving down the A113 which has a left-hand camber on a right-hand bend which then opens up to a left-hand corner, the car almost overshot the road, and trying to correct it, the back end stepped out. A final correction put the car back on an even course and in the right direction, but I will admit it scared me for the whole journey and I now take that corner much more carefully. I still don’t know whether it was the road surface or my entry speed, or a combination of both, but I suspect part of the problem that day was down to the sometimes overly-light power steering. The car feels like it’s on tip-toe sometimes, too, and it took me a while to start to trust it again.

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With the rattles banished to the bin, Rich Gooding gets on with the job of enjoying his 2001 Polo GTI, whatever the weather

I was wrong. One of the rattles that I commented on last report month did turn out to be a wobbly exhaust, One of the hangers attached to the system had rotted off, so a small welding job was all that was needed to suffice and the frustratingly annoying rattle has now gone. The other bothersome noise which I thought was a rear wheel bearing, turned out to be just that. While Y464 GHJ was in the ever dependable Sani’s Motors once again, the offending bearing was replaced, too. So now, the cabin is an oasis of calm once more.

The recent cold weather has thrown up a couple of interesting observations. Depending on temperature, the digital trip display under the total milage resets itself back to ‘0.0’, trying its best to undo any fuel consumption records I may be trying to keep. It’s a good job the software I use works out the distance travelled since the last fill up for you. There’s no logic to it either – at -6 there was nary a digital flicker, but at -2, there it was. Strange.

The cold snap has also not been good for the heated washer jets. As in they don’t seem to work. Twice I’ve had to get out of the car halfway to work and pour water on the windscreen to clear it – if I don’t, by the time I’ve finished my 25-mile commute, the screen is almost opaque with wintry road spray. And this morning, I’m sure something at the back end was frozen on, as there was creaking noise emanating from the rear end, sounding similar to a handbrake being on. Otherwise, it’s cosseting and refined fun, fun, fun all the way.

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Rich Gooding’s 2001 Polo GTI has had an eventful couple of months. First, new boots and a health check, then a change in regular usage. Are the now noticeable rattles a sign of protest?

Life for Y464 GHJ has just got calmer, or tougher, depending on how you look at it. I’ve just taken a new magazine designer full-time job, and, if you’re a glass half-empty person, you’d say that the more regular use the car will get is a bad thing. But, if you’re a glass half-full kind of being, then the fewer miles it will do on more regular trips will be a good thing. I’d like to think that I’m the latter, but the more regular use does worry ever so slightly. Still, the miles will be much fewer each day: 50 daily miles in total to my new office, compared to 170 miles per day when I was heading to Bauer Media in Peterborough.

So, as you can see from the pictures, the new daily, five-times-a-week commute will probably mean me spending more intimate time with Messrs Bucket, Sponge and Shampoo. And I have noticed, the Polo takes a lot more scrubbing when it’s dirty, even if it doesn’t look that dirty. One thing I will have to look for in the near future is rattles. Y464 seems to have become infested with the things, coming from the nearside front air vent, the dashboard, and, most annoyingly, the passenger seat area. It’s this last one which is the most frustrating, because, a) I can’t see where it’s coming from, and b) it’s quite a loud plastic-on-another-material-type noise. And honestly, it’s really quite literally driving me nuts.

I thought it may have been down the two new tyres I’ve had fitted in the intervening two months since the last report (the old fronts were shifted to the rear). But, no, I don’t think it’s that simple. They’ve had time to bed in a little now in any case. While the wheels were off and the tyres removed, I had the one wheel which was kerbed refurbished, so once again, I have a ‘clean’ set with no damage. Let’s hope it stays that way. Otherwise, nothing else to report. The gearbox is the least enjoyable part of the car, as sometimes it’s just downright reluctant to do what you want it to, which suggests a bush kit, or something maybe a little more major. Like I said, glass half-empty, or glass half-full…

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Y464 GHJ has seen almost a full calendar year in Rich Gooding’s ownership. Before he celebrates their first anniversary together, he reports on what’s happened to the car in the past three months

It’s been a busy month for the GTI, not least as it’s been pressed into almost daily service again. I reported last time that I’d been using the car for commuting to a new place of work, which soon ended. Well, the situation has repeated itself, with me taking regular trips to carry out some freelance sub-editing and magazine layout for Bauer Media in Peterborough. The international publisher has titles such as CAR, Classic Cars, Classic Car Weekly, Land Rover Owner International, Parkers and Practical Classics on its roster, so when I’m needed it’s a 175-mile round trip, sometimes four times a week. Which is more than enough miles to get to know a car quite intimately.

While a sometime source of frustration, motorways see the Polo settle into a comfortable and soothing rhythm, its blend of high-specification and sporting élan coming into its own. It’s improved the fuel economy, too, with two recent readings of 41 and 44mpg recorded. I never thought I’d see that! When I do get bored of monotonous stretches of straight tarmac, winding B-roads are handled vigorously by the small Volkswagen, and if not the last word in sporting finesse and pedigree, it puts up a valiant effort. The steering is nicely weighted, and while there’s more body roll than you might expect at times, it’s easily controllable.

Spending more time in the car has allowed me to notice a couple of things. Firstly, the rear window gets dirtier under the rear spoiler than anywhere else on the glass (the water also drops off rearwards from the roof at a heavy rate), and the standard speakers really do produce a great sound, pumping music from my iPod via the cassette deck adapter. The boot light has also – typically – started working again, after my lambasting of it in my last report. In other news, I’ve removed the red grille trim already, as it was more pink than red due to excessive fading, and after having had both a new Polo BlueMotion and Up from the Volkswagen UK press office, the GTI has shared the drive with newer relatives.

With moving house and the new ‘commute’, the Polo’s had a lot to put up with, and I’ve not helped the situation. Two wheel rims on those gorgeous alloys have been kerbed, at opposite diagonal corners, and I reversed into another car on the driveway of the new house, taking the paint off the offside rear bumper corner. While deeply frustrating, there are worse things to worry about, and the first wheel has been painted and repaired. While the car was in the ever-dependable Sani’s Motors in Chelmsford, the slight chips in the wheel boltholes were touched in (making the second wheel kerning incident even more annoying). The second wheel is yet to be taken in, and will be looked at properly when the car has its impending – and soon overdue – 76,000-mile service.

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