My Significant Addiction: The Volkswagen Golf

My names Bruce Jamieson and I'm an addict, but its not drugs, alcohol or women that consume my life, no it's cars and in particular one that's a jack of all trades but master of none, The Volkswagen Golf. Today I'm going to use my blog for something a little different, I'm going to use it as a means of venting my frustrations over the aforementioned German hatchback.

I was innocent once upon a time

Firstly a little background to my addiction, I was an innocent 11 year old when I walked into the newsagent armed with £4 for a magazine. My mind was not yet made up as I scanned the shelves, BMW, Peugeot, Mini, Ford and Japanese specialist car magazines stared back at me, enticing me with 205 GTI's, Escort RS Turbo's, E36 M3's and EK Civic Type R's, but then just next to Cosmo sat a magazine called Golf + with a silver Mk4 GTI on the cover, that was it I was smitten. Six years and hundreds of copies later I passed my driving test and it doesn't take a genius to guess what I bought as my first car, a red 1.4 litre Mk4 Golf that was barely powerful enough to lug its lardy ass around, but I adored it and as it turns out this was the only decent Golf I ever bought.

My Golfs, a history

Two more Mk4's followed, a highly tuned blue diesel with a penchant for pissing it's coolant out and my holy grail, a maroon GTI which seemed allergic to its own turbo. A bunch of slightly more reliable Golf derivatives from Seat and Audi also ensued but I always harked back to wanting another Golf even though from experience they had been more hassle than their worth, I just always wanted to give them a second chance.

Golfing downunder

Moving down under I thought my addiction might have passed and a few weeks ago I thought I'd take on a small project for winter, something I could sell on in summer for a little profit. Looking on Gumtree though the unexplained urge for some Golf returned and unfortunately a Mk3 Cabrio has been the result. It needed some work, namely a new hood, some interior tidying up and a good polish but otherwise it was sound. Now I say unfortunately as yesterday without warning the clutch gave up, BANG, stall, stranded, shit.

I'd done all the things I advocate on this very blog when buying a used car; found an enthusiastic seller who had spared no expense mechanically fixing the car and who had a genuine reason to sell it, it even had low km's. I test drove it 3 times for goodness sake and everything felt dandy, but alas it clearly wasn't.

Lesson learned

I'll always advocate that Golfs are very good cars, for other people, just not when I own them. Maybe the phrase "never meet your idols" rings true here. I've lied, borrowed and disappointed people too many times and ultimately too many of Germany's finest have broken down on me. The Cabrio will be finished though as I can't let this addiction get the better of me but once it's gone I think I'll be buying something else from now on.