UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi,

After having my battered Corsa written off last week I am looking to buy a Polo. I have a limited budget of £4,500 but have put a deposit on a 1.2 E July 2002 3 door model that has done 33,000 miles. However, after reading some bad reviews on the internet about this particular model I'm not sure if I have made a bad choice?!! I've also been told by a friend not to go for anything that has 6 valves and didn't know if this model has and if it is a bad thing? I just basically want a reliable car that isn't going to break down on me and cost loads to repair. As a girl I'm abit useless about these things and just need some advice from someone who knows what I should be looking out for. Any quick response would be appreciated as I'm meant to be picking up the car next week!

Thanks for your help,

Rachel.

Firstly, Welcome to the forum

I know a few people with the 1.2 and in my opinion its a pretty good.
I've even had one for a week, and although it does stress at high speed, its a good car for town driving.

As far as I know, the only main problems with 9Ns are coilpacks and noisy suspension bushes/shock absorbers.

Coilpacks tend to blow quite alot on early models (2002/2003) however VW have launched modified ones. Buying a nearly new but used car is good as If there is service history, It is more than likely that the coilpacks were changed for these modified ones as the previous owner probably had to deal with the faulty ones, so you probably dont need to worry about that really.

Noisy bushes and shocks is easy to notice on a test-drive, basically there shouldnt be any creaking or anything.

Thanks for your help...if anyone else has any advice on what to avoid please do let me know!

Hiya welcome to the forum,

There are two 1.2 engines 55bhp and a 65bhp and i've had both as courtesy cars. The 65 is miles ahead of the 55 in terms of performance so that would be the ideal one to go for if possible.

AK's pretty much covered the common faults but generally the 9n is reliable and cheap to run, mine has been that's for sure.