Volkswagen Golf 2001

well all automatic are bad for busting. thats probably a slushbox the dsg is what they warn dsg is 2005 onwards only on golf 5 not on a golf 4. having said that, why on earth did you not buy the diesel manual on here few days ago went for bout 5 grand .

the problem is with them older slushboxes they are not straight forward to service and they got a lifetime fluid. so no one ever services them hence they all premature fail since they are not serviced .

Avoid them if you can, but apart from the auto trans the mk4 golf is actualy quite reliable and well made

Are the older 'slushboxes' in those ZF intrade!

no idea my book lists 3 gearbox but the book is the diesels only i never did own a automatic in my live .

i've got one, done 166 k's and trans is fine, no idea when it was last serviced but doing it soon. Bought it as a trade in from a ford dealership and was told it was a ZF trans, very smooth shifting!

get it done soonest the chance of it having been done is almost nil unless it was serviced by gilltrap i doubt they would negelect to do so. Would say on documents you should have . like my bora tdi i paid 8 grand and i got invoices for 6 grand large chunk of it is chiptuning it with egr delete as i checked was blanked out in diagnosticnew clutch cambelt all invoices done by owner i purchased from plus owner befor had more invoices for stuff done to it in uk even paper trail all the way to uk thats a vw you want one that is correctly serviced.

noswalg if you are doing your own work you can do the trans service your self you do need a vag diagnostic tool to mesure the transmission temperture on a mk4 and you need to buy the special tools from blauparts as filling the box is done thru the drainhole and a new cap is required on the transmission as old brakes off on removal its designed to do that . Otherwise a competent automatic trans place. you would need to be absolute sure that they can do it right otherwise i would only let gilltrap near it. Servicing is the same as any auto trans just refilling it is the hard part.
for diy you probably got to order from them i found no one else who supplyes , you need vag diagnostic (rosstech) obd tool also for the job.
http://www.blauparts.com/

http://www.blauparts.com/vw/vw_fluid/vw_automatic_transmission_fluid.shtml#vwautomatictransmissionfluidinfo

Vw automatic transmission fluid levels should be checked at regular intervals. Changing your Vw automatic transmission fluid helps extend the life of your transmission by properly lubricating the main shaft bearings and synchros. Vw automatic transmission fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles - 60,000 miles. The intervals depend on your operating conditions. The Vw automatic transmission fluid and filter should be serviced every 30,000 miles when driving in heavy city traffic, hot weather, trailer pulling, and other severe driving conditions. The 60,000 miles change interval applies to those who mainly put on highway miles. With the exeption of the DSG transmission, which the factory manual recommends be changed every 30,000 - 40,000 miles.
miles is 1.6km or there abouts so 60,000 miles is 100 tousend km

As others have said, buying a good MK4 is all about the transmission. Either buy a low km one (getting hard to find now) that's shifting nicely and service it straight away or buy a manual one.

Remember too. look for the purple VW coolant. If its been filled with the green stuff it may have issues where the two fluids have combined to make jelly. This is likely root cause of the problems in the other MK4 transmission thread.

Really good cars though, personally I would go for the GTI which is going to be easier to find in manual and has more power yet similar fuel consumption to the 2.0.

The GTI is not a rip snorting beast like the Fiat Stilo Abarth, its quite comfortable and as usable as any other Golf.

If you didn't mind 2 doors I am seeing the odd Audi A3 2 door (MK5 Golf Equivalent) going for MK4 Golf money (as cheap as 7K). Then you have the DSG which is easy to change the fluid on at home and more likely to have been serviced. The MK5 is a BIG leap foward from the MK4, it pretty much blew everything else in its class away when it came out, only of the last couple of years have some of the others caught up.

If going for a MK5 come back for a guide on what maintenance may be due, costs, what to look for etc.

Cheers for all the advice . The car sold overnight, so my niece missed out.