In an ideal world I'd just go and trade my car in, plus some cash, for a nice silver Polo GTi, about the same weight as my car and 125bhp! But I'm not sure I'd do it insurance wise!

Have arranged for Adrian Flux to give me a call later and I'll get some quotes from them I reckon.

Love the indepth discussion about TDI vs Petrol but at the end of a day its a Vauxhall. Enough said really....

which golf gti are you talking about? unless its a 16v or turbo, it will be still gutless.

I did look a Golf GT TDi's but 1) not keen on the diesel idea now (especially after reading they're no where near as fun to drive and can be gutless)

I used to swear by petrol but now having his engine i get the best of both worlds being power and big mpg's!

To be honest though, you're asking the wrong type of forum about the diesel thing. (Polo forum, Polo's are usually petrol engines, therefore biased towards petrol)

Don't buy a 2.0 Mk4 golf/bora it will bore you senseless. It won't be a lot quicker than your polo and i should imagine the polo is more fun to razz about in as you won't be worrying about the stupid fuel consumption.

I had an Ibiza GTi with the same 2.0 in it, that went OK but it was a fair bit lighter than a MK4 golf, the fuel consumption was shocking for the weak 115bhp that it put out.

A couple of cars later I got a MK4 golf GTi turbo which was alright, went nicely but was still a bit dull - i spose it depends on what you want from a car as the Mk4 golfs are more of a comfy cruising car than a car that you would hoon about in. Much better on fuel than the 2.0 8v's and an extra 35bhp.

Love the indepth discussion about TDI vs Petrol but at the end of a day its a Vauxhall. Enough said really....

all the vauxhalls I've had have been more reliable than the VAG cars I've had

Thanks for replies. On the note of comparing vauxhalls to vag cars I can see how reliable the vauxhalls are just from reviews I read. Hard pushed to find anyone having problems with a mk4 astra. The amount of problems just my relatives has had with vw's has been mental really. Still, cant stop buying them tbh. Do love a vw.

I'm not 100% what I want in a car to be frank. It has to be a bit more "grown up" really. My brother had a 2 litre 115 about 5yrs bk and I couldnt believe it was only 115bhp. Seemed to really throw me back in my seat. Not quite the bora v5 he had afterwards.

Got some quotes from flux today and I think 115bhp is all I'm going to be able to insure tbh :( suprisingly a 2litre 115 bora came back even higher to insure than a polo gti through them and golf was cheapest.

I think on looks, equipment etc and power on a budget its going to have to be a 2.0 8v gti. Is a shame its only an 8v tbh. Hate insurance but wouldnt wanna be on the road without it.

Someine nearly wrote off the polo today. Indicating to turn down a junction he never went down.... Could have been nasty!!

So..... Do we conclude a diesel is ok if you drive silly miles and dont need much excitement, and although its got a gti badge the 115 golf mk4 is gutless??

So..... Do we conclude a diesel is ok if you drive silly miles and dont need much excitement, and although its got a gti badge the 115 golf mk4 is gutless??

Yes and yes. The 2.0 8v is not known as the 2.Slow in the US for no reason. My Variant will happily keep up with one and its got 10bhp less (but then it probably weights 2/3 as much as the Golf). But if its all you can afford to insure, why dont you wait for another years NCB (assuming you dont have few years already) and THEN get a new car - you could probably afford to get a more powerful one?

The 2.0 TDI toledo I've got now is the first diesel that feels like a petrol round town. All the other diesels I've had the gears were too long to potter about in anything more than 3rd. Now I can do 25 in 4th, 30-35 in 5th and 40 in 6th whereas my PD130 was 50 in 5th and 60 in 6th at the absolute minimum. The gearing hasn't changed much but the engine has. Diesels aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. They still run out of steam too soon though.

Got no idea what to do now - debating waiting until my insurance is due for renewal at the end of June, moving my policy across to Adrian Flux who are the best priced, with my additional years NCB to bring the price down even more - then having a look round at something a bit quicker than a 2.0 Golf GTi.

It's such a pain, because as it stands with the Polo I'm just bored of it! The interior is too samey now, the engine runs lovely but it's just not got enough poke...... just feel like a change!

And without going for Golf GTi or Polo GTi now, there isn't a better equipped nicer place to be than the Polo that has a small engine and is insurance friendly in my budget.

Got no idea what to do now - debating waiting until my insurance is due for renewal at the end of June, moving my policy across to Adrian Flux who are the best priced, with my additional years NCB to bring the price down even more - then having a look round at something a bit quicker than a 2.0 Golf GTi.

It's such a pain, because as it stands with the Polo I'm just bored of it! The interior is too samey now, the engine runs lovely but it's just not got enough poke...... just feel like a change!

And without going for Golf GTi or Polo GTi now, there isn't a better equipped nicer place to be than the Polo that has a small engine and is insurance friendly in my budget.

Well have you thought about a 16v Version of your car or what about a Golf estate? You can get them with the 1.8T or a V5. You could try a quote on them - less commonly tuned so might be easier to get insured on them.

Got no idea what to do now - debating waiting until my insurance is due for renewal at the end of June, moving my policy across to Adrian Flux who are the best priced, with my additional years NCB to bring the price down even more - then having a look round at something a bit quicker than a 2.0 Golf GTi.

It's such a pain, because as it stands with the Polo I'm just bored of it! The interior is too samey now, the engine runs lovely but it's just not got enough poke...... just feel like a change!

And without going for Golf GTi or Polo GTi now, there isn't a better equipped nicer place to be than the Polo that has a small engine and is insurance friendly in my budget.

Well have you thought about a 16v Version of your car or what about a Golf estate? You can get them with the 1.8T or a V5. You could try a quote on them - less commonly tuned so might be easier to get insured on them.

Mine is a 16v mate but do you mean a 100bhp version? I had a look for them and the only ones near by are the like 04 reg diesel sport ones and they're a bit more money than what I'm looking to spend. Don't like the interiors anyway.

Could consider a standard 100bhp SE until I can buy something with a bit more poke actually. Cheers, I'll look in to it.

I'll try and get flux to give me a quote on a V5 estate (when they email me the quote I got yesterday on a Golf, which they still haven't done!).

I was suprised how it worked out though, I got quotes on a Bora 2.0 Sport, a Golf 2.0 GTi, and a Polo 6N2 GTi.

Out of the three, the Golf was cheapest (approx £1200) the Polo in the middle (£1400) and the Bora the highest, at almost £1700!! I expected it to be more like Bora cheapest, followed by Golf, then Polo.

According to my current insurer, insurance companies rate cars on their own "scale of risk" anyway, so a Bora being more expensive with Flux might be by far the cheapest with another insurer based on their experience of the car and claims etc.

So I ask, what is the point of insurance groups. They don't have as much relevance as you'd think when it comes to quotes to be honest.

when looking for 100hp 6n2's I have these tips-

if it has SE on the log book its 75hp if it just says 16V its 100hp

engine code can be found on the cam pulley cover and should read AFK or AUB

must have 15 inch "Spa" Alloys unless aftermarket ones are fitted.

Will Have Air con as standard

will have discs on the back.

will have side skirts

will have fogs.

any of those missing will mean its a 75hp SE

100hp ones are like hens teeth. only ever seen one other in the flesh apart from mine.

Thanks Leon,

I drive a 75bhp SE and it has all of those things apart from the 15" wheels. So I would have to resort to looking at the logbook before I thought about buying one anyway, even if it had the proper wheels. Cheers for that!

I was thinking I could look up the date of liability through the DVLA, because wouldn't 75 or 100 be in the name of the car? The same as if I went to get an insurance quote, they'd be able to tell me if it was 75bhp or 100bhp wouldn't they? I think I'd have to resort to that to be 100%.

Presumably the 100bhp models suffer from the same temperature sender/throttle body/gearbox/pedal box problems as other 6n2's?

All sense has gone out the window now though! I was looking at 1.8 20v Golf's last night, 125bhp. And 20v?? I bet they rev like f*ck don't they???

I'll my logbook to see if the power is listed.

another way to check is to look at your inlet manifold if its plastic then its 75bhp. If its metal then its 100bhp.

Adrian Flux are pish...Elephant and Admiral are always cheaper for me.

Someone on the mk4 Golf forum said Admiral were cheaper, but are they not on price comparison websites?

I thought they were so had never even given them a second thought.

If you're doing anything to your car, get it insured by a proper specialist insurance company or you'll have a fight on your hands when you claim. And yes, I mean that even if you declare everything. I certainly wouldn't use Admiral or its subsidiaries to insure a played with car. Fine if you're running a bog standard Focus or something, but that's it.

Cheers - Think I will be keeping it standard for a good while mate tbh. Obv. I'm a good boy because I've declared my GTi front grille on the Polo - just not worth the hassle if you have an accident. And the way some people drive - it could literally be just around the corner!!

Makes me quite angry people think "doesn't matter I'm a good driver" - good luck when someone crashes into the side of you and your engine ends up on the road!

I know for a fact - if everything wasn't declared I'd worry about driving it incase the unthinkable happened and I did have an accident.