I've had mine since May05 now (after a 16 week wait having ordered at end of Jan last year), and can give a short account.
Received my bottle of top-up oil in leatherette bag, and bottle-opener on day one. See pics in my signature.
Thought one tyre valve was faulty after 2 weeks, turned out to be a nail right in the middle of the tread. VAG dealer fixed it for free! :biggrin:
Backed into neighbours car after 3 weeks, whilst being distracted. Cost £180 GBP. Local Chipsaway franchise did a gr8 job - you'd never know!
Wobby gear take-up in low gears reported to dealer. He says it's normal for mk4 and mk5 (never had a VW before). At low revs, whilst pulling away the power delivery isn't smooth as i'd expect. You can actually hear a warbling noise, but nothing metallic sounding, so not serious I supose, thought i'd get it checked out though!
Rear wiper was playing up for a number of weeks, the dealer told me to make sure the hatch was shut firmly. I now have the knack of yanking the hatch down using the inside handle.
My mother's wheelchair took small gouges out of the boot lining one day, so need some sort of polish for interior plastic, to bring the darker colour back.
Carted 13 council paving slabs down to my in-laws last weekend. Phew was I nervous about damaging the boot even more! At the end of the day, with my wife driving a two-seater MG, the Golf has to be the work-horse of the household.
Now (after 7k miles) have the brakes making a bit of noise when braking gently at low speed, similar to when you apply the brakes after washing the car and the discs have got a little surface rust - but this is all the time. Might take the car back to the "stealer" for another check.
When you pay so much for new, you want it A1, yes?
Other than all that, absolutely love it. The ESP is fun to test on roundabouts, I don't turn it off very much at all, as it let's you have a certain amount of fun! :clap: The front-end looks still bring a smile to my face, and the interior is the best of any car of the price-range I've been in. The seats (i have cloth) are extremely supportive, but make sure you get them Scotch-guarded (or similar) as I need to get some chocolate out of mine now!
Still not many around on Berkshire (England) roads, so still getting plenty of looks, and had people at petrol stations asking me about the car.
First mod I'd make is a fruitier exhaust, but only when the existing one wears out. Then an Ipod adapter probably.
As McDonalds say "I'm luvin' it" :w00t: