Used Volkswagen Golf IV R32 review and buying guide (2002 to 2004): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Volkswagen Golf IV R32 should you buy?

Buy the R32 whose engine and headlamps check out, not a particular year: every one was built between 2002 and 2004 with the same 3.2 VR6, and both known faults cover the whole run. There's no early or late version to choose between, so the car in front of you is judged on how it starts, how it drives and what the paperwork proves.

It's worth the hunt. The R32 still goes hard, handles very well and makes a glorious noise through its exhaust. The catch is the timing chains, which give trouble between 80,000 and 120,000 miles, so on a car in or past that range you want an invoice for new chains, not just a quiet cold start.

Which Golf IV R32 engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

There's only one engine, the 3.2 VR6, so there's no safer alternative to pick: the job is finding one whose timing chains are healthy. Its serious weakness is that both chains stretch and can jump teeth on their sprockets, knocking the timing out. That shows up between 80,000 and 120,000 miles, and putting it right means taking a lot of the engine apart.

Because the fix means stripping so much of the engine, a car around that mileage with no paperwork for the chains is a gamble, however sweetly it pulls. There's nothing to go on for the R32's gearbox, good or bad, so don't read that as a clean bill: make sure it changes smoothly through every gear on the drive.

What should you check when viewing a used Golf IV R32?

Ask the seller not to run the engine before you arrive, then be there for the first start of the day. A metallic rattle lasting several seconds points to stretched timing chains. On the drive, feel for misfires, rough running, a drop in power or the engine cutting out. On anything past 80,000 miles, ask for the invoice showing both chains were replaced; without one, treat them as original.

Watch the xenon headlamps when the car starts: they should move as they set their own height. Beams aimed too high or too low, no movement at start-up, or a headlamp warning on the dash means the self-levelling motors have failed. That's a common fault between 60,000 and 100,000 miles and it's very expensive to fix, so don't wave it through.

An amber ESP/ABS light that comes and goes and won't reset isn't always a failed ABS/ESP unit. One owner's fix was the ABS fuse, number 9, on the edge of the scuttle by the driver's door: it can work loose in its holder, and pulling it, checking it and pushing it back in can put the light out. Get the seller to try that before you price in a bigger repair.

Cars built in 2002 were recalled because damp could have got into the gas generator of the driver's front airbag, which could stop it working properly in a crash; the fix was a replacement generator. On a 2002 R32, ask for proof the recall work was done, an invoice or a stamped record naming the airbag job. If the seller can't produce one, get it confirmed before you pay.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.