Way back at the start of 2005, I bought my 1999 T reg 1.4 Polo for £3000 from a local VW dealer. It came with a years tax and warranty. The warranty came in handy as shortly after I purchased it, it needed some work doing and whilst they were under the bonnet - they noticed another problem. I can't remember exactly what it was, other than the part wasn't expensive but the labour would have been as the engine needed to come out. Anyway the VW people fixed it all up and it was as good as new in a couple of days and was all done under the warranty.

Even with my dodgy driving skills - the car has been extremely reliable. It's only ever broken down once (touch wood!) and that was my fault for putting off taking it to the garage. These days it does seem to have it's share of problems but considering its age and its done over 100,000 miles - I would expect any car of that age and mileage to need repairing. When it does need repairs - I've found that the parts have never been too expensive either.

The road tax is reasonable, £70ish pounds for six months duty. Insurance has always been reasonable, I currently pay around £25 a month fully comp. Fuel, well, fuel is expensive regardless at the moment but it's not as bad as other cars. I haven't filled the tank to capacity for a long time but £10 in fuel will do approximately 100 miles.

The seats are comfortable - by no means luxury but comfortable. I've done long journeys of 500 plus miles in the car and have been quite happy as have my passengers. My Polo has four doors and I find that there is sufficient room in the back for passengers. A long journey in my Polo with tall passengers might not be ideal though. The boot also has sufficient space, although I wouldn't consider it to be a family car - I think the boot would probably be too small for a buggy. For my needs though - it's perfect.

I would thoroughly recommend VW Polo's if you are looking for a small, reliable and cheap to run car.