I have recently bought a second hand Bora 1.9 SE TDI (130bhp). We had been looking for one of these for several months and finally found what we were looking for several weeks ago and I must say I am soooo pleased with her.
I do approx 15k business miles a year so needed a car with good fuel economy and high comfort, aswell as being well built with a good life expectacy as we are not planning on changing this for a good 5 or so years, but it also needed to be big enough to transport all the trapping of a family (when it arrives).
I couldn't be more pleased with "Dora". I have done approximately 1,500 miles in her since we bought her and have averaged about 50 mpg over this time. The 6 speed gear box also aids the great fuel economy. She is
incredibly comfortable and although she has alot of power (being 130 bhp) I haven't found this too much. I was a bit worried that I was going to find it too easy to go too fast and although she is more than capable of doing high speed I haven't actually felt the need to. Dora comfortably travels at 80 (with plenty left to overtake when necessary) on the motorway and just as comfortably at 30 around town, but her top speed is around 130 mph (not that I have been there). Acceleration is also good with the turbo kicking in pretty quickly.
The handling has been fine (as I had heard it could be a little bit dodgy), breaking has been fantastic and this was put the the test immediately when I needed to do an emergency stop, I closed my eyes waiting for the crunch that didn't come because she stopped so quickly and safely. The Power Assisted Steering makes driving her so easy.
There are airbags all around the interior of the car, ABS brakes and an automatic stability programme for those wet or icy roads which are so common in the UK. There is an alarm and immobilser as standard all automatically set from the key. There is also a clever feature that you need to press the unlock button twice to open all doors, one press just opens the drivers door, which when you are driving as a women I have found makes me feel that little bit safer if I have forgotten to press the central lock for all doors (which is in the door control panel with the electric window controls)
The space inside is amazing, there is plenty of leg room in the back and front and the boot space is just cavernous (the back seat also come down for more space for the extra large items). There are some neat, well incorporated storage spaces inside and is aesthetically pleasing on the eye with a graphite style dashboard. The blue lights on the dashboard when the lights are on are also very funky. As is expected from VW I have not found any misfitting doors orcompartments or any squeaks or rubbing.
There is an onboard computer that gives information on fuel consumption/ecomony, distance travelled and time of journey which I found a little confusing at first, but after reading the very well written manual was explained and is now really useful.
She is a diesel, but isn't particularly loud once warmed up and with the radio on you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and a petrol. Emmissons are reasonablly low and
We paid just over £7k for an 02 plate car, which is slightly more expensive than other makes for similar models, but we know that she will hold her value better over the next few years. We also found that because Boras are not as popular as Passats and Golfs we got alot more equipment for less money.
Boras traditionally tend to be company cars so you know that they are good for motorway mileage, have been serviced regularly and anything that needed doing has been done straight away, also you are more likely to get extras included. Ours has a 6 disc CD player, alloy wheels, trip computer, full electric windows and mirrors and ari conditioning amongst other things.
VW's have recently done quite poorly in JD Power surveys, but the Bora is actually further up than the Golf and Passat in the most recent one.
Overall it is a alot of car for your money and being a VW know it is well built and will last years if looked after.
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A good review and, by the sound of it, an ideal car choice for your needs. I am actually a Bora fan, my wife however is not, the new Jetta (Bora replacement) looks vey good too. Richard.
Advantages: Affordable premium car with some excellent quality a quick engine! Disadvantages: Unfortunatly not all the power can be unleashed because of handling!!
170driver 23.11.2005 (19.01.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Volkswagen Bora 1.9 S TDI
Oct 3rd, 2006
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