Volkswagen: Help me to make my mind up please!, bad vibrations, milege

Question
Hello My name is Alberto as mentioned above. I am resently looking into buying a car. I seem to be very atractive to the Volkswagen golf. I am looking at the models from 2000- 2003. Could you please let me know what king of car quality are they? Should I go for it, or should I stay away from them? If so wich year do you think is the best one between those mentioned before? How reliable are they? How expensive are they in repear, and how often do they break down? how often do they need to be served, to keep it in a mint condition? What are their most common problems?

What kind of diesel engine would I get the most amount of milege? 1.8lt, 1.9lt,or 2.0lt engines?

I had searched everywhere asked so many people, went to the dealership,e-mailed people asking for their help, but so far none of them have actually answer my questions.

Could you please give me a hand?

I am really scared of buying one and discocer later that they are not good. and so far the reviews I have read for the states are awfull, and honestly it has been my biggest turn off in my life so far.

Please help me?
Thanks a lot Alberto.
Have a great day.  

Answer
a 2000 - 2003 golf would be a mk4, they have problems with the window mechanism's as the originals are plastic, there is now a "repair kit with metal bits which is alot stronger and not too expensive). other than that, all diesel models tend to suffer from air mass trouble at some point in there life (this cost's around $100 for a new one but is maybe between 90000km before it is liable to go wrong). Also test drive the car, any bad vibrations / kinocking walk away. Listen for a subtle clunk over bumps as anti roll bar bushes do wear with mileage (this is not an expensive repair ((maybe $30 + half hour labour if they know what there doing)). On diesel engines, they need a good run every so often or the turbo vanes can become tight, should this happen the turbo can be stripped and cleaned 95% of the time, but if you make the turbo work every so often it prevents any problems (ie, in 2nd and 3rd gear take it round to between 4500rpm and 5000rpm). The best engines are the "PD" engines which are 115bhp / 130bhp or 150bhp. howver the oil is quit expensive ( about twice as much as a good semi synthetic). the service interval's are every 15000km oil + filter or short service (oil/filter and a full check over) or 30000km oil/filter + check over and pollen filter. every 60000km full service, fuel filter air filter and pollen filter. depending on engine spec, cam belt's are either 60000km or 90000km. do not exceed these as it can be very expensive if it fails.                                                          I would personally have a mk4 golf tdi, as they do not break down often, so long as you stick to the services you shouldn't really encounter too many problems barring a window mechanism or air mass meter. in general a tdi should return about 85kpg (55mpg)or a little over. they are well built, do not suffer from rust / bodywork issues.  hope i haven't put you off too much, but i am being honest. please let me know what you decide, hope to hear back soon. john dempsey.