Sorry to get on my soap box and rant but....
Why the hell does everyone keep complaining about MK1 brakes???
It seems like everyone goes for a drive in one or buys one and then says the brakes are a nightmare.
Well, guess what, it's an old car and probably hasn't had the brakes looked at in years unless it's owned by an enthusiast.
When I bought my Cab I re-did everything on the brakes short of replacing the discs as they were fine.
I replaced the front pads, rear shoes & drums and put all new brake fluid in and bled it all properly.
Now guess what. My MK1 stops very, very well.
In all honesty, I much prefer the brakes on my Golf to my 6 year old Mazda. The Mazda brakes have absolutely no feel apart from feeling like I'm gonna go out the windscreen everything I hit them a little more than a light push. The Golf brakes have feel along the whole course of it's travel and seems to work based on pressure in a sensible manner.
The MK5 TDi I drove a few months ago was awful too for feel.
It seems like these days, every single car out there drives and feels the same.
No clutch feel, no brake feel, steering that feels unconnected. Are all car companies trying to take away all feel from cars they produce these days?
In an effort to make all their cars easier to drive and safer, they have removed what makes driving interesting.
Feel.
Sorry, rant over.
!m!