Hi mate,
The petrol mk 4 GTi comes in a number of different flavours. You have:
A normally aspirated (non-turbo) 2 litre
A normally aspirated (non-turbo) 1.8 litre
and a turbocharged 1.8 litre
I think it's fair to say that the 1.8t is the best of the bunch, with the most power straight out of the box, and is the easiest for tuning to very impressive figures.
This is (seesentially) the same lump that is fitted to the skoda octavia, Audi A3,4 and 6, TT, seat Leon etc etc etc - aporven and reliable lump.
In the golf it came in two variants - 150bhp and 180bhp
@ £4.5k it's most likely that you're going to be looking at a 150bhp model.
These are still exceptionally tuneable, and several hundred quid should see the fat side of 200bhp quite easily.
Mileages are pretty much unimportant on a VW, they tend get better as the miles pile on, but pay attention to service history - look for regular oil changes, check cambelts have been done - ask about MAF and coil pack failures (it's likely to have had them).
Get the current owner to drive first - see how he/she drives the car from cold (always see a turbocharged car from cold). If they give insufficient time for the car to warm up (or cool down afterwards) before giving it the beans then walk away. Turbo engines need careful treatment if you want to maximise their longevity.
Then, when you;ve got yourself one, get in the Mk4 section - give us your engine code and we can advise exactly what you can do tuning wise, and what you can expect powerwise.
Best of luck,
Si
