Which year would you recommend and is it true that they are very expensive to maintain?

l do not know of a year that is better than other years of VW Golf, However VW is are indeed very expensive to maintain & repair.

According to Consumer Reports Volkswagen Gulf has a poor reliability record no matter what year.

The newer the better!

They can be very expensive to maintain. It all depends on who is doing the work for u & which engine u have. The previous body style golf comes with the 2.0l engine. This is easiest/cheapest engine VW made to maintain. The GT l (2 door golf) was usually sold with the 1.8t engine. Now u r getting into a situation where u may just have to stop driving for a while if say...your turbo goes out.

Buyer beware with higher mileage VWs from this era as they do not seem to hold up well to abuse. The prices l see on these older body style VWs always seem way to high(to me).

The new body style golfs IMO r much better cars in general. this would be 07 & up. Check 'em out!