2001 Golf 1.6L Oil leak and Cooling system problem

Hi,

I am considering buying a Golf 1.6L station wagon 2001 model which has driven approx 126' kilometers and I need some advice. The Norwegian equivalent of the RAC conducted a "buyer's test" of the car and found a couple of issues where 2 of them concerns me a bit:

1) Oil leaking from the engine.
2) Problem with the cooling system

On these issues they had the following comments:
1) Needs to be further investigated
2) Coolant level too low and the cooling system is boiling.

I do not know too much about cars, but here are my thoughs and questions, so please comment! Smile

First, has anyone experienced similar problems with this car or the 1.6L VAG engine? If the answer is yes, could these problems be the start of a bigger problem on a larger scale, or are they just isolated problems that can be fixed and forgotten? I do not want to buy a car that's going to cause a big headache and lots of stress.

I believe the cooling system could be too hot because there is not enough coolant. That makes me wonder why is the level too low? I guess there could just be a leak somewhere, but I also have in the back of my head an experience with the old VAG 5 cylinder 2.4L diesel. This engine is famous for its head gasket that will eventually blow. On our old VW Caravelle, which has this engine, similar cooling system issues occured just before head gasket blew.

On the other hand, I guess the coolant level could also be too low because the system boils and lets excess steam out. But why would it boil?

Now, the RAC test report states that they think it's a good buy if all the issues are fixed. The guy who's selling the car has also offered to fix all issues. For him to do so I had to let go of what i haggled for the asking price, but if this gives me a car with no problems I'm happy with that. I guess my main worry is that some of the problems may just be symptoms of other problems and that they will then reoccur after being fixed, simply because the main cause of the problem is still there. I do not know much about cars at all, so I could be totally off the track.

Does anyone have any comments on the above described problems and/or my thoughts?

Thank you very much,

Geir

Edit: wrote 2006 instead of 2001