I bought a 1997 MkIII ex Japan in Feb 2005 with supposedly 60,000kms on the clock and within 2 months the nearside rear bearing needed replacing. In Apr 2006 the offside rear needed replacing. I was suspicious of the mileage of the car but whatever. The reason I'm intrigued is that when I was in the UK (I live in New Zealand now) my 1994 mk III GTI ran to 130,000 miles without a wheel bearing replacement. My Japan import has been lowered. Cheers