I'm Risking it every day with my MK2 180... AFAIK the belts have never been done... Trouble is its so expensive to change the belts on these things when the car is so cheap... some say if their belts go they will just replace the engine, for cheaper than the belt change would cost! (Or buy a new car)

Also depends how handy you are, it is possible to change the belts yourself. It's time consuming, and you have to be pretty methodical, but it's possible.

Better spending the £400 and having no worries that buying a new car all the time imo!

I'm afraid I'm one of those guys that gets a car and sells it on soon after ... I've never had a car that needed them doing.

My current one has a receipt for them being done a few years ago, so I'm not gonna do it again. Fact is that you can get a whole replacement engine for £200-£300 but I accept that it would need to get fitted, be off the road, inconvenient blah de blah...

Unless I was on starship mileage or running one of the very first Mk1s that I wanted to keep for ever and ever .... I'd be risking it personally.

When a belt "goes" ...what happens - big bang, or slowly reduced prformance? .... and if big bang, what are the consequences if you're traveling @ 70 mph for example

Bang, no warning, bent/snapped valves, possible hole in the piston.

go on then .... on a 80K car 8YO car .... how likely?

And sudden frozen engine? I.E. possibility of an accident being caused? - unless you dip the clutch of course....

There's just no way of telling I don't think. Could last another 50k, could last 500 mile.

Belt snaps at 70, thats one dead engine.
Friend of mine had a similar issue going uphill in 2nd gear. Cambelt tensioner failed on his VVC, ruined the whole engine. Holes in pistons was one small problem :|