Author Topic: Golfs - what do you like?  (Read 5936 times)

Offline a9wyn

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #20 on: 04 August 2018, 19:57 »
Quite simply - I like it because it is engineered to perfection or as close to it as makes no difference.

I dont do flash or look at me which is why I ordered mine debadged, the only indication if it being a little different is my leather interior.

After 50+ years driving of more cars than I can remember it is the best engineered car I have ever owned*.

* As in cash purchase - with my own money!
I have owned various VW's over the last 45+years with various Beetles ( 2013 Beetle cabrio summer toy)  Golfs (Mk1 Gti's) Still have an '83 All White Cab. in the garage, owned by me for 33 years. I bought my 2016 Mk7 Gti P/P cash.. Looking back now and I must have been mad paying  £30,000+ for a Golf. Wish now I had bought a second hand S3 Sportback  which in my opinion is a better car ( light blue touch paper and stand back).

 I called into my local VW dealer the other day, and to be honest there wasn't anything there that excited me. I think the VW range at the moment is very bland and overpriced... But in the world of PCP's  does anybody look at the price of a car anymore?


Offline Davey-c

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #21 on: 04 August 2018, 22:10 »
Quite simply - I like it because it is engineered to perfection or as close to it as makes no difference.

I dont do flash or look at me which is why I ordered mine debadged, the only indication if it being a little different is my leather interior.

After 50+ years driving of more cars than I can remember it is the best engineered car I have ever owned*.

* As in cash purchase - with my own money!
I have owned various VW's over the last 45+years with various Beetles ( 2013 Beetle cabrio summer toy)  Golfs (Mk1 Gti's) Still have an '83 All White Cab. in the garage, owned by me for 33 years. I bought my 2016 Mk7 Gti P/P cash.. Looking back now and I must have been mad paying  £30,000+ for a Golf. Wish now I had bought a second hand S3 Sportback  which in my opinion is a better car ( light blue touch paper and stand back).

 I called into my local VW dealer the other day, and to be honest there wasn't anything there that excited me. I think the VW range at the moment is very bland and overpriced... But in the world of PCP's  does anybody look at the price of a car anymore?

Can’t say I agree with the S3 being the better car. My last car was an 8v PFL S3 sportback and I now have a Clubsport GTI. Reason I changed was I found the S3 boring. Beautiful car inside and out but the drive was boring and very bouncy, scary on occasions. Wouldn’t go back to the S3 to be honest. Just my opinion.👍🏻
2023 Golf R 20 Years, Lapiz Blue, 19 Inch Black Estoril Alloys, Rear Camera, Harmon Kardon Sound System.

Offline Mike J

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #22 on: 05 August 2018, 10:57 »
PCP?........

I had to look that up to discover what it meant!
So a PCP car isnt owned by the client, it is owned by the leasing company and PCP is just renting/leasing but in car salesmen speak.
So does anyone who drives a PCP car feel they actually own it? Like in I can do anything I want with it???
Im presuming the car has to go back to the leasing company in the same unaltered condition as when you collected it?

 :undecided:

Offline Guzzle

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #23 on: 05 August 2018, 11:12 »
PCP?........

I had to look that up to discover what it meant!
So a PCP car isnt owned by the client, it is owned by the leasing company and PCP is just renting/leasing but in car salesmen speak.
So does anyone who drives a PCP car feel they actually own it? Like in I can do anything I want with it???
Im presuming the car has to go back to the leasing company in the same unaltered condition as when you collected it?

 :undecided:

Don't confuse PCP with PCH. They're different.

True leasing is PCH, or Personal Contract Hire. This is a fixed term rental agreement for a set monthly rate and an initial upfront rental payment. At the end of the term the car goes back to the leasing company, although it is sometimes possible to purchase the car as a separate transaction. You won't know if you'll be able to purchase the car or how much the leasing company will want for it until towards the end of the term.

PCP is Personal Contract Purchase. You pay monthly like you do with PCH, but the agreement is more flexible as it gives you the option to trade the vehicle in for a different one, hand the car back and walk away, or pay the pre-agreed final payment (or GMFV) and keep the car. With PCP there is a rate of interest charged on top of the amount you have borrowed, but with PCH there is no interest rate as such, you are making a rental payment.

Don't assume these products are all bad. It is possible to get yourself into a right mess if you don't understand the obligation you are taking on, but if you're savvy you can actually use them to your advantage.
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Offline Mike J

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #24 on: 05 August 2018, 11:43 »
Thank you for the detailed explanations.

I have a friend, actually he is an hereditary Lord, his family are in banking and he is a multimillionaire. He has a personal motto 'never buy what you can rent' (he even rents his wife)!
I also have another friend who started as a lowly bank clerk and now owns around 200 houses all of which are rented to tenants, he lives in a very salubrious (rented) apartment even though he could buy the whole building oitright. 'Always find ways to use other peoples money' is his motto.

Every car Ive ever owned I have bought outright with my own money, I also own my own house and have a shared ownership of some land. I owe nobody nothing, no CC debts or financial obligations, but Im begining to think I might be handling my finances badly.

So, could you explain the pitfalls that should be avoided if I were to use PCP and PCH please?

Offline Watts

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #25 on: 05 August 2018, 12:10 »
I bought my 2016 Mk7 Gti P/P cash.. Looking back now and I must have been mad paying  £30,000+ for a Golf.

Wish now I had bought a second hand S3 Sportback  which in my opinion is a better car ( light blue touch paper and stand back).

I called into my local VW dealer the other day, and to be honest there wasn't anything there that excited me. I think the VW range at the moment is very bland and overpriced...

But in the world of PCP's  does anybody look at the price of a car anymore?

In the order above...

£30k+ - didn't you go through a broker? I'd agree, mad!

Why didn't you buy an S3? I'm sure it's a great car but better really is just a matter of an opinion, yours is just as valid as anyone elses.

I find most modern cars boring. If I had space and a garage I'd love to run a couple of classics. Tinkering is fun albeit anything big/serious I'd probably take to a garage these days :rolleyes:

Probably not.
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Was - 2015 Tornado Red 3dr GTI PP, manual, Santiagos, Audi short shifter.

Offline monkeyhanger

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #26 on: 05 August 2018, 12:46 »
PCP?........

I had to look that up to discover what it meant!
So a PCP car isnt owned by the client, it is owned by the leasing company and PCP is just renting/leasing but in car salesmen speak.
So does anyone who drives a PCP car feel they actually own it? Like in I can do anything I want with it???
Im presuming the car has to go back to the leasing company in the same unaltered condition as when you collected it?

 :undecided:

You say you can do what with a car you truly own. I own both the R and newly acquired Polo GTI+, nothing owed on either. So what woukd I do with them? Remap the R? Sounds great, but I have a chocolate manual clutch that won't take more than stock output. The Polo is a DSG, but it's 4 days old. No way am I going to void warranty on the powertrain by getting a remap when it's not even run in. At what point in ownership do you have confidence that the car is put together properly and you won't have any defects come to light that would've happened anyway?

If there were decent lease deals around for the Polo  i'd be all over them as capital depreciation is likely £250pm if it depreciates as the current GFV would suggest. PCPing is likely to be an almost £400pm proposition inclusive of deposit spread over 3 years. Sticker prices are silly these days. The Golf's cost has increased about 50% over the last 9 years (end of MK5 production in 2009).

Not many advantages to buying outright vs a good lease deal, unless you're keeping a long time or adding a lot of options, far better than PCP though if you have the funds to do so.

Even owning outright, do I have a different feeling of iwnership vs when I used to PCP? Nope, I know i'll never keep it forever. I'll try to enjoy it while I have it and look after it so I don't get screwed at px or resale time.

VW makes as much money on PCP interest as it does in selling the car. With relatively high APR and low depreciation, you end up paying interest on a high balance of the capital throughout your PCP term.
« Last Edit: 05 August 2018, 12:55 by monkeyhanger »
Whey ya bugger! It's finally arrived after an 8 month wait....
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Offline Mike J

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #27 on: 06 August 2018, 10:52 »
Many thanks for your reply and financial explanations.

I fully understand what your saying about building your confidence in a car.
I reckoned my car was properly put together when it had been through two winters without fault, only then was I fully confident in the car and I went my April, May and June 4,500km road trip through 3 countries.
The car performed faultlessly from snow to +30C and now I would drive it anywhere, Southern Italy next or perhaps the coastal route of Andalusia.

My original plan was to keep my Golf for ten years, thats why I added leather seats to my list of options. Might keep it longer if its still running faultlessly, might change for DSG if I get to lazy or fuel keeps rising, or if I could get a transplant.

I have seen it written that car against car the Golf is the most expensive of all production cars to make, only the huge global sales make it profitable.
Perfection takes time and seamless engineering which perhaps that explains why the Golf is almost faultless.

Re; Polos, a Dutch friend drove a Polo from new and his clutch went at 240,000km, he found the cost of a replacement to be more than the cars worth. Yes he bought another Polo.


Offline Jim_mk7.5

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #28 on: 06 August 2018, 13:02 »
Brings a smile to my face every time I drive it.

It can be parked anywhere  without worrying it will be gone when I return unlike the last 2 BMW's I had.

Better built than my last two cars and does everything you want from a car.

I think there is a more of a worry now as lot of R/GTI being targeted.


Some great replies and love for the Golfs!  :cool:
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Offline Guzzle

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Re: Golfs - what do you like?
« Reply #29 on: 06 August 2018, 13:36 »
So, could you explain the pitfalls that should be avoided if I were to use PCP and PCH please?

By far the biggest is the possibility of not understanding how much the car is costing you. We live in a world nowadays where salesmen ask you what monthly payment you can afford, and they tailor their offer to suit. The sum of all the payments, the interest charges and add-on fees don't always occur to some people to ask about. And salesmen/women are sometimes less than keen to make this clear.

Like any purchase, shop around for the best deal. Add up all the payments and fees then divide by the total number of months to come up with the true monthly cost. This can spiral out of control if you add lots of cost options e.g. leather seats, upgraded nav and so on.

If you are the sort that likes to keep your car many years, or you add lots of options, leasing and especially PCP'ing over a shorter term will look expensive by comparison. But if you were going to change regularly anyway, then it is possible to run a car on PCH for less than the cost of the depreciation. Sometimes a lot less. Last year VW were knocking out brand new Mk7.5 Golf GTi's for just over £200 per month over 2 years with around £1,200 down on PCH. Mega cheap compared to outright purchase or PCP; all allocated cars were snapped up in about 24 hours.
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