OK, teaser headline, but I've been seriously considering finally getting rid of the GTI and getting something else. The Golf is now approaching 3.5 years old with just 19k miles on it, and with second hand car prices at such all time high values, thought I might cash in. I've had PX quotes from the likes of Motorway and WBAC of over £25k for my mint example. When you think that back in April 2018 I bought it brand new for £30,500 (after heavy discount), then the car would have only lost just over £5k in 3.5 years - that's crazy.
So, I've been thinking of getting an SUV (as I've now the very wrong side of 50), and aside from the Tiguan I ordered and cancelled, have also been looking at the new Qashqai (my brother collected his brand new Tekna 5 days ago, and it's a lovely car and great value at £33k list), a Mercs GLA and GLC, and a BMW X3 M-Sport.
To be honest, loved the BMW, but because I didn't want to give up any spec that the Golf had, I needed to add on some rather expensive option packs, which took the price of the car to well over £55k (gulp). The Mercs I was actually disappointed as I really didn't like the interiors, despite the great tech on board. That left the Qashqai, and to be honest that was the biggest surprise of the bunch. Unlike VW they do have an extensive colour palette to chose from (with a gorgeous Magnetic Blue metallic colour which my brother got), and the standard features are also pretty impressive with full panoramic glass roof, electric seats, 9" Touchscreen, a massive HUD system (that projects onto the windscreen) etc - all for £33k. The only issue, is that the most powerful engine is only 158ps (mild hybrid 1.3) and the auto box (I always have an auto) isn't a dual clutch like VW, but rather a CVT unit, and it feels sorta weird.
This is why I started to make some unfair comparisons against the Golf, as I was looking at each car and thinking "hmm. it doesn't have this or that which the Golf has" etc... It got me thinking that the MK7.5 GTI is still a pretty effective package even in 2021 against much newer cars, and has all the safety tech (lane assist, blind spot, rear assist, pedestrian detection and of course radar cruise control) that current car's have. It still looks modern, is relatively fast and economical, only costs £150 per year road tax, is very comfortable (with the DCC), and has enough kit to keep me happy.
Actually on that safety tech point, BMW surprised me as on a £47k list X3, all the safety options mentioned are optional and form part of the DAP pack (Driver assistance pro), which itself is contained in a much more expensive technology pack. This is supposed to consist of 7 options for over £3k, but currently DAP, Harmon Kardon, Wireless Charging and mobile phone key card, have been removed leaving just 3 out of the 7 items remaining (as due to chip shortages BMW can't supply any of them all year it seems), however they have only reduced the price of the £3k pack by £600 !!!
Coupled with all this, is the waiting times on new cars builds at best is approx 5-6 months (with some quoting 7-8 months), so in the end I think I've decided to just keep the GTI a bit longer (not really a hardship is it), until perhaps middle of next year or so or until the chip crisis has abated and deliveries are back to more reasonable levels.
What's everyone else's thoughts ?