Blue Graphite?

[Rolfe]

Is the boot in the new Focus quite shallow?
I hired a Focus last month and it seemed a lot less deep than the VW boot (for a wheelchair).

I've seen reports that the ACC in comfort gives a good ride.  Might be worth the cash.

I had my test drive this afternoon, and  I took both mother (93 next birthday, i.e. by the time a new car will be delivered) and the wheelchair.  Although the boot of the Golf measured an inch shorter than the Peugeot, the wheelchair fitted fine.

I haven't had the chance to try the Focus's boot, though a guy at work has a new one and I should probably ask him if I can measure it.  We have an older Focus as a pool car too, but it's an estate so it's not really comparable.

I'm pretty smitten with the Golf.  It's faster than the Peugeot for sure, and very comfortable.  Mother was also pretty smitten, which is good.  I wouldn't bother with the ACC myself, but for 93-year-old bones I suspect it would be worth it.  The demo car didn't have it though so I'm left guessing.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

Get the Golf, it will be worth more than a Foocass in years to come, so you will see some dosh back, although the G'ment may have a say in what cars we will be driving then?

Well, you might like to take that up with the Top Gear team.  Clarkson is such a Golf fan I wonder if VW are paying him, but they rate it badly on running costs - only 8 out ot 20.
http://www.topgear.com/uk/volkswagen/golf-gti

In contrast, the Focus gets 10 out of 20, with the comment "Against the Golf GTI, the Focus ST looks cheap."
http://www.topgear.com/uk/ford/focus-st

Now I have to say I don't entirely understand this.  The Golf has better fuel economy, and lower road tax.  Insurance bands are the same.  So how come the Golf has higher running costs?  Is it massively more expensive to service?  I doubt it.  I think they're docking it points on depreciation.

Nevertheless, check my OP.  I fell in love with my brand new Peugeot 306 GTi-6, and drove it for 11 and a half years and 118,000 miles.  I practically had to be slapped to realise that I had an old, clapped-out car that should be fed to the scrappage bribe.  I plan on falling in love with my next car too, and doing exactly the same thing.  Depreciation?  Not an issue.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

Although I would always be biased to a VAG car, I think the huge difference in purchase price new would not be recouped when selling the car in years to come. Unless VW are on to something here I reckon mk6 GTIs are going to lose a LOT of money in their first few years of depreciation. However the Focarse has a big engine and as you say, who knows what the govt have in store for us assuming the OP keeps the car for 10 years or so.

I'm inclined to agree with you here.  Though I make the difference about 2 grand when you correct for what's standard and what's an extra.  Do you think it's more than that?

You have a point about the engine size.  I'm not at all sure I want a 2.5 litre.

Ah a popular and brave choice of colour. I remember when that was all the rage with Pug owners. I bet it hides the dirt well though.

Is that "brave", as in "Yes Minister"?  I like metallics, and as far as I remember it was that or red.  I'm not a fan of red cars really, just a personal thing, so when it came down to it, although I wanted a light-ish metallic blue they didn't do the GTi-6 in that so I had the "Blaze Yellow".  Good for spotting where you've parked it, comes up nice when washed, but I have to agree, a real peach for not really showing the dirt when not washed.

The car is hard to tell from an ordinary 306 at a distance, and I have never been stopped by the cops while driving it.  Unlike my previous car, an XR2.  I got so fed up with being stopped in that either for going no faster than anybody else, but hey, let's ticket the XR2, or for no reason at all.  Once I was hazed and carved up by a couple of unmarked police cars while driving it.  I had no idea they were cops, I thought they were complete lunatics, but fortunately I didn't do anything they could have nicked me for - so they stopped me and gave me a general telling-off for nothing, then let me drive on.

I'm quite keen on the idea that the Golf GTi looks quite tame - not that different from a tame Golf.  Just as the ST looks much the same as a tame Focus.  I wouldn't be seen dead in the RS, frankly.  Or in that positively offensive orange paint job they're touting for the ST.

I'm a bit disappointed by the colour options on the Mk 6 to be honest.  I like colour, which rules out 6 of the 9 choices.  As I said, I'm not really a red car person either, and I like metallic.  So now we're down to the two shades of blue.  Both of these are very very dark - when I saw the paint samples in the showroom I realised they were darker than I had thought.  But that's a pretty minor point really.  It'll probably be the Blue Graphite in the end.  I like the way the red detailing shows up.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

Hmmm reasons to buy the golf??

Focus is very thirsty for a start. Good friend of mine often says that he gets the same mpg as my R32 as well as getting his a$$ handed to him on a plate. Dont quote me on this but doesnt the ST only come in a 3dr guise?? If it doesnt then I dont think I have ever seen a 5dr.

According to sources the MK6 can give over 480miles to one tank.. now that I would like to see as thats twice as many miles as i get in the R, but it is possible in theory.

The blue is a lovelly colour! iirc someone on here had a mk5 gti in blue and it looked very subtle, yet stylish and not so in your face such as other colours, so a good safe choice of colour i would say.

As for discounts.. forget it. Spoke to my dealer earlier this week and was told that they (leeds elland road) were only getting 4 per month and that they had sold their demostrator on the 1st on July. So cars are hard to come by and dealers will be very hesitant to give money off especially if the next customer is willing to pay the full price.

I have to say that the better fuel consumption was the first thing that jumped out for me with the Mk 6.  Then the more I looked, the better it got....  The ST does come in a 5 door though, check the listings.  I've never had a 5 door before but I'm having my arm twisted, and in fact it makes sense.  I'm now in a car pool (for choir practice) and have 3 passengers once every 3 weeks.  I'm the only one with a 3 door and it's a pain in the neck.

I used to average 400 miles on a tank with the Peugeot, that was putting in about 63 litres every time.  However I've now moved house and job, and I'm doing a lot better because I'm driving a more economical route.  450 miles is commonplace and 480 not unheard-of.  How does the Mk 6's tank compare, size-wise?  (I've seen petrol station attendants' eyes literally pop when they've seen me fill the 306 up from empty.)

As I said, both blues look very dark to me.  My preferred colour is a rather lighter metallic blue, or even gold or champagne, or I could consider the light metallic green route except you hardly ever see these nowadays.  I'm a bit unsure what the Blue Graphite will look like as a whole car (never seen one, just the pic in the brochure and the dealer's paint sample), but it'll probably be that.

Discounts?  I've just been offered a £500 discount on top the the £2,000 scrappage deal.  I guess I could get more off if I went through dealdrivers, but I lack the bottle to take a risk on an Internet purchase.  Call me a coward, but I have a crawling suspicion that if the car shows up with any problem, I'm more likely to get action if I actually bought it from the dealer I need to fix it.

Still, there is another dealer a bit further away, which I have to drive past anyway the day after tomorrow.  My mother bought a Polo there about 100 years ago.  I might just call in and see what they have to say.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

By the way, thanks everyone for your replies.

My big issue at the moment is the DSG question.  I hadn't even thought about it.  I've always had a manual.  But.

Last year I was in Spain, and had a hire car with a dud clutch.  Stalled it every 5 minutes.  Dangerous as hell on the mountain roads.  And I was groping the wrong side for the gear stick, as often as not.  (Try this with a 91-year-old who hates heights in the passernger seat and see how you like it.  In my defence, I'd never driven a left-hand-drive before - always took my own car over the channel.)  Then a month later I was in Michigan visiting a friend.  Another 90-year-old by the way, but you should have seen the cars she has.  I didn't get to drive the sports Cadillac, but I did get to drive the ordinary wheels, very nice car.  And the difference from Spain was chalk and cheese, because it was an automatic.  No possibility of a stall, and no problem with it being a left-hand-drive.  I really liked it.  But I came home and forgot all about it.

Then today, I cycled into the village for some basic provisions, as one does, and met a neighbour outside the chemist shop.  A neighbour whose husband (now retired) owned the garage in the village for donkey's years.  I told her I was hurrying off as I had a test drive booked.  She remarked that people often used to ask her husband's advice on what car to drive, and he found it impossible as it is such a personal choice.  But she remembered one lady, and he'd said to her, whatever you get, get power steering and automatic.  She did, and later said that every time she drove the car she mentally thanked him for the advice.  I told the story about the Michigan car, but said I wasn't that bothered.  Always had a manual, wasn't really thinking of changing.

Then I got the the dealer for the test drive - and the car was a DSG!  Well, I fumbled and made an idiot of myself for a few minutes (including stamping on the brake with my left foot because my instincts told me to depress the clutch, now that was one helluva good test of the emergency stop and it did just fine thankyouverymuch).  But then, you know, the drive in Michigan came back to me.  And I asked the sales guy the price.  Same price as the leathers, which I was planning on having.  I said, no thanks, I'm not that bothered.

But then I drove the 306 away, and started to critique my own driving.  I run in too high a gear quite a lot of the time.  I'm bad about changing down to overtake - I just assume the car will pull away in 6th (which it more or less does).  I reviewed what the salesman said about city driving, and recalled evenings of aching shins after inching through London traffic.  I never really thought about it.

I don't do much city driving now.  But I'm seriously reconsidering my commitment to manual gear-shifts.  I suspect I could so get used to the DSG.

Opinions, anyone?

Rolfe.

[carl1]

the tank is 55 litres in the gti, i have acheived 485 miles from a full tank link:http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=120333.0

[R32UK]

DSG?? no thank you!!


with all the associated problems, and known faults I wouldnt bother.... thought you wanted a fun car??

[carl1]

 i test drove a dsg and it was really dull, i just didn't feel conected to the car at all, when i got my manual it felt like a different car all together, i surpose dsg is good if you are unlucky and have lost a leg, otherwise manual 100%

[Exonian]

Rolfe, I would prefer a lighter blue myself. VW did a nice Laser Blue when they launched the mk5 but it got discontinued not long after and it's a shame they don't have a similar colour available now. SEAT do a lovely Speed Blue for their sporty Leons and if you look on VWs German website they do a whole raft of colours for the mk5.5 mk6. So the colours are there, just not imported by VW UK.

DSG is a fantastic gearbox. It has features such a launch control and with several different modes including manual it has an awful lot going for it. However if you are planning on keeping the car for another 10 plus years I would be more than a little concerned about long term costs with it. Fine for the first 3 years but after that you're going to have to be prepared to shell out a lot of money if it needs fixing. I think it would suit your more mature driving style though.
Most of the stuff underneath the 'new' GTI is the same as the last GTI so all well proved and has had 5 years of development underneath its belt.

On another note, glad your mother approves of the GTI. A woman of taste and obviously a good attitude too which must be the secret to her rather impressive innings. 

As for the Focus, I'm a quiet admirer of the car, you've got to take your hat off to a 2.5 litre turbo mated up to the legendary Focus chassis and you would certainly get much bigger discounts from a Ford dealer than a VW if you shopped around well but I reckon the VW would make a better long term companion despite the ST offering an awful lot as a package. They do the Focus in some nice blues though.....

[gizzywizzy]

Have you seen the amazing number of colours the GTI is offered in Germany.  Maybe if you really aren't keen on the colours for UK buyers you should pop over to Germany and see if you can place an order there.