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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Golf mk7 GTD/TDI => Topic started by: Rick101 on 09 April 2014, 14:01
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I'm sure it's been covered before but is there a reason there are just long delays on GTD's?
I've never had a new car before but everybody I've spoken to is incredulous that someone would have to wait 5 months for a VW.
I know it's a popular car but surely that was to be expected. Demand isn't slowing so why haven't VW ramped up production?
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I'm sure it's been covered before but is there a reason there are just long delays on GTD's?
I've never had a new car before but everybody I've spoken to is incredulous that someone would have to wait 5 months for a VW.
I know it's a popular car but surely that was to be expected. Demand isn't slowing so why haven't VW ramped up production?
Allocation.
There are 4 VAG cars vying for the 184PS 2.0TDI unit and VW can only make so many without diverting resource from making their VAG engines. As long as demand exceeds supply, the residuals will be exceptional. If they were churning them out at a higher rate, you'd probably be looking at 47% residuals (like most of the rest of the Golf range) rather than 56% (worst case, based on GFV). If residuals (resulting in lower monthly payments) were one of the reasons you went for a GTD then you can't have it all ways.
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I'm not sure VW are too worried about what stuff goes for 2nd hand?? I understand the 184 is a popular engine but for over a year now they have been way way behind. Nobody else seems to be struggling like VW are.
If they don't do anything to resolve this, surely it will just continue.
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The wait is a huge frustration for sure, but VW still sell millions and millions of cars every year, so I'm guessing it doesn't quite present the problem you're suggesting it does. Are they losing sales because of it? Difficult to know.
I ordered my GTD very early in February and get it in around 7 days, so not quite the 5 months you're talking about.
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According to VW's blurb, 18,000 cars are produced each DAY but that's worldwide so I presume they know what they're doing :smiley:
Rick101 maybe VW are bothered about what prices their cars go for 2nd hand. I'm not sure who sets the Guaranteed Final Value Figure but with GTD's having high GFV even higher than GTI's it makes them much more desirable especially for the company car driver so demand is kept high.
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I would suggest VW do care very much what their cars go for 2nd hand. They can make cars and sell them at a relatively high price, but for a reasonable monthly cost due to the high residuals. They keep the GTI/GTI allocations strictly adhered to, so as not to damage those high residuals. They are not damaging their sales too much by doing so. While they keep making cracking cars, people are prepared to wait for them.
Their business model of high residual models allows them to sell Golfs at a higher price than the equivalent Focus/Astra/Megane etc, and because you pay a smaller amount of capital off over the typical 3 year finance period, they make more interest on the finance agreements. For most people owning a GTI/GTD over 3 years on solutions, assuming a decent negotiated discount means the car depreciates £8-9k over 3 years, and about a third of what you pay a month is for your car is interest.
If GTIs and GTDs depreciated like their peers, they'd cost a hell of a lot more per month than them at their higher RRP and VW would make less money as a result. Plenty here buy on their well above average residuals to keep actual running costs down - there's lost sales there if VW decided to change almost Audi RRPs if their cars depreciated like a stone.
Over a 3 year solutions finance deal, you can have a GTD for around the same monthly cost as a GT 150TDI, despite the GTD costing approx £2500 more.
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Ahh ok. Wasn't a loaded question btw :smiley: Didn't realise there was any benefit back to VW.
So, is it that VW are deliberatley keeping the build slow? I always thought VW had high residual because of brand image and build quality. You seems to be saying is more to do with the keeping availibility low??
Andrew 7 days sounds great, not sure how you managed that! I ordered 15th Jan and expecting it middle of May. That seems par for course when reading the other numerous threads.
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There are a few different variables. A dealer might have had a car already in the system but still able to be changed. So in effect that would give you just a 6 - 8 week weight if you times it just before it went to build date.
Then on the other hand a dealer may have sold all his allocated slots for that month or the following so when you order the car, the dealer can't actually order your car with the factory for a while, hence the wait.
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So, is it that VW are deliberatley keeping the build slow? I always thought VW had high residual because of brand image and build quality. You seems to be saying is more to do with the keeping availibility low??
It's all of the above, but keeping availability low helps. BMWs don't hold their value like they used to, and they will build you one as quickly as they can. You can get a 135M in 6 to 8 weeks from point of ordering, but you can wait 6 months for a Golf R. BMW are now heavily in the Fleet game - the 318D and 320D are rep mobiles, every other police car or ambulance car you see is a BMW. These lease cars get dumped on the used market at 2 or 3 years old in great quantity, though auctions and car supermarkets, pushing down the used prices. Pretty much all 1 and 3 series hold 45-48% of their RRP after 3 years (including the performance models). There are far fewer GTIs, GTDs and normal Golfs in the fleet scene.
A GTI or a GTD is a very expensive car to buy for what it is, but as a car to run for 3 years, the residuals make it a relatively cheap car to run for what it is. Around 6 years ago, VWs shot up in price, but they weren't any more expensive to have for 3 years because the residuals shot up with the RRP. The MK6 GTI went up 20% vs the last RRP of the MK5, for very little extra in the way of equipment and output.
Right now people are prepared to pay what VW are asking for them, due to image, perceived quality and residuals. If the residuals weren't all that great, i'd probably be in an Audi right now.
If you measure quality by the number of times your car goes in for warranty work, i'd say VW are distinctly average, but the cars feel solid and once you iron out the build niggles, i'd expect the average VW to outlive most of its peers. I wouldn't expect many Alfas to do 123k miles without mechanical incident as my dad's MK5 GT170TDI had when he traded it in, but it probably had another 125k miles left in it.
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Andrew 7 days sounds great, not sure how you managed that! I ordered 15th Jan and expecting it middle of May. That seems par for course when reading the other numerous threads.
That wasn't what he said, he ordered in early February and it is being delivered in 7 days. Total wait ~ 2.5 months.
7 days from order to delivery really would be amazing!
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Interesting stuff MH ,cheers for the reply.
No doubt I'll be boring my work colleagues with it for the next few weeks!
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How about 7 months from ordering until delivery, that was my wait! You need patience if you are ordering a bespoke GTD :grin:
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How about 7 months from ordering until delivery, that was my wait! You need patience if you are ordering a bespoke GTD :grin:
Same! However, mine is just a vanilla GTD and still the huge wait. I have a delivery date of 1st May so very excited now.
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How about 7 months from ordering until delivery, that was my wait! You need patience if you are ordering a bespoke GTD :grin:
Same! However, mine is just a vanilla GTD and still the huge wait. I have a delivery date of 1st May so very excited now.
Make sure VW give you some compensation. I complained to VW Customer Services and managed to get £250 of M&S Vouchers from the dealer! :laugh:
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Compensation/goodwill gesture depends on whether it is late or not. It's not late until the order has been accepted by VW and you've been given a confirmed build week, even then it is only late if they build your car more than a whole week after the build week you were given. I ended up with free Autoglym lifeshine when my BW31 car was build in BW33 - but you have to complain to VW UK to get the gesture - shy bairns get nowt.
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I was originally told I'd take delivery 12 weeks from 7th of April. Rang up other day to confirm sport and sound pack had been added and its now build week 28 which is back end of june I think. Was told it would be ready for august. Bit Disappointing tbh.
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I was originally told I'd take delivery 12 weeks from 7th of April. Rang up other day to confirm sport and sound pack had been added and its now build week 28 which is back end of june I think. Was told it would be ready for august. Bit Disappointing tbh.
If you're prepared to wait until August, i'd be waiting for the new plate in Sept (as hard as that seems right now).
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Yea that's what I thought too. If its going to be June/July I won't but if its august I may aswell wait.
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Yea that's what I thought too. If its going to be June/July I won't but if its august I may aswell wait.
I would wait if you're in the habit of changing your car every 3 years and you're buying/financing rather than leasing. In April/May/June/July, that car will be depreciating at the rate of £300 a month from a March plate, but it'l be hit by about a grand in August waiting for the next plate. On the road, that August car is going to look 6 months old on Sept 1st, not 1 month old - and the used values will take a clobbering as a result.
3 years down the line, an August registered car will probably be worth £1500 or so more than the March car on the same plate, but at least a grand less than the September car that's on the newer plate for the sake of the month when you trade in. If you're in the habit of keeping a new car 5/6/8 years then the difference in value between the plates way down the line becomes less relevant.
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FWIW the reason so many police forces and NHS trusts use BMW for their vehicles, is because BMW fit a lot of the kit that is needed during the build process. Also BMW still honour the warranty on them, where as other manufacturers do not due to the nature of the business the cars are used for.