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[FamilyDub]

What is your budget?
I can be a little flexible with the price if Im a little close to your budget......

Somewhere around 12 - 13k

There's 'flexible', then there's 'flexible'.. 

[No Golf Clubs at all]

And I could only really go as far as £15k, this assuming I got a reasonable price for my baby....

[gti-ug]

great find just had my oil done 

[rotor]

Still not going very well i must have spent so many hours searching for the right car and still not found it!!! Maybe im being too picky!!!

6 - 12 weeks is a more realistic timeframe. Word of advice: prioritise the specs you can't live without, and then only search for those. It saves a lot of wasted time drooling over otherwise appealing cars. E.g. when I was looking, at first I was looking at 3-door and 5-door ads, when in reality, I was never going to buy a 3-door, so by filtering out the 3-door ads I cut down the number of ads I had to go through every day. Just set up a saved search on Autotrader, and visit it a couple of times a day. I used the keywords "GTI DSG"; you could add others like "cruise xenon" etc.

Also, some things are really easy (and cheap) to add, like cruise-control, others are a lot more expensive (xenons, highline), and some are impractical/impossible (sunroof).

To mirror what FamilyDub posted:

DSG - Oh yes!
Xenons - I'd never had them before and they weren't a consideration during my search, but I ended up getting them anyway, and they are AMAZING. I don't know if I'd buy another car without them.
Highline - Yes. I didn't get this, and it would've been nice to have, but sometimes you have to compromise. I honestly don't know what I'm missing out on by not having it, and I'm quite happy with the car as it is.
Sat Nav - Yes. However, a pretty good TomTom costs £150, and specing the RNS510 from factory is something like £2,000. Even used they go for £600+, and I'm not convinced of the morality of buying used RNS510 (unless you know it is a genuine second-hand sale as opposed to a stolen unit). So it's doubtful you'll get it with any reasonably priced car, more so in your budget range. It's dead easy to remove, and an owner would be much better off replacing it with the stock stereo and flogging the RNS510 separately.
Cruise - Yes. To me this is essential. But as stated above, reasonably cheap to retro-fit.
Leather - I also prefer cloth.

Parking sensors - Yes. Essential.
Sunroof. Nice to have. I got it in mine, and enjoy having it, but it definitely wasn't a deal-breaker.

[DanoGTI]

Good luck -

FWIW I chose the following options -

DSG - Meh. Might look at it next time, but not a deal breaker.
Xenons - not bothered - had em in my S4, but the Golf's aren't rubbish, especially if you uprate the bulbs.
Highline - Yes, but not essential. I've got midline (same as my S4), and rarely even look at it.
Sat Nav - No. Realistically it would be an MFD2 (if you're REALLY lucky, an RNS), so a 3rd party TomTom etc would be as good. I spec'd mine with either MFD or RCD300, as I was going to change the stereo from day 1. Got an F900bt which has IGO8 on it.
Cruise - not bothered, certainly not essential.
Leather - No. Had it in the S4. Very nice but the VW leather doesn't seem to wear very well. I also prefer cloth now I've got it!
Parking sensors - Nice extra, but not essential (I'm of the frame of mind that if you need parking sensors to get into a space, look elsewhere, OR of course, you can't drive!)
Sunroof. Nice to have. I got it in mine, and enjoy having it, but it definitely wasn't a deal-breaker.
Lux packs & Winter packs - Yes imho.
18" Monza 2 - not convinced due to the preferring the ride of the 17". Although they do look very nice indeed.

tbh, the big one for me, was mileage and condition (I ended up with an MY05 with 22K on the clock). A nice base to start from.

All of course ETTO, IMHO etc etc etc

Dan

[rotor]

tbh, the big one for me, was mileage and condition (I ended up with an MY05 with 22K on the clock). A nice base to start from.

For me it was the same. As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd found my car. 2007 with 13k on the clock, and absolutely lovely inside and out.

[No Golf Clubs at all]

Dano's approach makes sense.

In essence there are certain things that cost a bomb to retro and others that dont, so passing a car by just cos it has no cruise doesnt really hold water. You can fit it cheaply yourself or for about £200 from a stealer.

List 1: Difficult or no chance of a retrofit and expensive.
DSG - if you want it, go for it, i have it and Looooove it! It was a £1500 premium and rocks!
Xenons - These are fantastic in my book and an essential, I do some country driving.
Highline - a bit meh, but it was such a cheap option when new £50 i think and its a pain if not difficult to retro fit. Doesnt do much but glad I have it.
Sunroof - No chance of a decent successful retrofit I think.
Leather - Ive got it, but tbh, i like the tartan cloth just he same. Easy but would anyone retrofit?
Lux pack - useless puddle lights and mirrors that fold by about 10mm? Arm rests are easily retrofittable.
Winter packs - Yes I would want this, living in Scotland.

List 2: Easy retrofit
Sat Nav - MFD2 is meh...though looks nicer in dash than the basic, but you may like to consider buying an rns510.
Cruise - as above cheap to retroft
Parking sensors - again a reasonable retrofit, but best with the originals if you "need" them.
18" Monza 2 - pain in the @rse to keep good, white worm etc I put pescaras on mine as I liked the look better.

So if I personally were looking for a car my essential list would be the number of Doors (5, next) then I would consult list 1, cos they are difficult and costly to retrofit, the others on list 2 are all something you can add, change and mod to suit.

Hope this doesnt generate a raft of "no it doesnt posts...."

[sharman]

I'm advertising my GTI for sale. It's an 07 plate standard 3 door in Pearlescent black with only 32,000 miles. Comes with FVWSH. Doesn't have DSG, xenons, satnav, highline or leather, but it does have cruise . It's a cherished car and I'm offering it at £13,500.