Just ordered a new Mk 6 GTi

[VWKev]

I agree. But if you'd have seen my Mark 3 repair you'd have been gobsmacked at how different it was. And that came out of a VW dealer!!!
On a different tack i just bought a match pot of magnolia paint to touch up some marks in the house. it may as well have been bright pink it was that different. In the end I've had to buy an "Ivory Cream" to match the current magnolia - how can that be?
I'm sure someone in the know will be along shortly to tell us the technicalities of it all.

I can only think then that if you have a mk3 then its got a coat of paint on it thats a few years old now thats dulled and faided over time, so they most likely matched it but because the new touchup was with spanking new paint it looked different ?

[dubcruiser]

I originally ordered a red one but overnight I changed my mind and have stumped up the £395 for metallic carbon grey. I thought the red one was stunning in the showroom but I remember having a bump in my old Mark 3 red one and the panel match was shocking. A friend of mine who's a printer told me red is a notriously difficult colour to match because it has so many hues and that my Mark 3 was a "blue" red whereas the workshop had painted it with a "yellow" red. Now this is printing speak and may be complete rubbish but without doubt, under yellow street lights, the new panel was different to the rest of the car. Admittedly this is 10 years ago and paint matching may be better now but I'm sure it'll look equally great in this carbon grey.
My options were the 18 inch alloys, cruise control and a luxury pack. It's pretty scandalous that for £22.5k you don't get these but I could just about justify them. As opposed to leather, sat nav etc. etc. which makes it a seriously expensive car.

Nice spec but I would of stuck with Tornado Red if I were you!! (But then I like Tornado!!)
You must be the only person I have heard of that buys a car with a view of hurting it!! I know what your saying though but to be honest any paint thats a few years old is hard to match which why they normally blend the paint in over other panels.
Not meaning to put a downer on your choice, but carbon grey would be hard to match also due to the metallic flake in it...

Check out the front and rear door on my old 1.8T (Flash Red). The different colour would only show in photos, but not the naked eye!!

[andykram]

What was annoying about the paint match on my old Mark 3 was that it was only 8 months old when I had the bump (I was hit by a white van man!!!) so the matter of fading shouldn't have been an issue.
I also take on board the carbon grey point and how hard that would be to match. But, hey, we're talking smidgeons of difference between the two I'd have happily had either.
And I also take on board the point about the Golf's pricing. As I said earlier I had 2 really rubbish Mark 4s, one of which was the most unreliable car I've ever owned, the other of which nearly killed me (the windscreen wipers failed 3 times on the A1 and M1 at different times) so i'm lucky to be still here to buy a Mark 6. The point is, because these are premium priced products people expect them to be premium quality. My Mark 4s weren't. That never stopped me hankering after the Mark 5 GTi and now the time was right to take the plunge with the Mark 6.
I just hope it lives up to my expectations 'cos I loved the test drive so much. However, if it doesn't that will definitely be "game over" for me and VW.

[RegularDude]

Hope you enjoy it you lucky bugger