Whilst I accept that the 1 series may be a better car (in all classes to be honest), the one thing they got wrong was the styling

A truly grim-looking car.
This is coming from someone who owned Scoobies - a car renowned for it's legendary handling and performance, let down by truly awful styling!!!

Whilst the mk5 may still err on the side of conservative (in comparison to the Renaults & Vauxhalls etc), it is still (25 years later) bought because of its all-round ability.
The arguement about sales=stealing from within its own group is still valid. The Audi costs more, and imho would be mroe of a profit for VAG. We all know that the mk5 never made much for VAG due to its manufacturing costs - hence the mk6. This is a car that I'm not too sure sure on, still don't like the styling, but I think it may grow on me.
Just to add fuel to the fire, I've driven the mk4 and was left feeling very let down

but I then drove the GTI diesel, and thought it was fantastic

It's all about heritage and development - imho, the mk5 moved on SO much further from the mk4, that when the mk6 appeared, there wasn't as a big a difference between the two.....
All imho of course

Dan
