« Reply #1 on: 13 July 2009, 06:18 »
Difficult one to answer. I have a mk5 and am looking into getting a mk6.
The new car will have a full warranty and although expensive, should provide hassle free motoring for three years or so. I won't mention projected resales as you are likely to get yours on PCP.
Without wishing to be a part contributor to WWIII if that errupts should someone actually poke a bit of critism toward the mk6 I'll try and be objective.
MK5 will be out of warranty at 3 years so be prepared for bills if anything goes wrong. MK6 will be rented so you will be paying interest but VW will be coughing up for repairs under warranty.
MK6 will be on a hire agreement so you will not be able to modify the car in any way. There was an issue on seatcupra.net back along where a guy put in a warranty claim on a modified car that was on PCP and all hell broke loose. Needless to say he ended up in hot water and lost the car and money.
MK5 interior not actually all that different to the mk6 despite some claims. I've owned two mk5s and driven 2 mk6s and I can see what has actually been changed - not as much as you think. Bung in a current model RCD or RNS unit and there aren't that many differences. Both of my mk5s have been owned second hand and have had reasonable mileages on them. Current one is at 47k and the interior looks nearly new. MK4 owners used to critisise the mk5 as having a substandard interior as it didn't have some of the fancy plastics but these plastics wear very badly and most mk4s now look shabby inside. My father still has a mk4 ( late model 53 plate one) which has an easy life and yet looks worse for wear inside than my mk5 (which also has an easy life). The biggest difference is the glow in the gloom white backlighting on the mk6 which looks fresh and modern. The mk5 has the blue back-lighting from the mk4 which is quite funky in it's own way.
The mk6 is definately slower than a mk5 Ed 30 flat out, however the smaller turbo of the lower powered car spins up quicker so you won't notice that much difference unless you're racing.
The interior of the Ed 30 is nice, the leather bolsters may wear a bit as the car gets older but that can usually be kept in check with regular cleaning. The Ed 30 looks nice, the 200PS mk5 is starting to look a little dated though. The mk6 is the one that will age the best though as it's a new model and is going to become very familiar. I think the Ed30 and Pirelli will always remain desirable though as they are very highly regarded just like the mk4 Anni was. The standard 200PS car is still very popular though as it offers very good value for money (by VW standards) now unless you're mad enough to walk into a dealer and cough up some of the prices they are charging for late low mileage models right now (nearly mk6 money) considering you could buy a brand new run out car for about £18k not so long ago......
So if I were a neutral I'd be looking at getting a mk6 if I wanted shiny and new and wanted to impress the nieghbours.
Otherwise I'd be looking at an Ed 30 if I could get one at sensible money. I wouldn't be paying some of the prices VW dealers are charging as in a couple of years it will start to look dated not just along side the mk6 which will become more common but also against other cars released by other marques that will have similar features to the mk6 (which is essentially only an updated mk5 to keep competitive with other manufacturers funky new models in the pipeline).
There is no right or wrong decision basically.......
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‘25 8.5R, ‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
