Buy Japanese next time.
They know how to make cars well.
I realise WHY Hairy Porter said this - to rile forum members, but I must admit WHAT he did say made some sense.
I think the VW projected image is much better than the actual mechanical reliability. Have a look at the most recent reliability surveys of all the manufacturers, VW always comes somewhere in the middle of this list. Japanese cars always come near the top.
I am not bashing VW here, because I am currently driving a three year old Polo GTI from new. Before this I have had two other Polos and a Lupo. What I have found is that the cars are generally reliable but when something does go wrong it can in a spectacular way.
I have only done 20k miles in my Polo, but in the last three years it has needed, all done under warranty (i) replace a broken front spring (ii) replace/repair front mounting a year after the spring was replaced (I'm not a mechanic, oops, sorry technician, but I think the two are interlinked and why it wasn't repaired at the same time I don't know) (iii) investigate EPC warning light and replace sensor (iv) discover a fault with the air conditioning, get repaired, then I realise the heating control no longer works, so back in for another days repair!!!
Why do I sometimes find myself learning about technical stuff I shouldn't/don't want to know about to ensure VW technicians have done a decent enough job? All that stuff fixed under warranty would have cost me hundreds to repair had it been out of warranty.
So after spending nearly £16k, as Radek previously posted, this is not the quality I have come to expect. When you do buy a top of the range model, whether Polo or Golf GTI, possibly unfairly you expect to have 'better' components than the base 'S' model, but lets be honest at the end of the day most of the components in the GTI are the same if not a similar quality as everything else in the range.
I am keen to upgrade to the Golf GTI but think it is overpriced by approx £5k (respect to Rolfe for getting a healthy discount, I got my car from VW Verve, Glasgow also), and I don't mind getting a bigger loan and repaying over a longer term if I think I am getting value for money, but VW need to more to get me to buy. If VW are confident about their quality and reliability why not offer a longer warranty than three years? Other manufacturers are starting to do this. Three years is not long enough especially when some want to hang onto their cars for longer. If I was to be offered a five year warranty then I would be more interested, I would know that rattles which are annoying would be sorted out and any significant mechanical faults would also be covered.
Why do I not buy Japanese cars? Because the VW doors still shut with a satisfying thud, none of this tinny nonsense.
At the moment the GTI is just too pricey for me, respect to those who have one though.
Cheers.
