With a Polo GTI+ on the way (build in 3 weeks time, ready for July but waiting until new plate) to replace the wife's 3 door A1, I decided it was time to get the front passenger side wheel that she minced refurbished in preparation for a private sale.
There's a place by the Tyne Tunnel that gets cracking reviews, I took the wheel in with the Golf, and had them look at the front passenger side Pret that she also scraped. It's a light scrape on the Pret, but there's a large paint chip on the edge (about 1/2 the diameter of a 5p piece. I was astounded by how thick the paint was on the wheel, seeing the depth of the paint chip.
The guy came out to have a look at it and decided it was easily fixed (scrape is paint deep only). He then commented on how it had been refurbed before, I said "no way, I've had this from new". He told me to have a closer look at the chip, and sure enough, it's like looking at the cross section of a tree - White primer first on wheel, then silver, then possibly clear, then white primer, then silver again and then clear on top.
He said that he gets half his work from pre-delivery refurbs of cars coming off the Tyne-bound ships, VWs, Audis, BMWs, you name it. Cheeky twits, makes me wonder how many cars have been maimed and repaired in transit.
Sootchucker, don't know how you manage it, 42mpg in not only an R, but a DSG R - although if it's a new 7 speeder, that may make all the difference to be having a 7th gear ratio not too far off GTD's 6th gear. Always thought that the 5th and 6th gears of an R (6 speed) were far lower than they need be - mine is happy maintaining 30mph in 5th and at motorway speeds, mpg really drops off, tending towards 30mpg. I get 32-36mpg in my R on the 20 mile mixed roads journey to work, nearer 30-32 nog on the way home when traffic is far busier.