Save your money, I'm considering engine swap out for a BAM and beach buggy k400, the only reason I could afford this now is that I would be living literally 10mins walk from work and I'll save 200 a month in fuel alone nevermind the other costs associated with it! As scarr says, means not musts. I would love to plough the 3000 into my golf to get it running the way I want but I'd need to ensure the roof is over my head first. The way I'm looking at it is this:
The car will die on the road or die of old age
You will always be able to save up for a car mate. I saved for the last 5 years for the next Rseries to come out with vw but I've now spent the 25k on a house buy instead.
Worth it? Most definetly! If you want something then figure out the means of getting it.
I now want to holiday in Mauritius, I can't get there on the wage I'm on, so now I'm studying for AutoCAD and the CII hoping one of those two fields will get me there as well as making plans to rent out one of the rooms I will have on the bottom floor of my house as its literally a self contained flat.
You're doing we'll buddy, keep at it and just think of this, you have a frikkin golf, the car you gaped at the age of 17 wishing you could afford one, and not only that you have built a history with it and it looks awesome
All you have to do now is prioritise buddy