Want a GTI but difficult to justify cost

[monkeyhanger]

The trouble with the great residuals on the VW is that they make less sense buying nearly new than new,

It depends which car you buy. My old Passat cost me £16,000 when it was 11 months old (£23,700 new.) My current one was £16,8000 at 14 months old (£27,500 new)

Residuals are creeping up with the other cars in the VW range, although Golf is definitely king, with Scircco and Tiguan a little behind - they used to be crap on the Polo (compared to the Golf), now its around 47%, a lot better than most superminis. The cars in Passat's class are considered to be rep-mobiles, very few are bought new privately. You can see it in the Audi range too when A6's have cataclysmic residuals relative to the marque and a once £28k A4 can be bought for less than a once £22k A3, both 18 months down the line.

If I was looking for a cheap nearly new car similar in size to the Golf that's taken a residual hammering in the meantime, i'd probably be looking at a 2 year old Alfa Giulietta with 3 of it's 5 years warranty left intact, or maybe a Volvo V40.

[Yarrac]

The others have nailed it really. If we were all sensible then we would all be drving around in a 3 year old 1.1L 5 door average white car, after all it would get you from A to B. However, cars, like life, allow you to decide to spend extra money to get nicer things, even if they are not vital.

If you think its worth that cost then go for it. Failing that, get a loan and buy a second hand Mk6 GTI

[Mark V GTD]

I'm not sure where the OP got his finance figures from. VWFS are doing a 750 quid deposit contribution at the moment, so if you go for a 3-door manual GTI in red (and negotiate a 10% discount - or more from a broker), then put down 10% deposit you can be repaying as low as 276 a month. Even with a 1,600 deposit that goes up to 308 a  month.

[dubber36]

Perhaps he's being realistic about the mileage he'll do.

[Mark V GTD]

Yes thats a possibility - although if cost per month is such a significant issue keeping the 'hand back' allowance at 5,000 is very effective...

[fredgroves]

Didn't someone say the mileage on a lease you need to look at carefully? He said something about the excess mileage charge strangely being cheaper - ie lease for 5k, do 15k = cheaper than leasing at 15k?

Maybe you just need to look carefully at ALL of the lease numbers and shop around.

[Mark V GTD]

With a VW PCP if you go over the mileage limit at the end of the agreement and decide to hand the car back (although I'm not sure many do) the amount you pay per mile is less than the additional cost of taking out the agreement with a higher mileage allowance!