Well, after nearly 6 years with the GTi I pick up my new car this afternoon, a brand new Passat TDi 150. Yes, a diseasel!! Dark, dark times indeed!! Circumstances have dictated this to a certain extent, for example, fuel cost and the mileage I am now doing and this means running the GTi has become too expensive for us.
I also have to admit to having lost confidence in it since the cam timing unit went a few weeks ago. I genuinely thought I'd suffered the dreaded timing chain bang at the time so was "relieved" to get away with a £500 bill but it still rattles like mad on start up every morning and one or two recent failures on the timing chain thread where people have got nothing off VW have not filled me with confidence either, especially as mine is such an early 09 example. It had become almost like a game of Russian roulette every morning where you turn it on and hope it'll be ok but also know one day you'll get hit by the bullet and a £6/7/8k bill!
So in a fit of sensibleness I walked into my dealer on Saturday with a Car Wow quote for a Passat GT and two hours later walked out with an even cheaper one they had in stock. Lovely car to be fair, fully loaded and £3k cheaper than the Mk7 GTD I was seriously considering.
All in all, I've had 6 happy years with my Mk6. It's had the cam time unit fail and the inlet manifold failure too. £800 or so between them which I suppose isn't too bad in 6 years. I also had the timing tensioner changed at 4 years old. It's averaged about 35mpg pretty consistently. It's been quick, fun and gains serious respect from people who think it is just simply a cool car. In 4 years time when I've paid the Passat off we will change the wife's 1 series convertible and she has talked about another GTi then or maybe even an R but I'd want to see over the next few years if the timing chain issue aflicts the Mk7 in the same way it has the 6 - only if it were would I seriously consider one. The Mk6 has also got me into the VW scene and I intend to keep the Mk2 which is now just about completely restored and show ready so I will still continue to hang round the shows.
I'd like to thank everyone on here for the banter, the friendship and the knowledge that I've encountered since becoming a member of the forum. I'd especially like to thank Simon (Dubber) for all his help whilst I was having my Mk2 restored down in Shropshire and various others of you who have answered my queries and questions either on the forum or through the private messages,not least Rocket Ross who answered to me in great detail about the problems he was having literally the other day just before I sold mine.
Hopefully, I will see you all in 4 years time, no doubt by then on the Mk8 section!!
