This was almost a thread titled "I wasn't expecting to be driving this a week ago" around about a month ago but alas life is never simple (for me at least!).
It was around about the time the Clubsport was released; which was basically the car I'd been waiting to see if it was going to be the replacement for my GTI next year and which basically, interior aside, totally underwhelmed me. Mostly I think it's the styling of the front bumper I really didn't like. The angles look all wrong and it's too fussy unlike the standard GTI which has a pretty and simple face that throws a nod back to the previous generation GTI's too.
There was a lot of consternation and interest on here about the huge 2016 model price rises and I'd been fishing around trying to find out a bit more info, asking some more clued up dealers, not least of all Evo1986 who is our long standing forum dealer insider who it pretty quick to let us know what's been released.
We'd all suspected the GTI/D was getting nav as standard but whether the winter pack and keyless was also included remained a mystery so we all sat and made jokes about the configurator.
So, what to replace my GTI with next year when the warranty and service deal runs out? Another GTI maybe? A GTD? An R? I like all of the models and all have some features which I find really good and some less so. The GTI is still be best all rounder, absolutely no doubt about it. I've spent a reasonable amount of time in all three models now and the GTI still has the best blend in my not so humble opinion.
Anyway, to cut a very long story short, just after all this MY2016 confusion I was sat half watching TV on a Saturday evening when my phone lit up with a message from Lee (Evo1986) saying he'd just secured a DSG R just off the boat and was I interested?
"What's the spec and how much?" was my basic reply whilst angling the phone away from wifey just in case she got that sinking feeling that I was about to flush another fortune down the toilet. "Standard spec andI'll let you know prices Monday when I get into the office"
All a bit surreal and I just spent the rest of the night chuckling to myself about how random that seemed!
So, Monday arrived and so did the ££££ to change, but to be honest I'm not a DSG person for no real reason other than the way I like to set a car up for a sharp corner and the fact I drive quite a few different vehicles in a week that are all manuals so an auto would confuse the hell out of me, I have enough trouble remembering there's no handbrake lever).
"How about a white five door manual R, standard spec?" comes the next message. That's when my ears really pricked up. No money wasted on optional extras; I'd have liked the Pretorias but they can be added later and the nav was a £750 'investment' on my GTI that I just didn't ever really use. Rear camera can be added later if I really miss it and you can't have park assist on an R anyway. Anything else I can live without as the standard spec is pretty good.
"Hold fire whilst I have a look at finances" was my reply and then I got to work.
That wasn't as easy as it might have been as I'd only moved house last summer so coffers had been well and truly drained and borrowing more money on top of the mortgage wasn't as simple as it might have been as moving house seems to have wrecked my credit rating or something as none of the cheap loan providers would give me their advertised rates. God knows why as I don't even have a credit card let alone much debt aside from a smallish mortgage. Anyway I finally managed to negotiate a palatable deal with a bank (credit to Lee, he has never once tried to sell me finance or any expensive add ons, I think he knows that forum dwellers are a bit more switched on in some areas than your average walk in punter and generally know exactly what they do and don't want from the outset).
The one proviso with the deal was that it was completed by the end of May which only gave me a few days and I was off to Cornwall for a long weekend before returning to 12 hour night shifts.
All a bit of a whirlwind and a million miles from a six month factory wait!!! Would I have even ever ordered an R from the factory anyway? Who knows!?
Thus ensued a bit of a rush and then a sudden halt.
It transpires that as I'd guessed - the car was a cancelled lease car and there had been a paperwork error along the line so the brakes had to go on for a couple weeks.
Anyway, on Friday I became the rather bemused owner of a five door Golf R which was a bit unexpected to say the least.
So a big thanks to Lee and Chris at Cheltenham VW (though I doubt my wife would thank Lee!) for an interesting experience to say the least, great guys to deal with & none of the corporate nonsense.
And to anyone who wants a really well looked after, sensibly driven and carefully run in white three door GTI PP with only a very low mileage, nav, camera and park assist then give Cheltenham VW a shout assuming they haven't sold it already. I don't think there's a single stonechip on the car and no scratches or dings, even the wheels and tyres are like new because I ran aftermarket wheels on it.
I'll give my thoughts on the R once I've spent a bit of time with it, which could be a while as I'm inundated with around the house jobs and family visits all weekend...
