At the moment I'm holding out for a Mk8 GTI. But I have a few concerns. One being how much VW will charge. I'm watching VW steadily push the brand further and further up market without justification. The Golf used to be a humble quality brand but now it's getting a bit silly. Secondly I've not seen any leaked styling cues which means I might not even like it (a la Mk6). And thirdly when is it likely to hit our shores? Can anyone hazard a guess as to an estimated arrival date?
I've spent a lot of time on the Audi website and broker sites today, and noticed that currently there's just £145 between the manual 5 door R and the manual S3 Sportback (although you will beed ot spend some money on the options for the S3 which comes with leather seats, Xenons and very little else.
The MK8 is likely to be a subtle facelift in all but name, as the MK6 was following the MK5. If they make the interior any better there'll be absolutely no need for anyone to buy an Audi for anything but the badge.
The reason for my looking on the Audi website was doing the sums for getting the missus a car that I could use 1/2 the time for my commute, so it has to be something she'd like, and that I wouldn't mind driving too much, and also be economical enough to notice the difference at the pumps when we share the 2 cars between my 40 mile round commute and her 18 mile round commute.
I'd seen what seemed to be a cracking deal on a Seat Ibiza 1.2TSI I-Tech. £10k for a pre-registered delivery miles car, a £4k saving on list. There's a few things i'd like to add to the options, which cannot be done on a car already built. depreciation is a bit heavy, and i'm assuming that if they have any with metallic paint, it'll be £500 extra - likely £4500 depreciation suffered after 3 years, and expecting 44mpg from the stated 55mpg when using it on the commute.
Looked at the Polo 1.4TSI ACT also (with comfort pack, parking and metallic paint), would be expecting to lose £6500 on broker prices down to 3 year old p/x value, and get a realistic 48mpg on my commute.
Finally looked at the A1 1.6TDI Sport (with parking sensors all round, metallic paint, hill hold and convenience pack). Would lose £6k over 3 years, but gain on the fuel front. There's very little in the 3 cars overall for total 3 year running costs - the A1 costs £1500 more in depreciation but will save £1100 on the fuel vs the Seat and the A1 is free of road tax - so £310 between the 2 cars over 3 years.
