Trade in and Used Prices? MK7.5 to MK8

[GTi Andy]

Hi all

I’m considering trading in my 2017 (67) MK7.5 PP GTi with 30k miles for a MK8 GTi 2021 (21) with 22k miles.

My current spec is 19” Santiago wheels, DSG, Discover Pro, Dynaudio and have been offered £21499.00 trade in by the dealer which seems ok considering I paid £25k for it back in 2018.

The MK8 GTi has DSG, 19” Adelaide wheels, winter pack and Harmon Kardon audio and is priced at £31499.00 so basically a cost to change of £10k.

Now what I find a bit off putting is the price of a 2 year old used car now compared to what I paid for a 1 year old car in 2018.

What are yours thoughts on this guys? Is it really worth spending £10k to upgrade to the MK8 which is 4 years newer than my MK7.5 PP?

[Watts]

Have you not read about all the tech gremlins with the MK8? If not, go to the MK8 section and have a good long read. Personally I think you'd be mad to buy a car that is nearly out of warranty and has so many known issues that VW can't fix. And how dedicated to fixing them do you think they would be once the warranty expires? And who will be paying??

In your situation, assuming the £10k is cash in the bank, I'd grab a VW All in One deal and keep the money for a future change. If you have a real urge to change just because then I'd look elsewhere.

[GTi Andy]

Thanks for the info there, no I haven’t heard of the tech gremlins but I will take a read! Being 2 years old I would have thought any Tech issues would have been fixed by now or are they still ongoing? Although 2 years old it will come with a 2 year warranty. By a VW all in one deal do you mean a finance package?

[Watts]

New issues seem to crop up each time they attempt a 'fix'. And you can have a car that works well then gets an update followed by constant tech issues that seems to be regularly blamed on the steering wheel. Replacement doesn't always resolve it and as I said, once out of warranty they will likely expect the owner to pay. I'd also be very concerned about selling a car on out of warranty with all the gremlins on board.

[Snoopy]

My view is i wouldn't be changing a mk7.5 for a used 8. Too many hardware and software gremlins they don't know how to fix. As said check the mk8 section lots of posts about issues just suddenly appearing.
You have one of the last best GTis now. Unless you want a change then personally I would be looking at other brands

[Adam T7]

You would have to prise the keys to my Mk 7.5 out of my cold, grey dead fingers before I parted with it.
I think the Mk 8 GTI actually looks really smart but with mechanicals pretty much the same as the Mk 7.5 plus the well documented software issues I’d stay well and truly put with the Mk7.5.
Just my opinion and not trolling folk who have Mk 8’s.

[Exonian]

As a mk8 owner of 28 months or so I’d not particularly recommend getting one purely from the tech gremlins angle.
My issues were very occasional until I got a software update installed on the car’s second service.
After that the SOS and Travel Assist warning bongs and lights can go absolutely bonkers some days. I’m not exaggerating here either. Other days it’s fine for days on end, but then it comes back.
In other respects the car has been faultless so far (touch wood) aside from a few rattles and squeaks from the rear somewhere on occasion.
As mentioned by Watts, the general response from VW is to order a new steering wheel which in my case seems to be on eternal back order.
On this score alone you’d really not want to own a mk8 outside of warranty.

[Adam T7]

Sorry if a bit off topic but daughter was around this evening in her new Audi Q4 etron, drove me down to the pub and it’s a lovely car, feels so solid - guessing the weight of the battery helps. Just hope it escapes any software gremlins.

[willni]

Sorry if a bit off topic but daughter was around this evening in her new Audi Q4 etron, drove me down to the pub and it’s a lovely car, feels so solid - guessing the weight of the battery helps. Just hope it escapes any software gremlins.

Another off topic one, sister in law got an iX3 (electric x3) and I couldn't be more shocked at the quality of bmw, I wouldn't, recommend it to anyone. Inside is faultless and drives great but the exterior finishing is awful from a technical standpoint.

Back on topic now, I personally think the mk7.5 is the better car between it and the mk8, I'm looking for something to trade into but in the same point of used car prices for a 1-2 year old car are crazy as well as there's nothing that peaks my fancy apart from a 230i in purple but given the above regarding bmw I'd be very hesitant to pay for a downgrade in quality.

[Exonian]

On the topic of BMW’s, I had an F40 M135i and the build was flawless. I drove a couple more launch cars and the same was true.
There are no less than 3 new M3’s on my estate plus a couple of 330e’s and they all look pretty spot on as far as casual once over goes - so much for there being no money around! 

And back to VW’s and current market conditions. A couple emailed offers were sent to me recently regarding in stock new Golf R’s, one being a blue 20 years edition and one a blue R with a few nice extras. Both cars in different dealerships and both wanted £20k to change up from my two year old GTI Clubsport. Err, no thank you, I’ll put up with the bongs thanks. Both cars were sold almost immediately afterwards for circa £48k- £50k. So much for there being no money around…