Have you ordered an 8.5 ?

[Exonian]

Ordered 4th July. Standard GTI with moonstone paint only, to keep under £40k. Will change the wheels to something aftermarket. Popped in last week and provisional build week 36, I should have it mid October.

To me, for UK customers, this is unfortunately the only approach that makes any sense. Ok, maybe a few added cheapie options if it didn’t delay the build while VW sneak in a few price increases.
That extra £400 a year mandatory road tax negates quite a large amount of any negotiated up front discount and won’t help resale value. Add to that an imminent £500ish price rise and the smart money will be dealing sooner rather than later.

[Carlosfandango]

I totally hear ya @Exonian, but I’m a sucker for the bells and whistles, and this may well be a car I keep for the long term, and could possibly be the last ICE GTI we see too, so wouldn’t get a second roll of the dice in this form, some of the options I’ve chosen will certainly delay its build, especially the pan roof apparently, fortunately VW honour the price at point of order, and l would of exceeded 40k with only a couple of the options I’ve chosen anyway, so with a bit of classic man math, I added more! 😁, although it should be, to me it’s not really about what will and won’t help residuals, I did however manage to get a decent discount of 5k off of the cars RRP of £42,734, this was only around £500 higher than DTD quoted me, plus I now pick the car up myself from my local dealership instead of it being driven 140 miles to me, plus my car will be traded in which DTD don’t offer, so overall I’m happy, even if I have that extra tax to pay.

[Derrydiva]

I agree with the sentiment. It will probably be my last ICE vehicle, and if I am spending that much money I may as well order what I want. I did not go mad on the extras but I know I will be happy despite the extra tax. I think I will be keeping it for many years.
I cannot take it with me, so I might as well enjoy it.

[fredgroves]

I'm keeping my powder dry for an ed50 gti...

[Carlosfandango]

I'm keeping my powder dry for an ed50 gti...

Hmmm.🤔 now there’s a thought.

[Exonian]

I totally get where you’re coming from Carlosfandangio and Derrydiva and any others in the same position. If anyone is fortunate enough to be in the position to order a new GTI they’ll each have their own reasoning, circumstances and desires, so there’s no wrong decision. I suppose I’m just in the mode of ‘get in sharpish’ while you can still pick up a GTI under the tax threshold before any price rises (and any likelihood of build delays putting even a modestly specced car over the tax barrier by the time it’s delivered, irrespective of what it actually cost at point of order) and while there’s a good supply of vanilla spec cars coming through.
I guess £600 tax means different things to different people too. Some are against it in principle and will avoid it and full kudos to that, some see £600 as not a lot of money and some (like me!) begrudgingly pay it but wish they didn’t as they object to a Golf paying luxury tax when they see huge 2.5 tonne SUV’s with 2ft wide tyres ripping about doing about 15mpg that should be taxed to the hilt.

If a car was going over the £40k threshold I’d probably be spending a few grand extra and getting a Clubby or R (Black Edition), but that doesn’t detract from what a great car a 265PS regular GTI now is.

Or hang on to see what the Ed50 is all about as fredgroves says 



Anyway, back on topic - who else has ordered an 8.5?

[SuperScaff]

What is this £600 tax all about and why is it important to keep below £40k if someone could explain I’d appreciate it

[jh_97]

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tips-advice/363493/what-luxury-car-tax-expensive-car-supplement-explained

[DrivenToDistraction]

I guess £600 tax means different things to different people too. Some are against it in principle and will avoid it and full kudos to that, some see £600 as not a lot of money and some (like me!) begrudgingly pay it but wish they didn’t as they object to a Golf paying luxury tax when they see huge 2.5 tonne SUV’s with 2ft wide tyres ripping about doing about 15mpg that should be taxed to the hilt.

If a car was going over the £40k threshold I’d probably be spending a few grand extra and getting a Clubby or R (Black Edition), but that doesn’t detract from what a great car a 265PS regular GTI now is.

Reviews indicate that the 8.5.GTI is now the car the mk8 should have been. However, like you, if I was speccing a basic GTI to above £40k I would opt for Clubsport (RRP £41,655). I had a 7.5 R for 2 years and I find my 7.5 GTI more fun to drive.

BTW, do we know anything about this ED50 yet? Just exterior styling I assume?

[WelshGolf]

I've been quoted on a new clubsport with a decent discount to replace my 2 year old clubsport, but just not sure it's worth swapping for something pretty much identical that will cost me more money?