How many 8.5s are actually out there?

[Sharpe]

I’ve seen a couple of others in the wild, but am on the roads all day for work. I think if you own a certain vehicle you are more likely to spot others, notice what options they have etc.
I took mine on PCP with a £1k deposit with the intention of paying off the vast chunk of the finance when my transporter sold. Ended up using money from an ISA along with the proceeds from the van to withdraw from the PCP within 14 days. Cost me £60 in interest in return for £3250 deposit contribution from VWFS - well worth it!
The £40k tax barrier was one of the reasons for choosing the GTI. Plus the fact it’s a well rounded, not too shouty car.
I agree that forums have lost audience to Facebook etc. I check in here most days

[HBW13]

My 8.5 was supposed to be collected today (ordered October)
Pushed back to end of Jan 😡

[DrivenToDistraction]

I’ve seen a couple of others in the wild, but am on the roads all day for work. I think if you own a certain vehicle you are more likely to spot others, notice what options they have etc.
I took mine on PCP with a £1k deposit with the intention of paying off the vast chunk of the finance when my transporter sold. Ended up using money from an ISA along with the proceeds from the van to withdraw from the PCP within 14 days. Cost me £60 in interest in return for £3250 deposit contribution from VWFS - well worth it!
The £40k tax barrier was one of the reasons for choosing the GTI. Plus the fact it’s a well rounded, not too shouty car.
I agree that forums have lost audience to Facebook etc. I check in here most days

I could afford the extra luxury car tax, but I refuse to pay it on principle. You have already paid a huge amount of VAT and this just adds insult to injury. Money for nothing, quite literally. I would have chosen different wheels, but that would have pushed the list over the £40k. That standard ones are 'OK'. I think the list price of mine (with metallic Dolphin grey paint) was £39.6K? I bought it as an approved used (Dealership Manager's car, 5k miles) with £7K off. Of course, the PCP discounts from VW are only available if you buy brand new. And I had forgotten that the (£190) first year road tax was not included in the (approve used) sale price! Durrh. Happy enough though. Fantastic car. I picked mine up over a month ago and haven't seen another one on the road yet!

I avoid FB like the plague so hope forums like this keep going for a while longer..

[P6GTD]

I love the GTI forum and won’t do FB or any of the other sh!t like X on principle.

BUT, I have to say the MK 7 forum is turning into like OAP versions of cars where the “aches and pains” are being discussed. Too many moans, not enough love (PS : don’t tell them, anyone!)

So, despite my rather too many years and doubts about the post 7.5 I still love reading about new owners, new cars and new thoughts.

Keep the forums alive and kicking.

[Exonian]

The fact this thread has seen 3 pages of activity already suggests real forums haven’t gone completely belly up. And decent quality posts too unlike the garbage social media throws up.
With a real forum such as this the posts tend to be better thought out containing some constructive content instead of the low social skills knee jerk rubbish that Facebook groups can contain.

Advertising bombards us with legions of identikit electric SUV’s, company car drivers lust after long range Teslas now instead of 320d’s and GTD’s, and each new EV launch brings the demise of ICE that little bit nearer. Times are a changing.

An 8.5 GTI with a bit of spec suddenly comes very close in price as a PCP “purchase” to a Black Edition Golf R.
You’ve got to really want a GTI and have deep pockets to pick the former.

Many R drivers were former GTI drivers (going back to post #1) so we’ve always had an R presence here, some preferring to stay here and some finding their calling elsewhere.

Maybe with the closeness in price between the models now there are far more R’s being registered and those forums are where the enthusiastic new owners are at?

Similar to mobile phones, hot hatches are getting very expensive for what they are and the features of each subsequent generation are closer to their predecessor to make it less worthwhile upgrading so owners are tending to keep them longer.
High interest rates, high inflation, substandard pay increases, high rents, spiralling energy costs… all those things that have dominated the headlines post 2022 have redirected peoples priorities away from the low interest rate ‘spend, spend, spend’ culture pre-covid and more so pre-Ukraine invasion.

So where are all the 8.5’s? They’re about! But the owners maybe not forum active so much - yet!
Unlike with previous generation Golf launches you can now track the number of unallocated cars via VW’s website which show quite a few cars up for grabs, which is different to normal Golf launches where you have to wait 6 months plus for a build slot.
Personally, and I don’t do huge mileage, I’ve seen a handful of regular 8.5’s in the wild, just one (black) GTI around Exeter a couple times and a white R Black Edition with big spec near the Newton Abbot VW dealer.

I don’t know why the forum is so quiet, I’d suspect most reasons have been covered in this thread already.
Around the festive break people tend to be busy with other things too, so cars take a back seat.
I’d been mulling over a 12 month update on my own car but actually getting some time to think what useful content I could add into it has been nigh on impossible, along with lack of motivation, after all this is a GTI forum and mine is an R so hardly of great interest.

There are a few of us still knocking around still, even if we’re just playing a game of ‘last man standing’…

[Adam T7]

Agree with your comment on FB etc, I exited FB in totality about 18 months ago. The car groups on there were, as you point out, mostly full of uneducated drivel. Might be quieter here, but that’s no bad thing IMO.

[MaggotsRus]

I’m not a massive contributor to the forum as others but do like to read the commentary as and when it comes in, but agree the whole input to the site has dropped off which has coincided with the release of the Mark 8.5. I’m wondering as other members have suggested is it a number of things. People off loading there mark 8’s and changing their purchase ideas. Not as many buying the 8.5’s due to increase costs and road fund licence or that’s it a good car without the niggles and issues that blighted the mark 8. There’s no way I would buy any mark 8 now not with the inherent faults and concerns over the costs of fixing those faults as the cars get older and warranty cover either disappears or you end up in a battle with a dealer over what is covered under an extended warranty. But I really think the RFL increases coming this April £1120 for a standard GTi are going to be a killer as well as now another price increase with VAG. They are literally putting the nails in the coffins of these cars. The amount available on auto trader is vast particularly the R variances and the cost of them are astronomical at present. The VAG group is in a right pickle and China are swamping the market with their cheap electric cars and some people are taking that bait. I’ve not got an electric car but changed from my Mark 8 Ed45 to Škoda VRs estate for practical purposes and concerns over the future of the reliability of my car. But even that car new as of April will hit the £1120 car tax (how can that be right?) Anyway I hope you folks that have your 8.5 enjoy them and it’s always nice to see some piccies of the cars out there.

[DrivenToDistraction]

But I really think the RFL increases coming this April £1120 for a standard GTi are going to be a killer as well as now another price increase with VAG. They are literally putting the nails in the coffins of these cars.

Excellent post. It prompted me to check the current list price of a bog standard 8.5 GTI. The full list price is £40,025, but the 'P11D' price (i.e. without the first year road tax and registration) is £39,290. I assume that it's the P11D price that is relevant for luxury car tax charging purposes. Just selecting metallic paint pushes the P11D price up to £40,100, which would be very frustrating if this were your only must-have option! Obviously, the next VW price increase will probably push the bog standard P11D price over £40k and it will be 'game over'. And the GTI is just about the cheapest proper hot hatch out there..

I agree with Exonian's comment about the feeling of "last man standing", but I suspect that there will be a few more twists and turns to come in the government's push to get us all into EV's. The UK target for EV sales this year is 28% and I suspect that they (i.e. the poor manufacturers) are going to get nowhere near it. It was 19% in 2024 and the changes coming this year (road tax, big city congestion charges) are, if anything, going to make EV's less attractive compared to ICE cars.

[Lancslad1985]

But I really think the RFL increases coming this April £1120 for a standard GTi are going to be a killer as well as now another price increase with VAG. They are literally putting the nails in the coffins of these cars.

Excellent post. It prompted me to check the current list price of a bog standard 8.5 GTI. The full list price is £40,025, but the 'P11D' price (i.e. without the first year road tax and registration) is £39,290. I assume that it's the P11D price that is relevant for luxury car tax charging purposes. Just selecting metallic paint pushes the P11D price up to £40,100, which would be very frustrating if this were your only must-have option! Obviously, the next VW price increase will probably push the bog standard P11D price over £40k and it will be 'game over'. And the GTI is just about the cheapest proper hot hatch out there..

I agree with Exonian's comment about the feeling of "last man standing", but I suspect that there will be a few more twists and turns to come in the government's push to get us all into EV's. The UK target for EV sales this year is 28% and I suspect that they (i.e. the poor manufacturers) are going to get nowhere near it. It was 19% in 2024 and the changes coming this year (road tax, big city congestion charges) are, if anything, going to make EV's less attractive compared to ICE cars.

I’m not sure about the p11d and £40K limit as I’ve been looking at nearly new mk8s and some of them have the premium car tax attached to them already despite only having say kings red paint. Seems odd that just one paint would push the old model over the £40K mark. £600 a year for my car tax seems a big jump when the car can’t have been much over £40k.

At least I don’t drive an electric car - my mates polestar has just gone from £0 to £600 a year in car tax. He isn’t happy 

[Sharpe]

Personally, and I don’t do huge mileage, I’ve seen a handful of regular 8.5’s in the wild, just one (black) GTI around Exeter a couple times and a white R Black Edition with big spec near the Newton Abbot VW dealer.

That’s probably me! I have spotted another black one locally but with Queenstown wheels and black styling pack