In the words of Britney Spears…

[Exonian]

Ooops, I did it again






Rather than clutter up the other thread I’ll move it into here.

Summary: impulse purchase Ed50

(Hopefully) my last Golf some 39 years after I bought my first VW GTI and 36 years since I bought my first Golf GTI.

My least favoured colour/shade with possibly my least favoured option (sunroof), viewed on a whim.
It won’t meet the approval of the die hard fans, no exclusive colour, no Performance Pack, no Warmenaus etc but that’s half the reason I went for it. I’ve always been more rescue shelter than pedigree.

I literally dread owning black cars having had a few previously and numerous ones with factory black roofs so there’s been a lot of “whatever was I thinking??” going on.

The colour scheme ties in being all black and red both outside and in, it’s a bit more racy looking than my previous R Black Edition but toned down enough for someone in their late 50’s to get away with running red wheels (just about, or am I kidding myself?)
It’s certainly not a spec I’d have picked off the configurator but then again I’d never have ordered one that way.

I’ll bring in some quotes off the other thread to tidy up:

Congratulations on your Ed 50!

You have been a source of amusement and interest to me, (and no doubt many other regulars), for years.

I am delighted to see you have something new to enlighten us on. So we really do need thoughts/ comparisons given the depth of experience on all things Golf.

First impressions and longer term experience posts would be very welcome.

Given the black paint and the inevitable dreaded “swirls”, would it be worth getting some professional paint protection from the start? Might spare some angst, especially if we are to exist in a state of permanent sunshine…….just a thought.

Lifeshine was thrown in and not the greatest of jobs. I’ll be relying on dust to cover sins!

Thank you for your kind words and rest assured my initial likes and dislikes will be following as soon as I get a quiet bit of time to gather my thoughts 

Black looks really well on them I must say. I've seen a couple in the metal. Obviously you lose the contrast with the black elements on the car (black roof, mirror caps, etc), but still, it looks very stealthy. And the red bits work well with black.

For the reasons outlined however, I don't think I'd deliberately choose a black car (again!) though.

It’s going to be a nightmare. Already a few fingerprints on it which wouldn’t have shown in white/moonstone/crystal ice

Yes, the black elements are lost but it tones it down enough for my advancing age! 😁

Thanks Watts 
Mine’s always the one parked a quarter of a mile from the riff raff, in an end spot. People think it’s because I’m averse to door dingers but it’s really because I can never remember what car I actually own on any given week.

And thanks Joe

Yep, it’s black (the last colour I’d ever pick)
With a sunroof (the last option I’d ever tick)
Area view (novelty thing, I can view the junk in my garage as I’m trying to squeeze through in a seagull eye view now)

Total impulse buy.
Stock car, had just arrived at the dealership covered in summer dust - a great way to view a black car!
Timed to perfection as it was collected just as the hosepipe ban came in 🙄

Why? I can’t quite fathom why yet. I had no interest other than light curiosity in the Ed50.
I was 100% dead set on getting a full electric car next as I’m totally converted to one pedal driving and instant torque blasts out of corners, love it! I’d become totally disengaged with the whole Golf thing of late but still really enjoying the R and had hoped to keep it another year or so. I’d not managed to find that ‘Goldilocks’ EV that would drag me away from nearly 4 decades of Golf ownership either.
I was offered one of the very first Cupra Raval VZ Extreme cars in the country a couple weeks ago and was sorely tempted, but the initial batch are in matte paint finish and that’s too much for me to cope with! Fab looking thing though. So on the rebound from that I stumbled accross this Golf and thought ‘why not, one last one, let’s go out with a special edition’ and so that was that.

A bit like going into an animal shelter to look at some fluffy white kittens then coming out with a black panther, here I am, and already totally paranoid about the paint.

I did pull into a lay-by to take some photos but in the bright sunshine they all turned out crap and I have no idea about photo composition either. I’d even written out a load of first thoughts for a standalone thread but decided I’d just dump it in here instead in heavily summarised form.

Did you manage to get any discount?

Car looks great better than the R?

Yes, a little bit of discount, not huge

And “different” to the R. Better? Hmmm, just different! Really loved that R


 

[Watts]

Well, if you are going to have an 'oops', that seems like a good one to have! Will be interesting to see how you find it compared with your R. I was tempted by an R at my last change but didn't think the extra go was worth the extra fuel/tyre wear. Also to see if you think it's worth the premium over a CS. I still really fancy one but I can't see it being worth dropping another £20k on what is effectively a fancy runabout!

[SRGTD]

It looks really good Mr Ex . The red accents do work well with black and IMHO black is the only colour that works with the red tinted diamond cut alloys (on a Tornado Red car, red alloys would just be too much red. Again, just my opinion).

I’m sure you’ll stay on top of keeping it looking good, although drought conditions and a hosepipe ban are far from ideal when you’ve got a shiny black car to keep clean and swirl free. Maybe worth doing some reasearch into rinseless car washing products which are meant to be effective and seemingly don’t inflict swirls if the manufacturers instructions on their use are followed.

Enjoy your new ‘beast’ and I look forward to reading any further updates you might add to this discussion topic.

[Exonian]

Thanks SR, I’ve still got my multiple watering cans and buckets from last time we had a hosepipe ban!
This one wasn’t bought for daily driving duties though. A bit like my Ed40 it’ll be used for limited journeys and holidays.

Watts, unless you’re absolutely desperate for Tornado Red I’d not think the extra outlay was remotely worthwhile. The only exception I can think of is you buy an in stock car at a discount when VW punt the remaining unallocated cars into VW dealers (as has already begun) then wait it out until they’re told to pre-reg them when they’ll be relative value so long as you plan keeping it long term.

Feel? Mine doesn’t have PP so probably drives exactly like a regular Clubby. Lighter on its toes than an R (VW dial in a planted feel to the R and a lighter more nimble feel to the GTI in order to give them identity. The difference is more apparent than the slight weight difference between the models would otherwise give rise to.
My non DCC 8R could be brutal on the spine and kidneys on some roads, the DCC 8.5R less so, the Ed50 initially feels a bit less jarring.

Economy? The Clubsport is definitely more economical than an R particularly in wet weather where the R seems to generate a lot of drag from both axles. But it’s only a small percentage between the two cars in real world driving. Hardly something someone spending £35k - £50+k would lose sleep over.


Initial likes: it’s very peppy at lower speeds which is what you need in a road car where you want a bit of stimulation even though the roads are crowded with holiday traffic. The interior looks a bit pants in photos but is quite nice in person. Steering wheel buttons, yay!

Initial dislikes: the dash and door decorative trim is plain silver plastic which looks more temu than £50k special edition. I used to consider people who spent £800 for the carbon fibre dash trims a bit daft, but in this instance they’d be excused.

[Snoopy]

Congrats. 

[Exonian]

Thanks Snoopy 

[Watts]

Thanks Exonian, that's as I thought. Having been busy on the configurator, £54k seems to come up a lot I certainly will keep an eye on available cars (actually there is one TR with sunroof but I'm not keen on the shiny warmenaus plus it's missing a few other treats I'd like).

Hope you settle in to it and enjoy the drive. I'm very impressed with my CS.

[Exonian]

Cheers Watts 

You’ve got the right attitude and time on your side.
See what crops up, track it and wait for the moment. If someone else snaps a car up before you do you’ve not lost anything, you’ve got a perfectly good one as is.

[TurboTrev]

OMG, you have done it again and the entertaining write ups continue, excellent.   Congratulations and I actually really like the Ed50 in black (and the sunroof, I wouldn't be without one), but as you say it's the maintenance of black that can be a little wearing, especially for an old gadgie like me.  I'm still tempted, but I love my Lapiz BE 8.5R and I worry I might regret it if I make the jump?  I wonder if the green would be just as bad to maintain?  Really looking forward to your updates and your comparisons with your R.

[SRGTD]

OMG, you have done it again and the entertaining write ups continue, excellent.   Congratulations and I actually really like the Ed50 in black (and the sunroof, I wouldn't be without one), but as you say it's the maintenance of black that can be a little wearing, especially for an old gadgie like me.  I'm still tempted, but I love my Lapiz BE 8.5R and I worry I might regret it if I make the jump?  I wonder if the green would be just as bad to maintain?  Really looking forward to your updates and your comparisons with your R.

I think that most dark paint colours require more careful - and more frequent - maintenance than light paint colours if you want to minimise the risk of paint swirls (free dealership service washes are a definite no-no!) and to get rid of that annoying layer of dust that is very visible on dark coloured cars. With this in mind, I’d say Moss Green would be very similar to black in terms of the level of maintenance required to keep it looking good.

I’ve had my fair share of dark coloured cars over the years, and IMHO they do look really good when clean, but it’s a labour of love keeping them looking that way.