As I have had a new addition to the family I decided it was time to ditch the Ed30 as the main car and get a sensible family car, especially as the Ed30 has clocked 10k miles in the last 2 months alone
, the ride is very firm with the Bilsteins - wife is not impressed at all
- and I cannot figure out how to adjust them :embarassed: . On top of that, its a 3-door and a nightmare for the wife and baby to keep coming out from the back.
After a very brief period of deep thought - about 5 seconds -
, I settled on the obvious choice for a sensible family car - the Mk5 R32 in 5-door guise
Come on guys, you don't expect me to drive a bl00dy Touran or something like that now do you?
The recent slump in R32 prices was also a factor and the fact that I've been hankering after one ever since I part-ex'd my 56 plate DBP R32 for my first Ed30 in March 2007. It wasn't a hard sell to persuade the wife as she has a soft spot for the R32 ever since we did our trip to Morocco in the last one we had. Plus, I will be selling her Lupo GTI to fund the purchase and the R32 will be in her name - and driven by me when she doesn't need it
- and on 'family' journeys.
Anyway I thought I'd look for dirt cheap 3 year old examples with a budget of £12-13k in mind. But after spending too much time in front of my laptop viewing various R32s, I've realised that the second hand market hasn't exactly cottoned onto the fact that you can get new R32's for only £3-4k more than people are asking for well-worn, 3 year old, probably hammered, relatively high-mileage - 30-60k, examples. As my local dealer Wolsey, was closed today, I thought I'd have a look at Colchester VW and told the wife that we shouldn't limit ourselves to an R32, but should consider having a look at Passats, Tourans, Tiguans and the Golf Plus
- of course, that was just bait and what I really wanted was to see what kind of prices they had on their dealer network for nearly new/new R32s The Passat CC is a great car btw - looks very nice, espcially from the inside
.
The guy at Colchester was very friendly and even offered his manager's desk to change my baby's nappy - I politely declined just in case he got the sack.
They had several R32s on the forecourt at £20-23k, but my problem was that I wanted a very specific spec.. it HAD to have the following spec - low mileage - less than 10k, a year old at most, Deep Blue Pearlescent, 5 doors, DSG (the wife wanted DSG, although I prefer manual as my Ed30 is DSG, plus I might/will want to go down the Turbo route in 5-6 years time when it retires from family duties
), Recaro or Leather as a minimum and preferably Sat-Nav, Front Centre Arm-Rest, a Sunroof and Multifunction steering wheel. Oh and I wanted it all for £18-19k
Problem is we went through all the cars they had and didn't find anything in that price range funnily enough
Plenty to be had at £17-19k but were either base spec 3-door manuals in black or stupid mileage examples.
sign
08 Plate with 1 previous owner, mileage is 37 - yes, only 37 miles - not 37k
Deep Blue Pearlescent
5-doors
Manual
Leather Recaros
Touchscreen Sat-Nav (not the old crappy one I have in my Ed30)
Xenons (standard, but still a bonus in any car
)
Front Arm Rest
Lovely V6 growl
Apparently, they had a DSG demo with identical spec. which a customer tested in the spring. He ordered this car minus the DSG but due to personal circumstances, he couldn't pay the £29k for it when it arrived in June. It was already registered in his name though, hence 1 previous owner. Its probably been out on a test drive or two but thats it... basically its brand spanking new. VW Inchape Colchester did put it on for £29k in June but it wasn't going to get buyers at that time due to the road tax changes and soaring petrol prices so slowly the price had been reduced and it was finally standing at £22,750 and they just wanted rid of it... so I arrived at the right time
After a year and 25k miles, my Ed30 can now finally get a rest and be properly and obsessively pampered like was planned when I bought that car...
Its listed under Inchcape Colchester VW below...
http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/VOLKSWAGEN+GOLF/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-37-62-71-192-240-4294966995-4294967159/search.action?showMoreOptions=&formSearchParams=Ne%3D2%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B8%2B27%2B44%2B49%2B53%2B61%2B64%2B67%2B103%2B133%2B146%2B236%26N%3D37%2B62%2B71%2B192%2B240%2B4294966995%2B4294967159&sort=&make=VOLKSWAGEN&model=GOLF&min_pr=&max_pr=&max_mileage=5000&lc_channel=cars&dealerGroupId=&dealerId=&radius=1500&postcode=ip5+2bs&e_min_pr=Ne%3D2%2B4%2B5%2B6%2B7%2B8%2B27%2B44%2B49%2B53%2B61%2B64%2B67%2B103%2B133%2B146%2B236%26N%3D240%2B4294966995%2B4294967159%2B71%2B62%2B192%2B37%2B15&e_max_pr=&keywords=r32&ukcarsearch_full.x=49&ukcarsearch_full.y=12 