Thanks, guys.

It's standard 05 PPP, so less power and torque than the R. We really love it and have been tempted (sadly, not for long) by the new STI, but the time has finally come to think of a change.

Wise words, Ditchymyster. Fortunately, I've a friend who is interested in buying it!

Any other opinions?

It's a shedload more extra cash, so you need to be certain it's what you want imo.

In all honesty our opinions are worthless..... cars of this nature should have an element of being emotive purchases. If you get in it, love it, does what you want it to do, have done the research on it and can afford/justify it (purchase costs and running costs). Get it!

Wise words. A major reason we've not replaced the WRX is that nothing's come along that's been quite right until, possibly, now. We've had the Scooby from new, so there's a bit in the piggy bank and, depreciation aside, running costs of an R should be lower.

Absolutely! Will never forget the lead up to getting the Scooby.

That's funny :-) I like sniff petrol

I do love that sniff petrol article.

If we look back in five years time, will a four pot, AWD white goods car really be looked at fondly? When there'll be 400bhp 1.6 litre rockets everywhere.

I'll look back (I may even still have it) at the last of a breed; the last RWD hatch. The last one with a six pot engine. The last proper drivers car before they got all soft and nannying.

For someone who doesn't care about magazine/website/public opinion you seem to have a real problem letting this one go Mattee.

AWD makes perfect sense for an everyday road car which is what we're talking about here. I gladly put up with corrupted steering feel in ordered to enjoy a cars performance in conditions that are less than optimal.
As a side note, it's pretty much a front wheel drive (unless your driving like a tool) but the AWD does give the benefit of being able to pull out of damp junctions without traction control intervention, a big issue in the GTI.

Regarding RWD, yes I have one. Do I think driving it makes me a Billy Big Balls hero, no. Would the same car with AWD be far more usable, yes.

As for the M135, it's not even a proper M car is it? Just a bit of clever badge engineering :)

Funny that it (and the M235i) seem to be "beating" the full fat M cars in all sorts of tests. Did you know they are 30% M and the new M3/4 are 50%? Not a lot.

Thanks for educating me about Haldex AWD (which I have on my VAN); I had no idea...

The R is a media darling right now but they'll get bored soon. AWD, four cylinders, Golf; not three words that will ever excite me in the same sentence.

Bit unfairly harsh

It's quite common among the car rental fraternity. Rent latest media darling, bang on about it, get bored, rent something else. There's no real enthusiasm just fly by night pub bragging rights.

It depresses me.

Why is there no enthusiasm (for motoring ??) in wanting to experience the latest media darling ? If want to do this then lease / rental is certainly the cheapest way of doing this.

Wasn't the M135 the previous media darling (Which ironically became v popular due to cheap lease deal?), that now seems to have been replaced by the Golf R?

The Golf is leased as with the deals on offer some months ago it seemed rude not to. Besides, it's my wifes car and her car allowance covers it with plenty to spare.
I'd have thought a man with your, obvious, financial acumen would have realised the downfall of having large sums of money tied up in depreciating assets?

I do however own my 550i and Navara outright. Both were bought second hand and could be sold without leaving me baulking at having lost a heap of cash because I wanted a brand new car and needed to be able to tell people I owned rather than rented it.

I'm pretty sure my E39 M5 was at least 63%?

As for "AWD, four cylinders, Golf", with this being a subaru forum I'm guessing that at some point "AWD, four cylinders, Subaru" did excite you? Bizarre...

My word you do go to some lengths to justify yourself don't you? I you didn't care, why do you bother?

The Subaru boxer four is the only four cylinder that I find interesting. The rest are simply dull. Our VW California only comes with a four pot diesel but luckily the rest of it is interesting enough to make up for it.

But thanks for your snipe at new car buyers; damn you're so clever with your leasing/second hand buying ways. Why did I not think of such brilliant car financing schemes?

I'll just go and attempt to read the Daily Star with all the other new car buying retards. Meanwhile you can discover a cure for Ebola or something else incredibly cerebral...

Peugeot RCZR is all you need....

Shaun's not a hairdresser!

He obviously is if he is looking at Z4s and the like ;)

Brilliant cars the RCZR I could put up with the hairdresser jkes all day long having driven one....

Delete this thread - trigger now pulled on the ONLY car I was going to replace the Scoob with. :D

I collected my Golf R in December, ticks all the boxes for me and it most certainly will be undergoing some changes to unleash a few more horses :D

Spec:

• 5 door DSG in Deep Pearl Black
• 19" Prets
• DCC
• Anthracite Carbon Nappa interior
• Discover Pro
• Dynaudio
• Keyless Entry
• Reversing Camera
• Advanced Phone Prep
• Climate Screen

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...ps8309a81a.jpg

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...psdf41efa9.jpg

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...ps26b7943b.jpg

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...psda568c48.jpg

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...pscb8e345b.jpg

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...psb61c5de9.jpg

Cant wait for mine to be delivered(March 15 plate)^^^^^^^^:luvlove:

Looks quite good in black, I went for Red, 3 door, DSG!!! Also been looking a DTUK tuning boxes, 360bhp yes please!!;)

Looks good in black.
I just hope you have a good pressure washer?!

Harry are they the optional 19s only do one type don't they?

I'm gonna buy one of these for the wife once her zafira is not costing me money, like that looks nice.....

Not a big fan of the latest golfs but to be fair that looks lovely! Hope you're enjoying :thumb:

Looks very very nice.

Matteeboy,
Black is the "hardest" colour. ;) Although I think it's the biggest pain to keep, but looks the best when it's clean and polished.

I had a black Escort Cossie once....... looked the nuts when it was clean, but used to drive me round the bend maintaining it. But they do say, once you go black you never go back...... I've gone back to black. :D :cry:

My 335d and R32 Golf were both black; epic when clean. For a few minutes!

Golf R, A45 AMG, M135i, focus RS etc, it's good to have choices ha, not a bad time for cars, it's certainly been a while since 205 GTi s and XR2's etc.

there nice cars, but getting really common already, there price will drop loads in 2-3yrs

also not a fan of dsg, yes its amazing when honing it, but round town I found it ****e!!

Great spec Harry. The wife has a Lapiz 5dr DSG on order.

Since when has "common" hit VW residuals hard. They hold their residuals pretty well imo.

seen a couple of these now and sound the nuts

interesting.......

For a rarer top end model though, think r32, edition 30. Limited numbers.

Matt

If you're on a car scheme with a monthly allowance, leasing/pcp is the smart way to go.

What's your issue with just paying for the depreciation and a bit of interest? You're the one sniping at those who do.

We're about to change a car and it will end up having cost me just under £10k for 20 months excluding petrol and insurance, from new, after discount, on a pcp deal.

If I'd bought it for cash (discount would be the same as I'd negotiated the price before discussing payment method) I'd be losing about £9.5k in depreciation.

So I'd be £500 better off having bought it for cash, but would have had a chunk of capital tied up in the car for 20 months that could well have been put to better use (and earned me more than £500 with ease in that same period).

The smartest move of all would have been to buy it nearly new with a few miles saving a big chunk of VAT, but we couldn't get the spec we wanted.

I've bought new cars for cash and on various finance deals over the years. There's really nothing in it on an overall cost basis.

Arguably there's nothing "smart" about buying new, however, its difficult to put a price on the emotional and feel good factors that are important for many.

And please, stop knocking all 4 cylinder engines. If you'd ever driven the likes of an old kent crossflow or BD Ford, or an old twin cam Vauxhall or lotus on twin DCOE's or throttle bodies, or more recently a DC2 Integra or S2000 Honda, for example, you'd find a sense of drama, occasion and character to make your straight six a bit, well, dull. And that's coming from someone who nearly bought an M135i.