Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I have a VRS 2.0TSI 245 on order for delivery early 2018.

£2.4k down, £149 per month for 23 months.

I have run a 2015 Octavia Scout TDI 4x4 (same engine as the diesel VRS) as a work hack for two years and 3o,000 odd miles and it has been brilliant. Costs have been two tyres and three fixed price services. Looking forward to making the move back to a petrol but will miss the four wheel drive. I am paid a generous rate for business mileage so have actually run the Scout with change to spare to fund other toys.

Yes to the Golf - no mods please, just enjoy it. Was also about to suggest a top-end Octavia too as above.

I would think that given my likely mileage would be less than 5k/year I'd probably not break 10k miles over the course of the 2 year lease, so would anticipate handing it back on the tyres it came with.

What options?

I had a quick look and chose:
Tech pack
R performance pack
Dynamic chassis control
Tornado red

Just bear in mind that you will probably pay the full cost of the options you specify over the term when leasing.

I.e. specifying £5k of options will likely cost an extra £200+ per month over a 23 month term. PCP or financing by other means starts to make more sense once you stack on the options.

I've always paid cash for cars before so this is all new- thanks for the info.

Is there a major difference between leasing for 2 years or PCP and handing back after the same period?

They do a 280bhp Superb 4x4 DSG. That will probably be our next family car.

The Golf is smaller than a 3 series, nowhere near as big as a 5.

The Golf looks to be roughly the size of the 850, there was one parked next to it this morning which got me thinking about this.

With a PCP you have the option of buying the car at a predetermined price at the end of the agreement, with a lease they offer it to you at market value, which might be higher.

Realistically tho, you’ll be giving it back and getting something new, so it’s not relevant.

C. £250 a month for the Octavia for 2 years above seems like very good value. I’d imagine a Golf R will be more like £350 unless you get it over 4 years. We have a GTi hatch at work and that’s just over £300 over 2 years.

2k down and then £240/month for the Golf R Estate, albeit without the options.

24 months.

Think of it as £240 a month and it sounds ok.

Really tho it’s £4000 a year.

I bet the M5 wouldn’t cost you that.

M5 is 22.5k to purchase, then whatever else it wants/needs (80,000 mile car).

The Volvo swallows 5k/year in maintenance, for context.

I've recently acquired a 220 ps TSi Superb, which is costing £360/month on PCP, 48 months. Includes a few extras, 2 years servicing and warranty for fully 4 years.

I think it's a great car, engine is nicely flexible and DSG makes me wonder if I will ever buy a manual again.

It's massive, slightly too massive for London but absolutely right for family holidays.

I bought mine on VW’s PCP originally, at the time the minimum deposit was 1% with 3yrs free servicing etc, repayments circa £180 over 36months

I didn’t bother with gap insurance and I ended up buying the car at the end, as I had done nowhere near the mileage and compared to their end of term valuation I had positive equity.

So I’ll run mine until the cost of maintenance outweighs the equity and then chop it in, by that point I will definitely need something bigger anyway

I’ve never really looked into Gap insurance but my assumption is that it’s a con and in a few years I’ll be getting phone calls from northern people insisting I’ve had it and that I’m entitled to compo.

I had the pleasure of buying my car off my dad who worked for VW / Skoda and told me not bother, although this may be because I bought the car with a substantial staff discount

£34,858 is the best offer for the Golf (via Carwow) and is based on financing the car.

Is there a straightforward way of calculating what the PCP would look like from that (interest is 4.9, deposit contribution of £1,000), or so I have to wait for the dealer to provide this?

I think you have to tell them your anticipated annual mileage and the length of term before wanting to change (24 / 36 months I would guess) and they will give you an agreed buy back value that becomes the final “balloon payment” after typing numbers into some sort of VW web calculator.

Once they know what the final balloon payment value is, it’s the remaining balance split over the terms +interest.

I had a balloon payment of £6250, monthly payments of £180 inc 3.9% interest.

Most dealers should “price match” carwow or similar online retailers

If you need an indipendant opinion I’m sure my now retired Dad will vette whatever the dealership is saying, he sold all these finance products until about 8 months ago

This is a lease (I'm guessing as there's no final payment):

8k Per Year - £2,135.59 Deposit - £237.29 per month - £7952.06 total

That's the stock, as it comes Golf R estate, and of course that cash is gone at the end of two years.

So I suppose the question is whether the M5 would cost me 4k/year to run.

The Bridgwater car is 22.5k, I suspect I'd have to spend ~1.5k getting the bearings swapped out before the engine (potentially) goes boom, it's got four new tyres and therefore if nothing goes wrong it would be servicing. I suspect I'd still have a car worth roughly what I paid for it in two years.

Yeah VW “Contract Hire” as you describe, a PCP with “optional final payment” just brings the monthly repayments down

Have you seen a midnight blue R in the flesh? Such a great colour.

What’s the wait time like these days? I gave up and cancelled my Golf R order after 6 months of waiting and still no delivery ETA. This was two years ago though.

Off the top of my head the my payments were going to be around the £400pm mark, over three years, but that was on 20k mikes a year. 5k miles a year should be much lower monthly payments.

I'm not sure, honestly - I've emailed a couple of dealers via the Carwow search thing, asking what a PCP example might look like and when delivery would be.

If the entire transmission turns into chaff on the R it's just a case of getting it recovered to VW, if the BMW lunches the engine it's hand in pocket time.

Should I be brave or sensible?

The DSG auto box is great in my experience. Had one in my Scirocco. 25k odd of absolutley flawless driving.

Only auto box I’ve ever used that came anywhere near to the ZF auto I had in the M135i.

Don’t overthink this... Just get an R. If nothing else for the sake of everyone else that frequents this thread!!! You’ve already got one moneypit project to keep us all amused/baffled.

Pistonheads has a thread on crazy Golf R lease deals. You should be aiming for 200-250/month and you want a wagon.

I’d also look at buying a second hand one outright from a dealer.... there will be a lot of two year old PCP deal R’s being handed back around now. Should be a plethora to choose from.

https://centralukvehicleleasing.co.uk/lease-volkswagen-golf-estate-2-0-tsi-310-r-5dr-awd-dsg_VWGO20R~~5EPTA4~6.htm/