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

Roof rails and racks, always prefer to get genuine, especially after knocked myself out getting out of a car with crappy 'multi fit' Thule roof bars sticking over the sides of the car. Quality of the racks are good, but look daft IMO.

Find some proper OE rails and bars for your car or track down the original manufacturer and get them direct for less.

Golf wagon Mk6/7 are great, can recommend, get any petrol or the 1.9 PD tdi, the 1.2/1.6/2.0 CR are problem childs, have their issues by this age.

VOlvo, get a real one a V70, the smallers ones are secretly fords (not that thats terrible) , they don't age as well as the V70. Engine wise, any 5 cyl volvo diesel (lower powered ones seem to be more reliable and return epic economy for their size). Or any petrol, the ford derived petrol engines are fine, probably better than the VW ones but don't have that much experience with them.
£3k should get you a last of the line 2005/2007 P2 car with moderate miles and good spec, then save the other 1k for the upcoming things.