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

I did an extended test drive of an Octavia RS estate in real manual. It was great. Drove very well, had decent steering, excellent seats and ergonomics. And the space was excellent. Unfortunately the next guy to drive it bought it while I ummed and ahhed about buying with finance vs cash.

It has led me back to the idea of golfs... There's a reason everyone buys them. They are good. The golf r estate are pretty much ideal. Down here they're nearly 65k on road which is pretty spendy. I'm waiting for a demo to pop up.

Edit: I also found the skoda interior and general finish to be below it's VW/Audi cousins. Things like no gas struts on the bonnet, flimsy feeling centre console and switchgear that just didn't click with the same dampening or precision. Driving feel is better though.

Just to throw my two cents worth in. I’d definitely recommend the Golf R (I don’t have one, but do have a recent high spec VW).

After deliberating over which estate to buy, I landed on a 2017 VW Passat 2.0TSI R-Line (220bhp) with the DSG gearbox. I’d thought VWs would be a prohibitively expensive car to buy in Japan but got a very good deal (original owner is very wealthy and swaps cars around twice a year - I got it for an ‘on the road’ price of less than £28k, which is over £10k off list here, only 6 months after original registration).

I hadn’t owned a car since 2010 in England (a hateful Vectra), and this VW is bloody fantastic. It has the most powerful engine they do for a Passat (not as many PS as the Golf R, it seems) and I’ve never been wanting for power. In sport mode especially, it is rapid.

Also, the options and luxury in it is still astounding me after a month or so of ownership. Interior finish is excellent (no cheap plastics or such like to be seen) and the exterior looks relatively sporty (pretty restrained body kit but the 19” alloys are a nice touch).

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How about the Superb 280 @Dammit?

I have not looked at that in detail yet.

One of the VW dealers has got back to me with regards to PCP - it's a lot more than the lease.

"2y pcp with 9700 from you 1000 Comes from Vw (max deposit is 30percent) at 24mnths 8000milesper annum repayments 366.08 1 x 18810 final payment."

So that's £9,700 deposit and then £8785.92 for a total of £18,485.92 spent over two years, with, if I understand this correctly, nothing to show for it at the end.

This looks less attractive than buying the M5.

What's the total ££ of the car? Looks about right...

The only way you'd have anything to 'show' for it at the end is if the car is worth more than the final value (£18,810) and so you'd have the 'equity' left to spend on another VW.

If you didn't want to do that, all you'd have is the memories of driving the car for three years.

£18,800 balloon, 35k car.

Not comparing apples to apples I know, but this is a lot more than a lease.

I've been looking at these. they look like good value at around 20k.

I think I want something bigger, though

Look at ex demos, or pcp/lease cars that have been handed back early. Circa a year old.

The depreciation over two years on something that’s already got something like 10k on it will far less than any amount you will pay on pcp/lease. It will be pretty much indistinguishable from a brand new one, and will still have 2 years of VW warranty on it.

my old scirocco was an 8 month old ex demo dealer car with 4K on the clock, if the odometer didn’t say 4K, I would not have known it wasn’t a new car. It was almost £10k less than list price on a identical new car, and without the rediculous VW wait time.

I’d bet there is a pretty substantial amount of nearly new R’s sitting around doing nothing now (2 years after release), that dealers/lease companies will be pretty keen to move on. It’s a buyers market for sure.

Mitsubishi ASX mate. You know you want one.

It’s all down hill from here.

£1,600 bill for fitting steering wheel. FML.

You have a problem

At least its in a Porsche. Imagine a £1600 bill to keep a Golf running, that'd be properly depressing.

It's only £1,200 over the estimate

What’s the running total now on the 996?
It’s painful for me to ask. Can’t imagine how bad it must be for you!!

Much. I'll need to add it up.

The steering wheel was meant to be 1 to 2 hours work, done in a morning and back on the road, they've had the car for two weeks now, and are in the process of swapping the entire steering column as I write this.

I think the process and cost was similar when Richie got the exact same steering wheel fitted to our MG. You'd have to ask him for the details...

? I suspect you are making mock, Mr Ashton.

"our MG". love it

I did have to do a bit of research for the right boss and buy a new bearing puller...

[edit] I did have to put a bit of sparky tape around the horn button so it stopped falling out

I couldn't do it to my son...

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Don't go all DJ on me

"our MG". love it

I wrote "my" first but had to go back and change it.

Manhugs.

I would love it if some of Neil's 911 was held on with leccy tape.

Nein.

leccy tape

Porsche branded 'flexible in-situ fastener'. There's probably a part number for it.

Just £4.99 a 2m roll.