V5 Golf Mk 4- Any good?

[stumbledrunk]

Went to dealership looking for two cars, budget of about £10-12k. '52 plate V5 came in on budget in black. Looks rather plain, but mk 4's do IMO. Is there much difference in performance to MK 4 GTI/GT TDI? Which is most fun? I WILL NOT HAVE A DULL CAR! 170 bhp sounds like fun...

[warren182]

No offence, but if you don't want a dull car why buy a mk4? All the ones I've driven were less fun than a 1.1 saxo I ran for a while. Built like tanks, lovely place to do some mileage, but not at all fun to drive in standard trim.

[goochie]

For that money why not buy yourself a low mileage Octavia VRS MKI or even a MKII with a few more miles. I know of one MKII for sale with 30k ish on the clock for £12500.

Same platform as the golf, more power, faster, bigger, cheaper to insure etc.

[warren182]

For some reason every review has all the other cars built on that platform as better to drive. There are lots of leon cupra's available at that price, same interior as Audi A3. Fair few Cupra R's about as well, which I think are better on fuel than the v5's and a fair bit quicker/smarter looking.

[stumbledrunk]

The original plan was for mrs. drunk to have the bigger car (ie, the golf) while I spent £2-3k on something fun (MR2, Pug 205 GTi, etc). Her dad works for a VW dealership, hence the trip to see VW salesman! Would love a VR6 Corrado, but finding a good one's proving a bit of a bugger, and buying a new house isn't conducive to splashing out on Karmann parts. Leon Cupra's, though. Hmmm

[goochie]

A VW dealership will happily work on an Leon or Octavia. I think either one of those would be a better option than the Golf.

[fourmotion]

stumbledrunk said:

Went to dealership looking for two cars, budget of about £10-12k. '52 plate V5 came in on budget in black. Looks rather plain, but mk 4's do IMO. Is there much difference in performance to MK 4 GTI/GT TDI? Which is most fun? I WILL NOT HAVE A DULL CAR! 170 bhp sounds like fun...

I have to ask, and bare in mind my opinion will be biased somewhat, but if you're looking at the V5, why not look at the V6? Especially with that budget. Or see suggestions about the Octavia and LCR. I would not spend £10-£12k on a V5 Golf.

[goochie]

I think its the badge

(the VW one that is )

[Tino]

I agree,
If you look at the running costs, etc, the V5 costs around the same to run as the V6 4-motion.
You can easily pick one up for that money, or also look at the other cars in the same platform.
Also, you're right about the difficulties in finding a decent VR6. Ours took nearly 6 months to find!

[stumbledrunk]

Found a lovely looking Corrado in the back room of aforementioned VW Dealership. Only a 16v, but with nice OZ alloys. Unfortunately, only running on 3 cylinders, and the mechanics there were unable to trace the fault. Was still tempted though. Also discovered Mint Mk1 & Mk 2 Golf GTi's in same back room! Owner not willing to part with either of them just yet. Boo! Can I also just clarify that the original budget of £10-12k was to get two cars. Have more or less decided against V5. Anyone know if you can fit a Boxer sized dog in the back of a previous model Civic Type R?!