Golf V6 4motion, R32 Mk4 or Mk5 - the price is right - opinions welcome

[Bullfinch 0]

Its now 4 weeks until I'm back in the UK (hopefully after a Lions series win). My circumstances dictate needing to get a car which I may keep for around 9 months - 1 year before I get around to buying my dream car sometime in 2014. I don't want to use my Storm as a daily and the car I buy needs to have decent performance and at the same time not lose too much in depreciation. Running costs in terms of petrol or insurance aren't too much of an issue. I'm the wrong side of 40 and mid 20's mpg is fine by me as annual mileage is about 10k.

 

As my autotrader app goes into meltdown I'm considering a Golf V6 4motion at say £3k, or else a R32 Mk4 at say £6-7k or a R32 Mk5 at £10-12k. I don't think I will look outside of the VAG stable and fancy sticking to six cylinders. It looks fairly obvious that the 4motion would lose very little whilst the R32's will keep on falling. The great unknown is maintenance. Any other things I need to consider and what's your guess on R32 prices one year from now?

[BILLCOR 1]

Mk4 R32 for me, shouldn't lose to much in a year, plenty on http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/volkswagen/golf-r32-r and also look on the http://www.r32oc.com/ for well specced enthusiasts cars

[bristolbaron 10]

Mk4 R32 for me, shouldn't lose to much in a year, plenty on http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/volkswagen/golf-r32-r and also look on the http://www.r32oc.com/ for well specced enthusiasts cars

 

Saved me a job! Mk4R all the way.

[Portent 0]

I loved my mk4 4motion and had it for 8 years from almost new. I still miss it to be honest and it was a fantastic car. But if I were to consider one now I would probably spend the extra and get an R32.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Thanks to the EU Union raping us at the pumps, no big engined short production run car is worth buying purely for investment purposes, but I don't think R32s will depreciate any more than the Corrado has / is. I also don't think the MK5 will be as fondly remembered as the original.

 

Anyway, have a drive of all 3 and see what tickles your fancy. Unfortunately, R32s tend to attract a lot of mechanically ignorant scenesters and / or chavs, so do some strong research and always buy at the top of your budget. You will know a good one when you see it.

[Bullfinch 0]

Slight change of plan. A Scirocco 2.0 GT FSi became available in the company car pool. Hence I will be driving that for a few months upon my return to the UK. I've never gone down the company car route before as always took the cash and bought my own car. However there's enough to sort out in moving back from Oz so have come to the sensible decision.

[Portent 0]

For some reason I'm not a fan of the newer Scirocco even though I did initially like them. But as it's a company car it seems a wise decision.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Portent

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Lovely inside but the outside does nothing for me what so ever!

[coullstar 0]

I had one, brilliant car. Great all rounder, much better than a 3dr Golf. I will have one again for sure. If they had released one with the TT RS engine it could possibly have been the only time Id properly considered a new brand new car.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It's only better than the Golf in terms of handling because of the standard fit ferrofluid dampers.

[coullstar 0]

They bloomin work though!! Surely a wider track and lower COG as well.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

They certainly do and I wish they were available in the aftermarket! Haven't compared track widths but the dampers are the main reason. I'm not sure C of G comes into play as much as it did with Corrado vs MK3 Golf as the Scirocco is still a big, bulky car and didn't look especially low to the ground to me!