Golf's all I could afford!!

[Ryan_R]

What would you call people in the Morris Marina Owners Club then?

'Enthusiast' just doesn't seem enough
Maybe extremists

[SilvrFoxX]

Enthusiasts, not my kind but enthusiasts none the less

[jlgumby]

So you didn't want the M3. Big deal.

I think you should stop caring what people think and stop justifying your purchase.

I wouldn't for a moment suggest that I'm so self absorbed and narrow minded to completely stop caring about what other people thought. But thanks for your advice on that, will give it some consideration. And on justifying my purchase, you're probably right, or though I suppose I could simply have not made the purchase, that may have been simpler and a damn sight easier on wallet. But again, good advice.

To everyone else who recognised this thread as an interesting topic to simply discuss for some light entertainment, cheers to you.

Like you said the Golf seems to cover all bases and you have no requirement to defend, compare or even belittle other cars with it.

You will be happy once it arrives .

Thanks mate, looking forward to it. Should be fun........ if it ever lands.

[brad]

Haha, yeah, one day just for a "social experiment" I went into the Lexus dealership in my crappy old Foo Fighters t-shirt and a pair of shorts and thongs, and then went in later that day in my business attire - just to see what happened. Needless to say, they wouldn't even look at me the first time, the second time I was fighting them off.

My Dad used to sell cars in the '50s. Hated the job but liked talking to people. He tells me he sold quite a few cars (at a time) to blokes that the other salesmen ignored because they were dressed in boiler suits or work clothes & a bit unkempt. One was the owner of Miller's Coal who'd spent the morning helping fix a coal delivery truck. He bought 2 Austin utes off Dad.

[GTD Dubber]

A bit off the original thread but following on from Brad. My son does the same thing in his selling job. He's happy to talk to any folk dressed in anything. He sold a 3 grand tele to a bloke in scruffy jeans and moth eaten t-shirt when a few others ignored the guy. You just never know.

[THE_EGG]

I don't see anything wrong in buying a Golf or something like that, even if you have the money for a Jaguar XK or something. It all depends on what you want in a car, really.

I would have loved to have had a second-hand Smart Roadster (half the price of my current car) however reliability was a concern. So I bought a brand-new car with a warranty.

[AdamD]

But that's only half the point. The other is that I believe the Golf R, and indeed the Golf GTI, as I currently drive a MkV, is one of the best all round performance cars money currently can buy you. Regardless of the spend. VW is now my car of choice.

QFT.

I recently scored a drive in a mate's Ferrari 360 Spider. The single word I'd use to describe the car overall was disappointing - even though it has bucketloads of presence and a huge "look-at-me" factor. Jumping back into the Golf, it felt so much better-built, more cohesive, and yet still fast and fun. Sure, there are mega-performance supercars out there that outdo everything else by miles (GTR, 458 Italia, GT2 etc), but when we're talking about the sort of money most mortals contemplate spending on a car, the fast VWs are pretty damn good on most measurable criteria.

Sure you could spend an extra $100,000, and get a car that's 10% faster, 10% more comfortable, 10% better in the bends. If the 10% is worth the extra to you, then trading up makes sense.

[Diesel_vert]

There are a million ways one can justify their choice of vehicle, because cars mean different things to different people. There's no point in getting hung over what someone else thinks of one's purchase (unless you've asked).

I wouldn't for a moment suggest that I'm so self absorbed and narrow minded to completely stop caring about what other people thought. But thanks for your advice on that, will give it some consideration. And on justifying my purchase, you're probably right, or though I suppose I could simply have not made the purchase, that may have been simpler and a damn sight easier on wallet. But again, good advice.

I take your point.

Perhaps my thoughts could've been expressed more diplomatically, but I stand by them.

[R34]

In 2010 I had the same decision to make.
I can afford an S4 but at $140k should I?
I ended up with an R36 fully loaded with every option for just over half that and have been pleased with the car but I really miss Turbo power.
Now I'm due to order a car within the next six months and am not sure what to do.
The S4 is still desirable as is the new A4 and A6 but then my head says it's crazy to spend that sort of money on a depreciating asset.
So I'm considering a Golf R with the lot and adding some APR goodness into the mix.(If there is enough backseat room for the occasional passengers)

[AdamD]

I've cleaned up the last couple of pages worth of discussion, that was completely unnecessary and inflammatory.

The points on depreciation/tax/etc have been made, and there's no reason to continue rehashing it, thanks guys.