i bought my mk5 4 weeks ago, 08 plate,,, i came from a 2001 mk4 and was looking at the mk6,,, i looked at it extensivelly, drove 3 of them,,, dsg and manual and thought that was the car for me so i waited for my vw garage to source a 1 year old one for me at a top budget of £21k
they just couldnt find one as all where £25k and i wanted leather
whilst i was waiting for them to source one i started swotting up on the car, reading about the reduced cabin noise, sound generator under the bonnet etc as the roar from the engine was niiice.
anyway i started looking at the upgrades from the mk5 and the more i looked at the differences the more i was starting to think about a mk5
the one thing that kept annoying me, and i tried to make myself like it was the front grill on the mk6,,, just didnt like it.
it looks way to much like the normal spec base model apart from the gti badge and a tiny difference in the lower grills.
finally vw had a car within budget, i went to look at it, candy white mk6, 1 year old, 8000 miles or so and priced at £21k but was base gti,,, no extras,,,, decided it wasnt for me although white is nice on the mk6 liking it and owning white is two different things.
the interesting thing was the car was parked right next to a base golf,,, same age, same mileage,,, only difference was it was silver and a 1.2 engine.
now i stood about 10 feet away and took a picture of both cars,,,, pity my bluetooth on my laptop is bust as i could show you,,,,, but if you want the pic text me on 07890544426 and i will send it to you.
i tell you the gti was £22k and the base 1.2 was £11k,,,, thats twice the price,,,,, so your thinking wtf i could buy 2 of them for the price of 1,,,, i know you expect to pay more for a better spec but twice the money ? thats to much.
so i went away very confused as to whether the mk6 was worth the £22-£25k,,, a few days later a mk6 came up at £17k, tornado red, 2 years old and lowish mileage,,, i jumped at the price and went to view straight away.
i took my wifes 2003 mk4 red golf base model to view and was horrified after the guy said there was about 2 stone chips on the car to find out there was loads of tiny ones especially on the bonnet.
my wifes car has 67000 miles on it and i tell you her bonnet was in better condition,,,, after a bit or research i found out that in 2003 they used a deep red undercoat on the golf, so if my wifes car chips it chips through to a deeper red and you dont really notice it.
the stupid people at vw have now put a white undercoat under the red and as soon as it chips it is bright white,,, wtf,,, who came up with that stupid idea,,,, although vw denied there was any issues with the mk6 red paint ( i phoned there head office technical dept ) i now know that the red on the mk6 is also a lot easier to chip and is way softer than a 2003 for example.
my first thought was back in 2003 they used oil based paint but it turns out it was actually water based like they use on the mk6 but done in a different way.
even looking at the lower doors on another red mk6 i could see stone chips straight through to white and it looks crap.
how silly of vw as i really liked the red one as it looks cool but i aint resprayin g the car every 2 years.
really dissapointed,,,, but due to all these concerns and also the price tag i went for a mk5 and 4 weeks later i have not regretted it for one second,,,, yes i could have had a different colour in the mk6 but i still prefer the front grill on the mk5,, looks a way more aggressive.
also looked at the spec / pictures of the mk7 and again just does not look sporty.
i came from the girly 2001 mk4 gti with a massive 113bhp ( lol i know ) and soooo happy with my new car
mk5 rules