My car will be 6 years old on September the 5th. It is the oldest car I have ever owned, I am (sorry to say) one of those sad people who keep cars for 3 years and move them on when the manufacturers warranty runs out. I must admit that I have often considered other cars as a replacement and I have toyed with the a newer GTD, BMW 135i/123d or even a Scirocco but have always decided to stick with my baby. The main reasons are I just don't think that many other cars live up to the mark 5's flexibility.
I can totally blast it round twisties and have a complete blast and as I did recently on a drive to a garden centre in Stirling where I picked up a 4 seater patio set, table parasol and 4 chairs and fitted it into my car! And again, yesterday, and this is what prompted this post, I had to buy my daughter a new bed, we went to Costco and there was a king sized bed for sale including memory foam mattress....I did not think it would all fit in my car, I even called a van hire firm in anticipation of a short hire but lo and behold....the good ol' GTI came into its own again and yes, it all fitted nicely into the back! I had to drive with the tailgate up slightly however but once home, I decanted the bed and the car once more transformed into a flying machine.
My car has just been serviced again and it runs like a dream, in fact I would go as far as to say it is actually better now than it was when I first picked her up.
I love my car, sometimes I wish that it had another 2 doors but for all round fantasic-ness the GTI wins for me hands down every time.
Although I am still left with the conundrum of what will replace her when the time comes, I like having something that is practical but I also like something that I can DRIVE.
At this point I can only see one thing that comes close and its another Golf GTI.