Welcome.
Take your baby to VW or an independent garage who specialise in VAG cars, they'll be a little bit cheaper, although probably not much.
We've all heard stories of belts lasting over 100/150/200k miles. Some people treat their cars like sh1t and get away with it, but most don't. There's a bloke in my office who swills pints, chuffs fags, and has a HUGE fry EVERY morning. He's obese and probably in his late 40's. Us lads always marvel at his constitution, but I'd say when he fails it'll be catastrophic.
Your belt could fail at any time (they don't usually snap-the rubber teeth shear off). You'll be stranded on the roadside, need a tow and then need an engine rebuild or a new head. This will cost you thousands!
Rubber perishes over time - you've probably seen an old bike tyre which is all cracked - same thing. The belt itself is kevlar reinforced so won't snap, but the teeth are good old rubber and will fail.
Some engines are 'non-interference' which means there will be no valve damage if a belt fails. The GTI has an 'interference' engine so will eat itself
.
Now you have some knowledge of what nastiness could happen, you'll always have a niggling doubt when driving your pride and joy. We know you'll be getting it done soon!
