I got it for £850.00 because i complained very strongly yo VW HQ down South!! In short, had my car since new, 2005, had it religiously serviced, etc by VW every year since (that will be stopping now ive found Statlers). My front wheel bearings needed replacing in April 2011 and it was only whilst the car was with them that they told me the amber warning light came on!!
I huffed and i puffed, even though my car was well out of warranty, albeit that my car had done less than 40k miles at that point. They initially wanted about £1450.00, to which i reminded them that i only needed the ONE rack, not two!! I think i must have made about 10 calls in the end to VW
I guess the moral is, if it has to be done, it has to be done, but find as many reasons to fight your corner as you can, or if you are happy with a 2nd hand one (much cheaper), go with that, depends on your circumstances really!! I too now have a clunking, creaking noise when going around roundabouts, etc, but so hope it's not my rack again, although my VW warranty is 2 years parts/labour, and a third year parts only apparently (ot is that labour only, hmm, well one or the other!!)
As i said, if you're somewhere in Yorkshire, you'd be well advised getting your steering rack changed at Statlers, if you definitely need to change it!!!???