Doing 20k a year in a Gti

[zabba]

I'm considering selling my Mk5 Gti as I now get the train to work and fancy something a bit more exciting for the weekend.  However, I love the Golf as an everyday car.  Currently my girlfriend has a company car which costs us £300 a month, its an Audi A1 diesel and averages about 60mpg, but I just don't like driving it as much as the Golf.

The Audi comes up for renewel soon, and I'm tempted to keep the Golf as it's replacement, saving us the £300 a month company car money.  But she does 20k miles a year, so I think the fuel costs will almost double.  Added to the additional depreciation on the Golf from doing these miles and potential for things to go wrong, do you think keeping the Gti to do 20k a year is a bad decision?

It's a 05 plate with 74k on the clock, full VW history and recent cambelt change.  I imagine it's worth just over £6k, but think that would fall quickly once over 100k miles.  What other maintenance/repair costs am I likely to have in the next couple of years doing that kind of mileage?

[GrayMK5GTI]

You will probably lost a few hundered pounds in resale value with the extra mileage - not too bad considering the amount of pleasure you get from it.

I imagine its mainly motorway miles which are easy peasy for cars, very little wear on components etc. Just consider the standard routine maintenance etc and you will be fine. 

With the mileage you have on it already, bushes, ball joints etc are all getting old (unless you have changed already?), plus it will need another cam belt change soon im guessing?

[MAT ED30]

i was doing 20k plus in my ed30 just drive it and enjoy it

[GrayMK5GTI]

i was doing 20k plus in my ed30 just drive it and enjoy it

Sick of hearing of folk being too scared to drive the car they spend £THOUSANDS on as they dont want to put mileage on it 

Hats off to you sir 

[GTI-Pirelli]

KEEP THE GOLF!

I have a 40 mile commute. 80 miles per day, 5 days per week, 48 weeks per year.

19200 miles per year + whatever I add at the weekends.

As Revo says; "GO PLAY"
 

[MAT ED30]

A sole purpose for a car is to be driven its why it was made I think some people can afford to buy the cars but can't afford to run em ie fuel and service work as over 20k in fuel cost does mount up to a lot of cash

[mad_pete]

If the A1 is £300 month I reckon the golf would save you £50 a month

[zabba]

If the A1 is £300 month I reckon the golf would save you £50 a month

Possibly, although I think it will be closer to £300 a month with no actual saving, but a much better car to drive.  I suspect the Golf will cost £200 a month more than the audi in fuel, leaving £100 to fund insurance/maintenance/tax/depreciation.  So providing I don't have any big costs then it won't be much diferent.

It's tempting to keep the Golf, just need to make the man maths work and persuade the GF that she doesn't need a shiny Audi.  The other downside of keeping it is that it ties up the cash I was going to put into my weekend car, possibly a 350Z

[zabba]

With the mileage you have on it already, bushes, ball joints etc are all getting old (unless you have changed already?), plus it will need another cam belt change soon im guessing?

Don't think the bushes etc have been done yet, certainly not in my ownership, but that's only been the last 7 months and 7k miles.  It still feels tight to drive but can see that these things might need doing in next 20k.  What sort of cost would I be looking at for the bushes/arms etc?  cambelt doesn't need changing for another 3 years.

[rich83]

I do about 20,000 in mine a year.... I don't intend selling it soon so mileage increase doesn't matter to me.

[andrewparker]

I personally wouldn't use a Golf to do 20,000 miles a year, not because the added depreciation would worry me, but the cost of fuelling it for motorway usage is daft in comparison to a diesel car.

[sub39h]

i was doing 20k plus in my ed30 just drive it and enjoy it

exactly the same with my A3 2.0T. i bought my car to enjoy it. i could have gotten a diseasel if i wanted but this is more fun.

on the motorways i get 40mpg, which means that considering the diesels command a higher selling price i would have to own the car a long time to make up the difference. (diesel fuel itself is also more expensive to buy in the first place.) you have to consider that if you sell the car now you'll lose money on it, then you'll have to buy a new car and immediately take a hit with depreciation on that car too.

often the cheapest car to own is the one you already have. just drive it more carefully to get better fuel mileage.

just as an example, when financially things were better (and i didn't daftly decide to return to university and move to London) i was looking at A5s brand new. it was a toss up between the 2.0T quattro and the 3.0TDI quattro. they have roughly the same performance but the (on paper) fuel mileage is better in the 3.0TDI. BUT once i sat down and did the maths on my expected mileage, i worked out i'd have to own the 3.0TDI for about 4 years to make up for the increased purchase price and the price of the diesel. on a used car it might not be quite as long a time as the difference in price in absolute terms will probably be lower, but do the maths first before you take the plunge.

[GTsport]

If the A1 is £300 month I reckon the golf would save you £50 a month

Possibly, although I think it will be closer to £300 a month with no actual saving, but a much better car to drive.  I suspect the Golf will cost £200 a month more than the audi in fuel, leaving £100 to fund insurance/maintenance/tax/depreciation.  So providing I don't have any big costs then it won't be much diferent.

It's tempting to keep the Golf, just need to make the man maths work and persuade the GF that she doesn't need a shiny Audi.  The other downside of keeping it is that it ties up the cash I was going to put into my weekend car, possibly a 350Z

Another advantage of running the golf as apposed to getting a company car is, once the company car lease is up, the car goes back and you have nothing to show for the money you've spent leasing it.

Whereas the golf, even with another 40-50k miles on it, its not going to loose more than £2k in value.

[GTI-Pirelli]

I can't justify Buying, Insuring, Taxing, MOT'ing and maintaining 2 cars!
Then my Golf will be sat at home getting older and depreciating without being used!

As Clarkson said when the MK5 GTI came out: "All things to all men"
I can have fun when I want but can also put the Mountain Bike in the back, do a B&Q run or go camping in the south of France.
My mate didn't have half as much fun in the Alps with his 2.0TDI A4! Ok so he used 3 tanks of fuel to my 6.5 but he was still jealous when we broke off the Toll Road and he couldn't keep up.

[Bradruss]

Diesel driving does get rather boring