Beezer diesel, tks I appreciate people will have tried the mark 6, hence my question, there doesn't seem much coverage on the mk6 forum or on here if you run a search.
Maybe mk6 owners have difficulty expressing their thoughts in words or are just arrogant...sounds ideal!
I definitely fall into the latter category!
Despite Steve P's best efforts (and I think I was probably one of the main posters on the mk6 forum when I had my first one and there was a lot of retro fit action going on) the mk6 forum never really took off on here. Most of the mk6 action was over on golfgtiforum.co.uk where I'm still active on and off but not in the mk6 section any more!! (different user name on there).
The reason there's not a lot of mk6 replies to this thread is also down to the fact you've buried it in the mk5 General area instead of the chat section where it would be spotted more easily by mk6 owners as once you've moved on from one model you eventually drift away from the sections and visit certain parts less frequently as your experience becomes a bit 'dated' and the world moves on.
For example I sold my last mk5 over four years ago and there's little I can offer in terms of advice now as the cars have aged a fair bit since I had mine. So I visit this part of the forum very infrequently.
Snoopy on here is a moderator in the other forum I mentioned and is very familiar with the cam chain issues.
I'm not sure it's endemic to mk6's and their close relatives that use the same engines but it's not uncommon and as Andy Wigit says, there are modified parts available if your car is out of warranty.
Some (me included) prefer the smaller IHI turbo'd normal mk6 and some love the K04 ED35. Depends on your driving style.
One needs a cam belt change every 4 or 5 years and one was supposed to navigate round that problem but was fitted with a duff tensioner it seems!!!! Que sera sera!!!
There are lots of benefits of the mk6 over the mk5. As this is a general mk5 forum most on here will say they prefer the looks of the mk5 but maybe that's more to do with the mk5 being their main focus. I think the mk6 still looks quite up to date and in certain colours and in certain lights it still looks quite futuristic.
The biggest game changer with the mk6 was the electronics and a lot of us had lots of fun in the early days seeing what we could and couldn't retrofit for far less money than the factory were charging for optional extras. With the mk7 the electronics have moved significantly on again and it seems that even the ECU is proving a headache for the remappers to crack...