hi danny, i was in the same position as you about 2 weeks ago and took me a solid month of searching every day for the right one, depends on your budget i guess,,, to give you an idea i was looking for a max budget of £11k
after studying all the colours i broke it down to either black, red or carbon grey
i went to view a mk6 tornado red in that time as i was going to pay up to £21k for one maybe a year old but very hard to get one within budget,,, anyway i kept searching and 3 came up over the month, 1 white and 2 red,,, after seeing the white i decided red was the colour but to my amazement the 2 red ones i went to see which only had about 7k on the clock seemed to suffer from a heck of a lot of stone chips on the bonnets,,, it was mad as the rest of car was nice.
after doing a bit of research and after speaking to vw head office i found out that the water based paint they use is different from the mk4 and mk5 and although they wouldnt admit it the paint is garbage, my wife has a mk4 2003 red golf and 7ok on it and parked next to a 6 month old mk6 in same colour my wifes bonnet was better cond,,,, crazy
the problem is the paint they use now is a softer red, and the undercoat is bloody white so if you get a stone chip it chips straight through to white which stands out like a sore thumb,,, my wifes car has a deeper red undercoat.
absolutelly bloody stupid of vw to do this, the bottom line is if you buy a red mk6 you will have to get the bonnet resprayed every 2 years or so,,,, ruins the car.
so for these reasons i went on the hunt for the best mk6 i could find.
i finally found one at arnold clark for £10688,, 07 plate, solid black, 5 door, all standard fittings apart from £600 sat nav unit, wheels where shagged though and budget tyres so i had to budget new rims and tyres, full service history, really good cond bodywork with only 2 chips on bonnet, mileage 42k.
i finally paid a deposit and 2 days before i was due to go 150miles to get it another one popped up on autotrader,,,,,
08 plate, 37k, metallic black, new 18 alloys ( replicas ) 4 michelin tyres ( 4mm ) amazing condition bodywork, full leather interior, heated seats, i pod connection, 5 door, heated wing mirrors, heated water jets, headlight water jets, electric folding wing mirrors, puddle lights, full service history, 8 months mot, 7 months road tax,factory fitted bi xenons, and lux pack
price £12995, got it down to £12750 with the timing belt fitted as part of the deal
i think i got the best deal out there at the time, yeah you pay more for the leather / xenons etc but after looking at pictures side by side many times of the 2 different cars it was a no brainer as to what one looked more inpressive especially the interior leather pictures.
i was looking at buying either privatelly or through garage but i knew it was more expensive obviouslly through the garage but tbh i checked the garage was reputable and also paid £329 for a 2 year warranty extention, i asked evry damn question under the son about the car and even had to convince him the timing belt had to be changed after 4 years even though he said no it is only after 60k miles,,, had to point out the fine print in the owners manual so he changed it.
i was pretty lucky as it was a hard car to find but i am happy i bought it from a garage for the aftercare.
also you should have seen his face when i picked the car up and told him it was booked in for an mot the next day with my local garage even though there was 8 months left on the mot,,,, his jaw hit the floor as he thought it was a waste of money,,,,, no way man trust nobody, for £56 i got the car checked from head to toe from a trusted garage and a full years mot as well,,,, so within 1 day i knew that nothing was going to happen at say 80mph,,, very good peace of mind,,, if i had bought the car privatelly i was going to get the AA to come nd check the car as they will dol a full check for around £150 or so, i would have to pay for it but it checks everything,,,,, but to be honest the mot was cheaper but not always possible to do before you buy the car.
my advise would be to mot the car the same day or day after by a trusted garage, tell him you have just bought it and ask if he can advise if it is a duffer or not as well as carry out the mot.
best £56 i have ever spent,,, yes to mot a car with 8 months left on it may sound mad but not in these occasions,,,, if my car had thrown up a lot of faults you are in a much straonger position seing as you have just picked the bloody thing up.
regarding a high mileage, just depends on your budget, personally i put a max of 50k so got one at 37k,,, lots out there at 70k plus but think about the sell on value here, when you are finished with it it may be over 100k,,,, man who is going to pay top dollar for that, going from 70k down to 40k may cost around £2 - £3k difference but i think it is worth it
