Well there are two very separate issues and one has nowt to do with the other.

If you think the Golf GTI is an awful car then why the **** did you buy it?. There are many other cars you could have bought for the same (or less) money!. It is up to you to make sure the car is right for you before buying. It is also in your own interest to find out what the supplying dealer is like, because they are very much not all the same.

But if you really think the car is that bad, sell or part ex it, there are always buyers for a Golf GTI.

As for the "Gard X" (which has nothing to do with VW), you could have said no, or at least done some research before deciding whether or not to have it.

To make matters worse, they talked me into buying a GardX damage protection policy. Needless to say - a small dent and stone chip claim was refused as they felt they couldn't fix it

That's been the down side of buying my new(ish) Suzuki last year. I managed to avoid all the usual cross selling when picking it up but I've had an endless stream of calls ever since. The only thing I've taken up is a service deal and Ala Gap insurance arranged separately. As I bought cheap and cash price I got a 4 year replace with new car policy, didn't cost much.

PS What's wrong with the 25 plate Golf out of interest? Some friends of mine got a new Audi A3 and found the modern safety gubbins way too in your face and reverted to a previous gen/model Golf gti which they love.

Until last year we'd been a very VAG family having owned a few Skodas (first from 2001) and VWs before then (first from 1984) - Many owned for over a decade. All excellent cars however we didn't take to the latest versions so have changed Manufacturer.