Pondering something here. I'm looking at new VWs, my price range (17-18k) will cover a basic Passat diesel, or a Golf TDI with a higher spec, and a bit of a nippier performance.
It doesn't make that much difference to me, I like both cars, but what would you do and why?
thanks.
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Depends I think, on what sort of use you will put the car to. If you regularly do long journeys then in my opinion a bigger car is just more comfortable. No-one uses all the toys anyway. If you don't need the space and most of your journeys are relatively short or urban then the smaller car would probably be more fun.
Having said all that I use a large car with a high toy count so I'm possibly talking rot!
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The car without the toys (all other things being equal) will depreciate less.
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Good points.
Will be a fair amount of motorway stuff, and I did wonder about the depreciation. That's 2 for the Passat I reckon.
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I went for a basic Passat S for that reason. Kept it for 6 1/2 years and it still had enough toys for me.
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A bigger car is safer and if it's a diesel it will not incur any significantly higher running costs when driven at a steady speed. The higher weight of the Passat which gives acceleration losses is offset by its improved aerodynamics over the Golf.
If you have the room for a bigger car and don't need to park it in town, I'd go for the Passat any day. I have a diesel Passat clone and drive a Mk V Golf from time to time. There's absolutely no comparison on a motorway.
659.
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Buy an Octavia get the best of both worlds and better dealers.
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I read the first post in this thread, and straight away thought 'how long before somebody says buy a specced up Octavia for the price of a basic Passat' - I'm surprised it took that long ;-)
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Buy an Octavia get the best of both worlds and better dealers.
And just think of how much you would save on Christmas cards! ;-)
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Heh. I did go through that when I started looking at cars. I posted a thread about a month ago and was talking passat / xtype etc, and we had a bit of a discussion about Skodas. I get the point about them, but I would never buy one.
The Jag is just a bit too pricey, and the depreciation looks brutal. I'm more or less decided on a Passat now, just wanted to see if anybody could see any good reason against it. I'll be buying the car next week in London.
Thanks all!
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What about nearly new and have the Passat with all the toys and avoid the depreciation. I doubt I will buy new again.
Edited by willhollin on 24/04/2008 at 19:46
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I bought a new Passat in Sept 2006 through drivethedeal.com and saved about £2k. I paid £18,600 for a factory-ordered 2.0 140 TDi SE saloon with metallic paint, lheated leather and front fogs as extras. Great long distance car, but big! I don't always need the room but for family hols it's really useful. Can be awkward to manouevre in car parks.
So you get a decent spec new Passat for about £18k (or a nearly new one for even less?- but I think I'd rather get a broker-sourced new one).
Ironically, I had a Golf 1.9TDi as a courtesy car while my Passat had a new engine fitted after 8 months/8k miles, and it was very nice!
I understand the new 2.0 diesel is a common rail so I'm not sure how it compares with mine, but I'm really impressed with the combination of power and economy.of the TDi. I regularly get 650 miles per tank and 700 on a long trip even with full load. Have you considered the new CC version?
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Thanks Pat. I have been looking at the broker sites, they're definitely tempting. I'll need to wait till next week though, as I'm not in the UK yet.
Drivethedeals site looks better when you're really ready to buy, I quite like motorpoint, as you can see that they're got immediately. UKcarbroker seems to have a good reputation too.
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Yeah, have been trawling through the used car section on VWs website - they don't seem to be much cheaper than new ones, unless you start looking at 2005/2006 cars which isn't what I want.
I'm planning to shop around a little, and certainly if I see a clean ex- demonstrator or something like that I'll be taking a good look. I reckon till I'm standing in the dealers with cash in my hand (well, you know what I mean), I won't really know what I'm going to buy.
Cheers.
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I'm sure other brokers also offer good prices and service but I can certainly recommend dtd for the simple fact that you pay nothing to them and once the deal is struck you deal direct with the frachised dealer just as you would as a 'throught the door' punter. Difference is you save a wad of money! And their special offers (immediate availability) are good value if they have the model/colour/spec you want.
I have to say the biggest problem I had was deciding which colour to have. Went for the deep black pearl but sometimes wish I'd had blue or grey. And those heated leather seats are nice in winter!
Happy shopping!
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Having a poke around dtd now. They've got a Passat 2.0 tdi Highline for 17,616. That's going to be hard to beat.
Stupid question - anybody know what the 'CR' and 'DPF' part means?
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Common Rail
Diesel Particulate Filter
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Thank you sir.
I think we're nearly there now . . . just gotta decide on colour now!
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" I have a diesel Passat clone and drive a Mk V Golf from time to time. There's absolutely no comparison on a motorway." I think that means a Skoda Superb.
I think it depends on whether you need the extra room, and also the feeling of more space around you, which may make you feel safer - in fact both Passat and Golf have a 5-star NCAP rating I think.
Maybe look at a Golf estate like mine - you can get a 2.0 TDI for £18k list with useful items as standard (not sure how you would describe 'toys'). Plenty of space and - for me at least - great comfort and lots of adjustment on both sets and steering wheel.
If 'nippier performance' is what you want, I'd go for the lighter but equally safe Golf estate over a Passat. The Passat estate is quite a lot bigger - remember that the non-estate Passat is a saloon rather than a hatch.
As you rightly imply, it's horses for courses, depending on your priorities.
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good compromise, but I'm not a fan of estates - just aesthetics really. I know my wife would say 'don't be an idiot', but here amongst the petrolheads, I'm sure I can get away with it . . .
The other possibility was a jetta, but I get the feeling it's neither one thing nor the other - that size of VW never seems to sell well.
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