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Personally I'd keep the old one
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Agreed. There's a strong case for keeping the one you've got until it becomes unreliable / expensive to maintain, in the meantime saving for a newer petrol or hybrid car which should come with some months' worth of guarantee.
The 1.4 TSI is a good engine if you'd like another Golf: you'll get a newer SEAT Leon or Skoda Octavia with the same engine for less money (or an Audi A3 for a bit more!). With any of these, avoid the DSG and stiuck to manual.
Alternatively, you should be able to afford a Kia, Hyundai or Toyota with some of the original warranty still running. But as said above, go for petrol.
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Ha. Well yes, that had been my original plan, to drive it until it falls apart. It passed its MOT this year with no advisories. But the brakes are not brilliant, it's a bit scruffy and has that very old-car smell :-).
A new car appeals for various trivial reasons such as folding wing mirrors (lots of narrow lanes around here where I've lost a number of wing mirrors), beepy things to tell you're about to reverse into something (though, hand on heart, I never have done in this Golf), and heated seats.
I appreciate these are not great reasons for wanting a new car. Mainly I am concerned that my old Golf will just sigh and expire one day.
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The killer for DPFs is short journeys but even if you're doing mostly longer ones 7k is some way below point where diesel would be recommended with modern engines.
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Maybe have a valet to clean the car up?
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Maybe have a valet to clean the car up?
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lots of narrow lanes around here where I've lost a number of wing mirrors
TBH, this would persuade me that hanging on to the old car is the better option. First off, while the current Golf is, i think, the narrowest car in the class, it is still around 6cm wider than your old MK4. So, less chance of someone scraping it as they drove by, and, more importantly, much cheaper to replace the mirror on the MK4 (also, the mirrors on the MK4 do fold, just not electrically). As i live on a narrow street with double parking, the ever growing width of modern cars is a real thorn in my side. And is the reason we have a current shape Honda Jazz, as it offered all the accommodation we needed but is also pretty narrow. Point is, the thought of shelling out £12k+ on a nice car for it to then be scraped by a passing delivery van fills me with dread!.
As for your other points, brakes can be uprated fairly easily. It is also easy enough to get parking sensors fitted or even a reversing camera, which could be done in combination with upgrading the in car entertainment. As for heated seats, there are at least 3 options i can think of, 1, buy a set of 2nd hand seats off a higher spec MK4 Golf (on Ebay at the moment there is a complete set of heated leather Recaro seats from a 5 door MK4 Golf colour concept for £200), 2, you can buy aftermarket kits to convert your own seats (this would probably need to be done by a garage or auto-electrician though), 3, (the easiest) buy a set of heated car seat covers.
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I'd treat the current Golf to a birthday, get a little one man and his dog bodyshop to spruce the paint up where needed, a pro valetter to deep clean it (probably needs a new pollen filter), and a good service with a proper mechanic who'll sort those brakes out, and keep it.
My dear sis was in exactly the same quandry, her Golf 1.9 Diesel is totally reliable so she's (with my input) going to keep it going for as long as poss, it just received a parking ding courtesy of mr/ms anonymous which doesn't bother her one bit but would have been really upsetting had in been the nearly new Auris hybrid she was considering.
One other point about keeping these old decent Golfs going, they're worth next to nothing now, and it's anyone's guess what the future will bring re motoring issues, you're at near enough zero depreciation so just use your cars and bide your time, if the present mob (no fear or favour here they are all equally useless/pointless) decide they have to ban Diesels completely to win the green vote you'll still be able to flog a 1.9pdi to east europeans every day of the week who'll drive them home to the lands of common sense and flog them on.
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Agree with both these replies above and Golfs of this age are getting a bit of cult status (Too soon to be retro, but there's definitely a scene)
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I know my old Golf is worth virtually nothing - as you've suggested, there is great comfort in that. I can sling anything I like into the boot and take it to the tip. I can park it just about anywhere and never worry than anyone's going to want to nick it. It has a few small dings here and there, I don't even notice them. Driving my old Golf is like shrugging on an old comfy coat.
I wouldn't spend any money on it though, other than what's necessary to keep it on the road, I don't see the point.
Edited by Cobbles on 10/11/2019 at 11:12
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I wouldn't spend any money on it though, other than what's necessary to keep it on the road, I don't see the point.
Everything else you say makes good sense, except this last bit. The point is that you have faith in the car and feel comfortable in it. It may have little resale value, but spending modest amounts to solve simple problems like smelling a bit old, is perfectly reasonable and many times less than £11K. But if that money is burning a hole ....
Just remember that post-2008 diesels mostly have DPFs which can be a b****y expensive nuisance.
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Actually I agree about the deep clean / valet option, which for some reason has never occurred to me before. A few people on here have suggested it now and it does appeal.
I just meant I wouldn't spend money on extras such as parking sensors - I know where every inch of the car is and never hit things, except wing mirrors obviously.
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A note on the wing mirrors - they've all been smashed while on the move - narrow country lanes, and a village where there is barely space for cars to pass, always at night. A couple of times I've over-compensated, stayed over too far to the left and walloped the nearside mirror (women drivers, eh?).
When I say 'smash', it's only the glass, they cost very little to fix, it's just so inconvenient.
I've seen newer cars fold their wing mirrors while driving through that narrow village and it appeals.
I will be doing a different commute from January so those particular dangers will be gone. The car is totally safe when parked up.
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