How long to you keep your Golf?

[Finance_Analyst]

For sure your brother got a great deal on the RS4 compared to the new car price, but don't disregard the possibility that for the original owner the $45k loss was insignificant. The numbers might be different to the Golf scenario but the principle is the same - if you get enjoyment out of buying a new car every few months/years then the economic cost can be irrelevant.

I think we are forgetting that only a small proportion of the population can actually swallow that kinda of depreciation and walk away without feeling an impact. Given Australia has 22m or so people, how many have that kinda money (the top 3%, which is no more than 660,000 people or so out of 22,000,000?) Most luxury cars have crap loads of finance on it anyway and are on the brink of repossession. They drive their Bentleys and Porsches, look like millionaires when in reality, they are not. But hey, if you can afford it great. It is just that very few out of the whole Australia actually can. And that is the ultimate truth. If you can good luck. As a salary and wage earner, unless you are CEO/CFO/COO of an ASX 100 company, then I doubt you really have that kinda disposal income to throw around and buy a new car every few months and not feel hurt by that massive depreciation a top end luxury car suffers.

[Bel]

Tempted to lease a GTI and get rid of my 118Tsi (which i own out right) - only because of the DSG issues.. its only 16 months old.

[jamesatfish]

I think we are forgetting that only a small proportion of the population can actually swallow that kinda of depreciation and walk away without feeling an impact. Given Australia has 22m or so people, how many have that kinda money (the top 3%, which is no more than 660,000 people or so out of 22,000,000?) Most luxury cars have crap loads of finance on it anyway and are on the brink of repossession. They drive their Bentleys and Porsches, look like millionaires when in reality, they are not. But hey, if you can afford it great. It is just that very few out of the whole Australia actually can. And that is the ultimate truth. If you can good luck. As a salary and wage earner, unless you are CEO/CFO/COO of an ASX 100 company, then I doubt you really have that kinda disposal income to throw around and buy a new car every few months and not feel hurt by that massive depreciation a top end luxury car suffers.

You're right - the group of people who don't need to worry about losing 6 figures when swapping cars isn't huge, but they do exist. Take a look at the car sales sites for the 'hero' cars from each marque, and you'll often see the same contact details coming up again and again as they sell out of a 6-12 month old car because it's no longer the best. Talk to dealers of top-end vehicles and you'll find their best customers are upgrading on an almost annual basis, swapping to something new or different as they get bored with each car.

Sure there are the 'thousandaires' who leverage to the hilt to fund a luxury lifestyle, but there are just as many expensive car buyers who walk into a dealership and pay cash.

My point though isn't about the scale of the financial loss, but that although it is a certainty that swapping new cars every year is financially costly, there are plenty of people who prefer to enjoy their new new car rather than have the extra cash in their bank account. It doesn't matter if they're swapping from VY to VE Commodores, from Mk V to VI GTIs or from a Murcielago SV to an Aventador - the principle is the same: we are car nuts, and like any insanity our gratification does not have a solid founding in logic.

[Racer88]

I kept my mk5 for 4 years, you should think about selling at about 70,000kms as re sale drops big time at 80,000kms! Got an R now with some mods planned so happy for the next few years

---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 AM ----------

Tempted to lease a GTI and get rid of my 118Tsi (which i own out right) - only because of the DSG issues.. its only 16 months old.

Hey Bel, leasing ok if you don't want to mod I guess. I've got a 2011 R and still have issues with the DSG and the phantom neutral! Have you taken yours back to the dealer yet?

[tee_off]

What are the problems with the DSG? I'm planning to get a Scirocco DSG to keep for probably 5-10 years and I'm scared now...

[Racer88]

What are the problems with the DSG? I'm planning to get a Scirocco DSG to keep for probably 5-10 years and I'm scared now...

Have a look under phantom neatral or DSG problem on the forum, it's a problem quite a few seem to have, my mk5 gti was no problem but the mk6 R has the problem which just happens at random

[walbjj]

when people say a "few" have gotten the problem, its actually a small percentage. if u look at the amount of golfs they sell, in australia alone, then its only a handful. it shouldnt really be happening at all, but it does happen.
a mate had a mk5 gti, bought with 120k km on it, put 20k km on itand then it started having gearbox/dsg issue. he flogged it off in a trade in for the new wrx, couldnt be happier.

[Bel]

I kept my mk5 for 4 years, you should think about selling at about 70,000kms as re sale drops big time at 80,000kms! Got an R now with some mods planned so happy for the next few years

---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 AM ----------



Hey Bel, leasing ok if you don't want to mod I guess. I've got a 2011 R and still have issues with the DSG and the phantom neutral! Have you taken yours back to the dealer yet?

Yeah it's been back and have to say that the shudder is fixed, just keep expecting it to come back even with the new clutch pack. Once bitten twice shy I should be but I really do love the vw's.

A friend has had his new 'roc for almost three weeks and has no issues.... Beautiful car...

[GTREA]

How long to keep your Golf.

Hmmmm...well that's the million $$$ question I guess isn't it.

At this point in time I'd say mine (10 MY11 GTi DSG 8000kms) I will probably sell it before The warranty runs out in 2yrs time. I don't believe I'll have a DSG problem tbh, but I do get bored quick....I'm on carsales everyday

I have it on a Chattel Morgage buisness loan, and pay slightly more than I need to, paid just over 10k off it in 12mths, currently owes me about 33k so should have some equity in it, the longer I keep it now the more that equity will grow as depreciation slows....but balance that with potential expensive reliability issues.

But then what to buy?

The only new cars that truly interest me for replacement are C63 mercs, R35 GTRs or M series BMs...and well I just can't warrant them.

Yeah confused

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------

I actually have 7 vehicles chattel mortgaged thru my business ATM.

The only one that's burning me right now resale value wise is a friggin (sep) 2010 VW Crafter, Changing business needs means I don't really need it and would like to sell if possible, but I bought it for $73000 it now owes me $56000, yet no one will touch it, would be lucky to get mid 40's.

I do not want to burn $10'000+ in depreciation, but then don't want to keep it for say another 12 mths, pay another $18000 in payments only to have the vehicle drop to say mid 30's in value.

Won't touch VW commercials again

If resale is the be all and end all consideration in late model vehicle purchasing, best to pick up 2-3yr old cars from Pickles auctions and the like, keep for 1-2yrs sell......rinse and repeat

[walbjj]

How long to keep your Golf.

Hmmmm...well that's the million $$$ question I guess isn't it.

At this point in time I'd say mine (10 MY11 GTi DSG 8000kms) I will probably sell it before The warranty runs out in 2yrs time. I don't believe I'll have a DSG problem tbh, but I do get bored quick....I'm on carsales everyday

I have it on a Chattel Morgage buisness loan, and pay slightly more than I need to, paid just over 10k off it in 12mths, currently owes me about 33k so should have some equity in it, the longer I keep it now the more that equity will grow as depreciation slows....but balance that with potential expensive reliability issues.

But then what to buy?

The only new cars that truly interest me for replacement are C63 mercs, R35 GTRs or M series BMs...and well I just can't warrant them.

Yeah confused

---------- Post added at 06:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------

I actually have 7 vehicles chattel mortgaged thru my business ATM.

The only one that's burning me right now resale value wise is a friggin (sep) 2010 VW Crafter, Changing business needs means I don't really need it and would like to sell if possible, but I bought it for $73000 it now owes me $56000, yet no one will touch it, would be lucky to get mid 40's.

I do not want to burn $10'000+ in depreciation, but then don't want to keep it for say another 12 mths, pay another $18000 in payments only to have the vehicle drop to say mid 30's in value.

Won't touch VW commercials again

If resale is the be all and end all consideration in late model vehicle purchasing, best to pick up 2-3yr old cars from Pickles auctions and the like, keep for 1-2yrs sell......rinse and repeat

see, this is the exact thing im talking about, the van is an extreme case, and the gti that u have with 8k km, that owes u $33k, u will prob get $35-37k, so u have a little bit of equity.
the last ones i recall were the evo9 that i had, sold for $32k, owed $34k, chipped in the $2k myself just to offload it.
my brothers rs4, he bought for $125k, sold it about 7 years later for $47500, and had equity of about $3k.

[hooba]

I sold my 20 month old GTI this weekend, and the depreciation cost was on right on par with other cars that I've owned for 4-6 years mainly due to the fact that a) I got a great deal when new, b) I had some decent options on it to make it stand out from the non optioned models on the market. We all know that cars aren't an investment, but for the fun of driving around a new car I've gotten some bang for buck on this one.

The GTI has mirrored my experience with other German vehicles I've owned - great to drive, somewhat lacking in character IMHO (I find it hard to fall in love with just their technical excellence, that just me), and below par when it comes to reliability.

[walbjj]

What exactly has been below par for reliability. I've Had my gti for almost a yr now, and the 15k km service is this tues. so far no issues besides the whistling water pump but that's been fixed with warranty. No other issues

[GTREA]

I sold my 20 month old GTI this weekend, and the depreciation cost was on right on par with other cars that I've owned for 4-6 years mainly due to the fact that a) I got a great deal when new, b) I had some decent options on it to make it stand out from the non optioned models on the market.

I actually find the Golf GTis quite good depriciation wise...unless you option them.

Sure you may have had a quicker sale, and the punter would have been happier with his purchase, but all those expensive VW options are only worth a few russian Ruble's come resale time for the seller.

---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 AM ----------

There also comes a point fairly quickly in a vehicles resale value where KMs are more important to a cars value than options

[Mountainman]

What exactly has been below par for reliability. I've Had my gti for almost a yr now, and the 15k km service is this tues. so far no issues besides the whistling water pump but that's been fixed with warranty. No other issues

15,000km - it's hardly run in. Come back with a reliability and service costs/replacement parts report at 150,000km and it will impress a bit more with "no other issues" then.

[walbjj]

I'll be keeping the car a few years, so it will be a test to see if the vw gremlins r true, in this case