Mk7 Golf GTI Discussion Thread

[Matt P]

..., although if it's predominantly or wholly private use and in the GTI/R price range it will often end up costing more than if just bought with after-tax dollars. Gotta do the sums to see if the corp discount changes that equation, I'd suspect not...

I'd disagree with this as a blanket statement. Far too many variables to make the call. Person earning $30k a year travelling 1,000kms per annum? Sure, its probably dearer, that guy doesn't really pay any tax anyway. Person earning $250k driving 18,000kms per annum.. I'd eat my hat if it wasn't worth their while (source, worked for a novated leasing company for 7 years, built my own spreadsheets to check viability)

It also comes down to your other alternatives for purchase. Are you a cash buyer, would you need a part/full loan, do you have access to a home loan to redraw etc.. Also if you're a cash/redraw buyer, don't forget the opportunity cost of having the best part of $50k tied up in an asset for the period of ownership

You will find that salary packaging companies get preferential pricing on servicing etc.. if they're being billed for it rather than you paying and reimbursing. Probably less value in that these days with capped price stuff.

Interesting read - particularly the straight discount off list price (and how it is funded/shared) and the reduction in delivery charges.

I suspect this may be an older document and/or excludes the corporate support provided to the various professional bodies that are now included in the program. The letter Jimi referenced certainly hasn't changed.

I got something like $4k off in 2010 when I was looking to order a Mk6 GTI; in 2014 this was halved to $2k split across the list price and delivery (meaning the marketing expense may have been shared between VWA and dealer the same way). The flipside was they had little interest in negotiating further in 2010, but in 2014 there was still plenty of room to do so as per my final buy price.

You are correct, that PDF is VERY out of date. The concept of "percentages" off is dead, although the dealers still do "share" the discount. It varies model to model now and is changed regularly (i.e. first shipment of an all new model, the car won't be offered anything, once it comes on its a small discount, as the cycle goes on it gets bigger etc..). There are often instances where retail promos are better than fleet (i.e. the driveaway promos are usually cheaper than corporate plus for most cars)

[Dutch77]

I'd disagree with this as a blanket statement. Far too many variables to make the call. Person earning $30k a year travelling 1,000kms per annum? Sure, its probably dearer, that guy doesn't really pay any tax anyway. Person earning $250k driving 18,000kms per annum.. I'd eat my hat if it wasn't worth their while (source, worked for a novated leasing company for 7 years, built my own spreadsheets to check viability)

It also comes down to your other alternatives for purchase. Are you a cash buyer, would you need a part/full loan, do you have access to a home loan to redraw etc.. Also if you're a cash/redraw buyer, don't forget the opportunity cost of having the best part of $50k tied up in an asset for the period of ownership

You will find that salary packaging companies get preferential pricing on servicing etc.. if they're being billed for it rather than you paying and reimbursing. Probably less value in that these days with capped price stuff.

You're welcome to disagree, I didn't intend it to be a blanket statement - more a case of I'm not here to give advice in public, give me a call to discuss further type of thing. I was just saying that in most instances I've seen if you're a private driver (ie using statutory rate over log book) the more expensive cars often don't work these days at the flat 20%. There are ways around it of course, but for average people the difference is minimal and often not worth the costs if they are passed on. If you're part of a fleet where the employer swallows this cost different story again.

As for source of funds, that's unrelated to the packaging. A home loan redraw at 4.6 to 4.9% is always going to beat alternative finance sources - lease or otherwise. But you can still organise your own finance outside a novated lease.

There's definitely a place for it while our tax system provides the incentives to do it - I suspect those days are numbered no matter how much dealers whine, there is no local car industry to protect anymore and frankly the tax expenditure on that concession would be MUCH better spent elsewhere.

PS: not having a dig, from prior discussions I know your knowledge and background in this area is spot on.

[Dawson]

Hi, how's the fix for the clunk in the suspension going?

Had ours in today to replace the RHF lower control arm and so far the noise has gone. Will monitor it and see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

Hi Brendan,
Sorry for the delayed response, I've only just seen your post. I dropped mine back in this morning for the 5th time, see how it goes. The manager of the service center has taken over the case and is going to escalate it, he wants it fixed. Good to hear yours is hopefully fixed.
They had it in before Christmas and replaced all the bolts and bearings connecting everything. My thoughts are it must be the strut if that's the only thing left to replace.
In the mean time they've given me a manual caddy to drive, haha.

Will let you know how it goes.

[Brendan_A]

Hi Brendan,
Sorry for the delayed response, I've only just seen your post. I dropped mine back in this morning for the 5th time, see how it goes. The manager of the service center has taken over the case and is going to escalate it, he wants it fixed. Good to hear yours is hopefully fixed.
They had it in before Christmas and replaced all the bolts and bearings connecting everything. My thoughts are it must be the strut if that's the only thing left to replace.
In the mean time they've given me a manual caddy to drive, haha.

Will let you know how it goes.

Hi Dawson,

That's not good to hear. Hope they get it sorted for you soon. It's been two weeks since they fixed ours and all is going good

Have fun in the caddy..

[Dawson]

Hi Dawson,

That's not good to hear. Hope they get it sorted for you soon. It's been two weeks since they fixed ours and all is going good

Have fun in the caddy..

The suspense is killing me, still waiting to hear back from the service guys. Looks like the Caddy over night.

[MrGadget]

Hi, thinking about getting a GTI PP. Just wondering when the MY16 models go on sale and if anyone knows if Discovery Pro will be included instead of the low res 5.8" screen?

Also I have a MK2 Octavia Rs. How does the Columbus system compare to the 5.8" entertainment system in the GTI?

(Keeping the RS, trading my MKV GTI)

Thanks.

[Dawson]

Hi Dawson,

That's not good to hear. Hope they get it sorted for you soon. It's been two weeks since they fixed ours and all is going good

Have fun in the caddy..

Hi Mate,
A quick update, they haven't been able to find a fault and have given me a GTI PP for the night to drive across the same roads and bumps that make the knocking noises in mine.
At the same time I told them about what you mentioned was changed and they said order it and change that as well see if that fixes it. They've ordered it and said the control arm will be delivered tomorrow and they'll fit it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I've got to say their service has been very good, they want it done as much as I do so I don't keep coming back.

[Brendan_A]

Hi Mate,
A quick update, they haven't been able to find a fault and have given me a GTI PP for the night to drive across the same roads and bumps that make the knocking noises in mine.
At the same time I told them about what you mentioned was changed and they said order it and change that as well see if that fixes it. They've ordered it and said the control arm will be delivered tomorrow and they'll fit it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I've got to say their service has been very good, they want it done as much as I do so I don't keep coming back.

That's really good they have given you a PP for the night to check on the same roads. Have your service guys heard the noise?

Hope the new control arm fixes it for you!

[Dawson]

That's really good they have given you a PP for the night to check on the same roads. Have your service guys heard the noise?

Hope the new control arm fixes it for you!

Yeah fingers crossed, I don't think the GTI PP will make the same noise cause it only happens when turning one way on one side, but good to get a comparison anyway. Will know more tomorrow.

[Dutch77]

Hi, thinking about getting a GTI PP. Just wondering when the MY16 models go on sale and if anyone knows if Discovery Pro will be included instead of the low res 5.8" screen?

Extremely unlikely given the cost of the system.

The screen is small but more than workable, it's the sat nav that is a disgrace and shouldn't even be commercially available (it's that bad).

[Dawson]

Extremely unlikely given the cost of the system.

The screen is small but more than workable, it's the sat nav that is a disgrace and shouldn't even be commercially available (it's that bad).

Could be some good news.
I've got my car in at Artarmon at the moment getting fixed and I was having a chat the service manager this morning about the sat nav and she said that they've just been told that a possible sat nav update is being fast tracked to be released in March sometime because of how many complaints they've been getting about the system. fingers crossed.

[MrGadget]

Could be some good news.
I've got my car in at Artarmon at the moment getting fixed and I was having a chat the service manager this morning about the sat nav and she said that they've just been told that a possible sat nav update is being fast tracked to be released in March sometime because of how many complaints they've been getting about the system. fingers crossed.

Is this a software update that will be applied to existing sat nav or a hardware change?

[Dutch77]

Could be some good news.
I've got my car in at Artarmon at the moment getting fixed and I was having a chat the service manager this morning about the sat nav and she said that they've just been told that a possible sat nav update is being fast tracked to be released in March sometime because of how many complaints they've been getting about the system. fingers crossed.

Thanks for that - if it's software to be applied to existing systems it couldn't happen quick enough.

Living in a new place has meant using a sat nav properly for the first time and the difference between the cheap basic system in our CX5 vs the GTI is a real embarrassment to the German. I'd rather use the free service on my phone than what VW have gone with.

[Dawson]

Is this a software update that will be applied to existing sat nav or a hardware change?

Thanks for that - if it's software to be applied to existing systems it couldn't happen quick enough.

Living in a new place has meant using a sat nav properly for the first time and the difference between the cheap basic system in our CX5 vs the GTI is a real embarrassment to the German. I'd rather use the free service on my phone than what VW have gone with.

The service manager said it was a software update to existing systems, so fingers crossed it works! She also said she hadn't been told on how the update will happen, but should be released before the end of March.

[Dawson]

That's really good they have given you a PP for the night to check on the same roads. Have your service guys heard the noise?

Hope the new control arm fixes it for you!

So far so good mate, after all the trouble shooting and replacing all other suspension connecting parts, they've replaced the lower control arm (Huge thanks for the advice!!!) and after a day and a half of driving it looks resolved! Quiet suspension is mine! fingers crossed! Thanks again for the advice.

Interesting comparison to the GTI PP they lent me, had it for 2 days and biggest difference apart from the diff for traction was the lower road noise from the Pirelli P-Zero's, they are much quieter than the Bridgestone's on my car, (pirelli's had 6500kms vs my Bridgestones have 15600kms) and my Bridgestones have plenty of tread left.
Think come tire time, I'll look at my options. Namely GoodYear and Dunlop cause I can get them through my family's GoodYear Autocare - family rates
Cheers