Swapping newer for older (vw golf)

[ItsMischerWavy]

So I'm a bit of a petrol head and particularly a Golf nut.....my lottery win car is a mk4 R32. The mk4 golf has been my favourite since it was first released (stick with me.... This is all the background)

8 years ago I finally managed to buy the dream and had a mk4 gt tdi for some years, I got 250k out of it. It only died as something large went wrong that I couldn't warrant the money to fix (it sat on my drive until 6 months ago with the vague hope of a lottery win)

To replace it I ended up with a mk5 1.6fsi.....the dreaded "dud" model. I've had it 2 years and despise it. It has problems that are undiagnosable and sometimes rather intermittent however it's getting worse. It has low mileage. It costs me so much to run I'm not inclined to throw money at it. The thing does 25mpg which to me is LUDICROUS. it's issues seem to be getting worse and I've had enough of it. I have a friend who is a VAG specialist and it's going there in a few weeks to hopefully get a diagnosis.

Question is, I am in a position to get another mk4 gt tdi with a genuine v low mileage (35k) and in mint condition. I'm swooning. I want to px mine for an older model.
Tbf I've said since day 1 I want to "lose" mine and get another mk4 but that is not the point.

Someone tell me I haven't lost it lol. From experience, I know that swapping back to the mk4 will save me over £80pm in running costs. That's a good thing, surely!

Opinions please! For the record... I am not interested in new cars, I far prefer older ones. And I'm particularly attached to v-dubs so I understand that this is a rather specific post.

I've had two golfs - a mk4 gt tdi 130 but mapped to 180bhp and as my third car after my gti 6 it bloody flew, thanks to the extra torque of course. I've also had a mk7 R, made the devastating decision to sell it to pay off debts in January this year and I regret it more and more every day. I'm grieving this car really badly, I sold it and bought an 11 plate mini R56 SD instead which sounded like a bloody tractor.

The mk4 is bloody ugly to look at but I look back on the days I had it with fond memories, it was so much fun to drive and not that I had it for the mpg (never bought a car for the mpg) but it was bloody brilliant on diesel.

I've since gotten rid of the mini and have a polo gti 6C, it's not the same as the golf and never will be even when I go stage 1 and get a Remus but it's still great fun.

So what I'm trying to say is that I'm definitely a VW girl at heart so I think you should get the mk4, you clearly love them and I can understand why.

Horsepower and specific output are not the be-all and end-all of driving characteristics either. The Honda S2000 referenced above produces its maximum power at over 8,000 rpm which is fine for blasting along an empty country road with the roof down on a sunny day, or round a race track. In traffic on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Bremen, or the North Circular on a Friday evening, where most Golfs are likely to be actually used that would get very tiring: a smoother six pot engine which produces its power (and substantially more torque) at lower engine speeds is much more comfortable, usable, and just as fast in the circumstances. It is no secret that VW wanted to make its Golfs appeal to more sophisticated drivers from the mk IV onwards - Elai1978's histrionic reaction to them rather underlines the point.

In something that’s billed as a performance NA car (with the exception of US V8 muscle) I want something that fizzes towards the redline. The R32 lump is perfectly suited to something like a bog standard A4, low down torque and smoothness in that is perfect. In a hot hatch it doesn’t make you want to drop a couple of cogs on a nice B road and cane the life out it or take it on track and push it to its limits.

As for reliability, I’m afraid I have to take JD power with a pinch of salt. The figures from the company actually paying warranty claims make a lot more sense, they know exactly what they’re paying out to fix each and every model/brand. Two Golfs come in the bottom 3 in categories of the latest What Car reliability survey published a couple of days ago but again, they’re not the ones paying for the repairs. I’ve owned 26 cars in the past 10 years, a number of which were VAG and other German cars but the quality just doesn’t compare to the Japanese cars. Interestingly my parents have gone from exclusively BMW and Mercedes for 30 years to Lexus. They just work, gone are the constant dealer visits for warranty repairs. Needless to say, the only cars in my fleet now are Japanese with the exception of one classic British sports car. I think the only German car I’d buy now would be a new 911 as they drive so well but I have access to one so no need!