Discussion
Month 6
I've done about 1,500 miles this month - the greatest monthly mileage so far in the car, but I'm likely to do a lot less in the autumn and winter as I switch to work hire cars.
The mega Bristol > Oundle > Bristol > Cornwall run went fine (picture above is on the Torpoint ferry - look how small a standard Mk5 R32 looks even compared to a Corsa and Fiat 500!), to which another couple of long work trips were added to really top things off.
The car really gobbles up this sort of driving and gets positive comments wherever it goes. With child seats removed, it's served as a very presentable "business" car for shuttling work colleagues when needed; yet with bars and roof box on top, it's also the perfect (compact!) family holiday car. The fact that it'll also drive beautifully in any situation and deliver a rorty V6 symphony on demand is just ace!
Paintwork
By way of update to my Month 4 post: the R32 is currently in the painting booth, having the whole nearside and front end re-sprayed.
I booked it initially for just the nearside, but made the mistake of asking how much it would be to have a few other niggles sorted and, hey presto, I ended up agreeing on a good price for the whole lot.
That lot will sort pretty much all the imperfections and gives me an almost new-looking R32 for within my original budget, set back in February.
Other work
On congested motorways (i.e. slow > fast > slow driving) I can really feel what I think is engine movement related to the "dog bone" mount. An annoying squeak has also developed at the rear of the car when it's loaded or going over speed bumps. I suspect bushings for the latter - and I'll get both sorted soon.
The standard RCD300 head unit also fails to read some CDs - usually the ones that my daughter is demanding through shouting and tears! I'm considering an upgrade to a later Mk6 RCD310 or 510 (multichanger) unit, with or without DAB, to make my life a little more pain-free.
Overall costs
I though I'd also add a forward view of 3 year costs for the R32. I started this when comparing costs to a work lease car:
Golf R32 Mk5
Miles 27,000
MPG 25
Pence per litre 1.30
Pence per gallon 5.9098
Costs (over 3 years)
Deposit 0
Fuel 6,383
Tax 1,500
Insurance 675
Servicing 500
Tyres 500
Maintenance 2,000
Depreciation 10,286
Gross Costs 21,843
Income
Business miles 4,920
Equity 1,000
Net Costs 15,923
Cost per annum 5,308
Cost per month 442
You'll see that I've assumed a net of £9k in depreciation for the period, which is very pessimistic - and I offset all costs with nearly £5k of business mileage.
I've not included the c.£2k maintenance that I'll have spent after the paint work, although I consider this more part of the purchase price (and therefore covered by depreciation). I have included another £2k maintenance over the coming 3 years, which I'd think is quite conservative.
The point is that, although the cost profile will be "lumpy", running a Mk5 R32 with a no-expenses-spared approach costs less than almost any other car I've had. For comparison, a new Mk7 R or 8V S3 would cost about £8k per annum.
I've done about 1,500 miles this month - the greatest monthly mileage so far in the car, but I'm likely to do a lot less in the autumn and winter as I switch to work hire cars.
The mega Bristol > Oundle > Bristol > Cornwall run went fine (picture above is on the Torpoint ferry - look how small a standard Mk5 R32 looks even compared to a Corsa and Fiat 500!), to which another couple of long work trips were added to really top things off.
The car really gobbles up this sort of driving and gets positive comments wherever it goes. With child seats removed, it's served as a very presentable "business" car for shuttling work colleagues when needed; yet with bars and roof box on top, it's also the perfect (compact!) family holiday car. The fact that it'll also drive beautifully in any situation and deliver a rorty V6 symphony on demand is just ace!
Paintwork
By way of update to my Month 4 post: the R32 is currently in the painting booth, having the whole nearside and front end re-sprayed.
I booked it initially for just the nearside, but made the mistake of asking how much it would be to have a few other niggles sorted and, hey presto, I ended up agreeing on a good price for the whole lot. That lot will sort pretty much all the imperfections and gives me an almost new-looking R32 for within my original budget, set back in February.
Other work
On congested motorways (i.e. slow > fast > slow driving) I can really feel what I think is engine movement related to the "dog bone" mount. An annoying squeak has also developed at the rear of the car when it's loaded or going over speed bumps. I suspect bushings for the latter - and I'll get both sorted soon.
The standard RCD300 head unit also fails to read some CDs - usually the ones that my daughter is demanding through shouting and tears! I'm considering an upgrade to a later Mk6 RCD310 or 510 (multichanger) unit, with or without DAB, to make my life a little more pain-free.
Overall costs
I though I'd also add a forward view of 3 year costs for the R32. I started this when comparing costs to a work lease car:
Golf R32 Mk5
Miles 27,000
MPG 25
Pence per litre 1.30
Pence per gallon 5.9098
Costs (over 3 years)
Deposit 0
Fuel 6,383
Tax 1,500
Insurance 675
Servicing 500
Tyres 500
Maintenance 2,000
Depreciation 10,286
Gross Costs 21,843
Income
Business miles 4,920
Equity 1,000
Net Costs 15,923
Cost per annum 5,308
Cost per month 442
You'll see that I've assumed a net of £9k in depreciation for the period, which is very pessimistic - and I offset all costs with nearly £5k of business mileage.
I've not included the c.£2k maintenance that I'll have spent after the paint work, although I consider this more part of the purchase price (and therefore covered by depreciation). I have included another £2k maintenance over the coming 3 years, which I'd think is quite conservative.
The point is that, although the cost profile will be "lumpy", running a Mk5 R32 with a no-expenses-spared approach costs less than almost any other car I've had. For comparison, a new Mk7 R or 8V S3 would cost about £8k per annum.
Basil Hume said:
Month 4
I don't know how I'm going to ever replace the sonorous V6 experience when the time comes - it's such an integral part of the car's character and not something I'd like to be without now.
It's at times like this that it all comes together: pin-sharp throttle reponse, tight steering and a little help from all four driven wheels.
Although I was sad to see mine go, I did find a suitable replacement I don't know how I'm going to ever replace the sonorous V6 experience when the time comes - it's such an integral part of the car's character and not something I'd like to be without now.
It's at times like this that it all comes together: pin-sharp throttle reponse, tight steering and a little help from all four driven wheels.
Went to look at this today,missus loves it that's good enough quick seat inside and a stab of loud pedal,next Saturday yes
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-VOLKSWAGEN-GOLF-...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-06-VOLKSWAGEN-GOLF-...
Month 8
As October draws to a close, I've realised that it's been a while since the last update.
The R32 was re-painted in late August: the whole front end and near side where done. It can take a while to really assess the quality of a paint job and I'm very pleased with the match and finish, other than a masking line where the rear panel meets the light cluster (which I may be able to polish down, but haven't done anything about yet).
With the wheels done a month before that, the R32 was totally spotless for a little while... until my wife kerbed an alloy again.
I've long given-up making a big deal about this, nor when inevitable minor marks appear from city centre living - I just see them as the price for driving a nice car in my situation and I get them sorted as and when they occur!
August's mileage was 1,959 - although only 400 in the two months since. Total mileage is just under 52k, meaning that it's done 6,600 in my care.
I've now switched to hire cars for most business mileage as it's financially advantageous (mileage rate drops from 54ppm to 22ppm!). Although I have another 1k or so until I reach the threshold, I decided to "save" these miles for some work drives between now and March. My last hire car was an Astra 1.6 SXi, which achieved 44mpg on a long trip where I'd usually get 35 from the R32 (a similar result was achieved from a Hyundai i30 1.4). It goes to show that there's not much difference in fuel consumption between an R32 and a more workman-like petrol car of half the engine capacity - on a long run at least.
The R32 itself continues to be sublime to drive and practical in equal measure. Driving it after hire cars reveals the weight of the Golf's controls and a slow, heavy clutch; the over-riding sense of simple solidity in the cabin especially; and some very satisfying noises and sensations.
I had the squeaky rear end checked out and the garage couldn't find anything amiss. I suspect the rear springs, although the noise is intermittent. One of the speakers also started making an odd noise (suspect loose connection) but has since stopped. Touch wood.
Other cars?
Not to put too fine a point on it: I could afford a more expensive car... and the Golf MK7 R and S3 keep winking at me.
But why would I want one? The R32 does everything I want - and is saving me loads of money, almost by accident (touch wood, once again).
As October draws to a close, I've realised that it's been a while since the last update.
The R32 was re-painted in late August: the whole front end and near side where done. It can take a while to really assess the quality of a paint job and I'm very pleased with the match and finish, other than a masking line where the rear panel meets the light cluster (which I may be able to polish down, but haven't done anything about yet).
With the wheels done a month before that, the R32 was totally spotless for a little while... until my wife kerbed an alloy again.
I've long given-up making a big deal about this, nor when inevitable minor marks appear from city centre living - I just see them as the price for driving a nice car in my situation and I get them sorted as and when they occur! August's mileage was 1,959 - although only 400 in the two months since. Total mileage is just under 52k, meaning that it's done 6,600 in my care.
I've now switched to hire cars for most business mileage as it's financially advantageous (mileage rate drops from 54ppm to 22ppm!). Although I have another 1k or so until I reach the threshold, I decided to "save" these miles for some work drives between now and March. My last hire car was an Astra 1.6 SXi, which achieved 44mpg on a long trip where I'd usually get 35 from the R32 (a similar result was achieved from a Hyundai i30 1.4). It goes to show that there's not much difference in fuel consumption between an R32 and a more workman-like petrol car of half the engine capacity - on a long run at least.
The R32 itself continues to be sublime to drive and practical in equal measure. Driving it after hire cars reveals the weight of the Golf's controls and a slow, heavy clutch; the over-riding sense of simple solidity in the cabin especially; and some very satisfying noises and sensations.
I had the squeaky rear end checked out and the garage couldn't find anything amiss. I suspect the rear springs, although the noise is intermittent. One of the speakers also started making an odd noise (suspect loose connection) but has since stopped. Touch wood.
Other cars?
Not to put too fine a point on it: I could afford a more expensive car... and the Golf MK7 R and S3 keep winking at me.
But why would I want one? The R32 does everything I want - and is saving me loads of money, almost by accident (touch wood, once again).
Month 9
Total mileage is now 52,752 - meaning that I've done about 7,300 miles since February; about 650 of which were in the last month.
I've spent this last month looking at various options to update the car a little. I've had premium audio set-ups in my last two cars; complete with navigation, full bluetooth phone prep, steering wheel controls and parking sensors - but I've done without any of these for the last 9 months. Being a VW, you can pretty much add anything you want to the car - although it soon becomes a matter of "open your wallet and say R".
I looked closely at the options for sat nav (VW RNS 510 or aftermarket), but I can't justify the cost for the sort of use I'd get from it. Steering wheel controls would be great, but would mean a whole new wheel at around £500. I'm not fussed on phone connectivity, so I won't be having that either.
I've finally settled on:
- Head unit: Used VW RCD 510 - a used factory Golf Mk6 upgrade with: touch screen, 6CD, DAB and an SD card slot. It can be linked-up to a separate amp if needs be. I was keen to keep the OEM look and few aftermarket units offer SD or USB connectivity on the fascia of the unit at a reasonable cost.
- Speakers: Focal 2-way speakers to the front door pods, to replace the weedy factory units.
- Rear parking sensors: OEM spec sensors, colour coded and fitted to the factory bumper slots.
That little lot is being fitted next week. Next up: it's time to arrange a major service, MoT, Haldex fluid change and possible mechanical updates - more next month!
I also took the chance to get some more pics in the dry, cold weather - showing August's paint off in the full glare of the sun:
Total mileage is now 52,752 - meaning that I've done about 7,300 miles since February; about 650 of which were in the last month.
I've spent this last month looking at various options to update the car a little. I've had premium audio set-ups in my last two cars; complete with navigation, full bluetooth phone prep, steering wheel controls and parking sensors - but I've done without any of these for the last 9 months. Being a VW, you can pretty much add anything you want to the car - although it soon becomes a matter of "open your wallet and say R".
I looked closely at the options for sat nav (VW RNS 510 or aftermarket), but I can't justify the cost for the sort of use I'd get from it. Steering wheel controls would be great, but would mean a whole new wheel at around £500. I'm not fussed on phone connectivity, so I won't be having that either.
I've finally settled on:
- Head unit: Used VW RCD 510 - a used factory Golf Mk6 upgrade with: touch screen, 6CD, DAB and an SD card slot. It can be linked-up to a separate amp if needs be. I was keen to keep the OEM look and few aftermarket units offer SD or USB connectivity on the fascia of the unit at a reasonable cost.
- Speakers: Focal 2-way speakers to the front door pods, to replace the weedy factory units.
- Rear parking sensors: OEM spec sensors, colour coded and fitted to the factory bumper slots.
That little lot is being fitted next week. Next up: it's time to arrange a major service, MoT, Haldex fluid change and possible mechanical updates - more next month!
I also took the chance to get some more pics in the dry, cold weather - showing August's paint off in the full glare of the sun:
Edited by Basil Hume on Wednesday 3rd December 13:28
Some more detailed pics:
Starting off, with the basic RCD300 unit:
Off come the door panels...
...and in go the Focal speakers and tweeters:
Door re-assembled:
RCD510 DAB unit fitted, with aerial mounted on the nearside A-pillar. This unit also has an internal 6-CD changer, SD card slot and bluetooth compatibility (not enabled here):
Back bumper re-assembled, with Cobra flush-mounted sensors to the factory template. Looks OEM:
Up close...
and from afar:
All fitted by Automotive Control of Bristol. Looks to be a good job.
I've also booked the car in for a major service, Haldex oil change and MoT in January at my local garage.
I finally feel as if I'm exactly where I want to be with this car: sorted cosmetics, just the right level of tech and - of course - the soul of the V6.
Starting off, with the basic RCD300 unit:
Off come the door panels...
...and in go the Focal speakers and tweeters:
Door re-assembled:
RCD510 DAB unit fitted, with aerial mounted on the nearside A-pillar. This unit also has an internal 6-CD changer, SD card slot and bluetooth compatibility (not enabled here):
Back bumper re-assembled, with Cobra flush-mounted sensors to the factory template. Looks OEM:
Up close...
and from afar:
All fitted by Automotive Control of Bristol. Looks to be a good job.
I've also booked the car in for a major service, Haldex oil change and MoT in January at my local garage.
I finally feel as if I'm exactly where I want to be with this car: sorted cosmetics, just the right level of tech and - of course - the soul of the V6.
Month 11
My R32 has cost me £1,021.59 so far this week...
Although expected and planned for, £521.59 for a very comprehensive service and a further £500 on annual VED brought ownership costs into focus this month:
My local garage must know me well by now: they used original VW parts, full synthetic oil and replaced absolutely anything you would expect (e.g. fuel, cabin filters) without asking. They also did the Haldex oil and filters, which I was assured had been done as part of the sale - but I wanted complete reassurance about.
The intermittent rear-end squeak has been looked-at for a second time and, again, nothing appears amiss and some silicone grease was applied to key moving points to see if that helps. Oh, and it sailed through the MoT test.
Total mileage is now 53,448 - meaning that I've done close to 8k miles in 11 months. Christmas saw some family trips, but I also have another couple of long-distance business runs coming up this January (Bristol > London > Wrexham > Llandudno > Bristol being one).
My R32 has cost me £1,021.59 so far this week...
Although expected and planned for, £521.59 for a very comprehensive service and a further £500 on annual VED brought ownership costs into focus this month:
My local garage must know me well by now: they used original VW parts, full synthetic oil and replaced absolutely anything you would expect (e.g. fuel, cabin filters) without asking. They also did the Haldex oil and filters, which I was assured had been done as part of the sale - but I wanted complete reassurance about.
The intermittent rear-end squeak has been looked-at for a second time and, again, nothing appears amiss and some silicone grease was applied to key moving points to see if that helps. Oh, and it sailed through the MoT test.
Total mileage is now 53,448 - meaning that I've done close to 8k miles in 11 months. Christmas saw some family trips, but I also have another couple of long-distance business runs coming up this January (Bristol > London > Wrexham > Llandudno > Bristol being one).
Edited by Basil Hume on Wednesday 7th January 21:12
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