Hand-me-down Golf TDI or city car?

[The Cardinal]

I've been considering a city car (Up / Citigo-type) recently. This is partly because of increasing urban runaround needs and, separately, needing to visit my ageing parents. My wife won't drive our van and it's affected by an upcoming clean air charging zone soon, so its use as a second vehicle is diminishing towards leisure use only. That said, I can't see us selling the van.

I was set to go for a c.£5k city car to run alongside our Audi S3, plus a garage for either car or van.

However, I've been offered my father-in-law's 2014 Golf GT. It's a nicely spec'd car with good history and probably at rock bottom price... Undoubtedly a far nicer option, but I had dismissed this because it's a non-ULEZ-compliant 2.0 TDI 150.

I'm now wondering whether I should consider the Golf again? It would still be useful to us, because my wife would actually drive it and it should be plenty useful if driven carefully around the clean air zone boundary.

Golf +

- known car, nice thing, rock bottom price
- have S3, legs or bike for city centre
- could sell at cost / small profit for the foreseeable

Golf -

- clean air zone issues
- limited long runs
- higher bork factor than an Up etc

Your views?

Edited by The Cardinal on Thursday 27th May 14:36

[georgeyboy12345]

I'd pass on the non-ULEZ Golf, the worry of accidentally entering the ULEZ zone will make your life a misery. I think your original plan of a VW Up sounds much better.

[ZX10R NIN]

If the Golf is nice & your happy to drive the S3 around town then that's the combo.

If you decide to go the city car route, the Honda CR Z makes a lot of sense:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103260...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104211...

[Narcisus]

Have the Golf then immediately sell it on for a good profit before buying the car of choice

[The Cardinal]

Thanks everyone.

While mechanically perfect, it's a countryside car, has a few scrapes and needs a deep clean inside. It's cosmetics really [I'd be happy to sort it myself] but would mean a low trade bid, perhaps in the range of £5.5-6k.

I, too, am wary that said Golf would need to be driven carefully to avoid the boundaries of the zone. There's no way I'd choose a diesel in these circumstances normally...

...but looking at what sort of VW Up this sort of money buys makes it seem like an opportunity I need to continue to think about!

[Regbuser]

Citigo, cheap and surprisingly good!

[ZX10R NIN]

The Kia Picanto in 3 trim is a great city car & you'll still have 1 years warranty left:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104040...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105102...

Also the DS3 is a good pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104221...

[The Cardinal]

Just a little bump in case there are any more opinions on this?

[Jamescrs]

The golf sounds like hassle if you are on the edge of a Congestion ULEZ area, I think it would quickly become annoying.
Does sounds Like the Skoda variant of a VW UP or even a Pug 107 type thing may be the way to go.

[The Cardinal]

Thanks - I suppose what's annoying me the most is that this Golf would be an ideal car if it weren't for the incoming ULEZ / CAZ.

As an inner-city family raising kids I appreciate why this action is needed... but it does rankle that this particular Golf is just a few months away from being a Euro 6 version and would otherwise be such a good buy for us.

As an aside, anyone looking on Autotrader should beware that all 2014-15 Mk7 Golf 2.0 TDI models are showing as ULEZ-compliant on that site, but this is *not* true as they are Euro 5.