Buying my first Golf, a few questions

[Zoidberg]

Hi all,

I am about to buy my first car (having had hand me downs up till now) and have decided to go for a Golf. I have a maximum budget of £10,000 and have decided to buy an approved used car from a Volkswagen dealership. I just have a few questions I was hoping some of you may be able to help me with.

1) I'm currently looking at the 1.6 FSI S or SE models. I'm hoping to get one around 2 years old with 20,000 miles or less. Is this the best model to go for based on my budget?



2) I have heard that some FSI models don’t perform well on regular unleaded and require premium unleaded. Is this the case?



3) Based on my budget what price range should I be looking at in the dealership? Is it reasonable to assume that I can get £500-750 knocked off the price? Does a cash purchase rather than finance purchase make much difference?

Thanks for any help

[GreatGranny]

Try the website

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/used/search

Plenty of 1.6 SE models in your price range.

Don't be put off by mileage, they are only 3 years old max.

My brother-in-law has owned one and he found it a good car, not exciting but well built, reliable and comfortable with enough go unlike the 1.4.

You could look at non franshise dealers, they will be cheaper and the VW dealers I have dealt with in the past haven't been the best and thats being kind. All ok when you are looking but there after sales is appalling.

Edited by GreatGranny on Friday 25th April 12:01

[Dr G]

I drove a 1.6 FSI, it went well enough for what it's designed for.

Can't comment on fuel as I've not driven back to back but I'd be surprised if a 1.6 in a fairly mild state of tune needed super.

Discounts - is the sticker price on the money and competitive? Are you looking at an ultra desirable model? A rare model? A particularly clean or low mileage car? The dealer will know how the car stands up to what else you can buy, if it's a fairly run of the mill sort of thing you could buy somewhere else for the same cash then it couldn't hurt to ask for a discount. If it's a nice car, at the right money and the dealer treats you properly then surely you're already getting good value for money?

[Zoidberg]

To be honest I’m not finding a lot of SEs in my price range on the official site, maybe that’s just because I am searching near my area (Portsmouth). There are quite a few Ss but I am after the extras that come with the SEs really.

To be honest the reason I was looking to go through a franchise dealership is simply because I wanted to get an approved car. I don’t know a huge amount about cars and therefore find the prospect of getting a car I know is in good condition and will be covered for a year to be an attractive one.

In terms of discounts all I care about is getting good value for money. Being a franchise dealership they are obviously going to be charging a bit more, but I was under the impression you can always get a bit knocked off the price, especially if you are a cash buyer.

Also given the credit crunch it would seem that less people will be getting offered finance options so there will probably be less people buying cars on finance and with the threat of less disposable income there is also likely to be less people buying with cash up front. Therefore it should be a good time to get a bit knocked of the price if it seals a cash sale. This is just an assumption I could be totally wrong.