The £35k nearly new ‘do it all’ fast family car?

[PaulConst]

48 hours into ownership and the S4 Avant would appear to indeed be “THE £35k nearly new ‘do it all’ fast family car” (for my purposes at least)

[Bryans69]

Interesting read. Similar dilemma, and S4 currently top of the list.Bit fussy on spec (red with red leather and black pack), so may end up new, but discounts pretty good anyway. Did find one at York, but wife says we are not ready to change just yet...

I assume you tested a Golf R. how does it compare to that?

[PaulConst]

Bryans69 said:

Interesting read. Similar dilemma, and S4 currently top of the list.Bit fussy on spec (red with red leather and black pack), so may end up new, but discounts pretty good anyway. Did find one at York, but wife says we are not ready to change just yet...

I assume you tested a Golf R. how does it compare to that?

My perfect spec would have been Daytona Grey with Red leather and Black Pack but the car I bought was up at the right price and very well spec'd compared to others. Panoramic was most important, B&O, Adaptive damping, Sport diff, Light & Vision pack, privacy and the surprisingly important red brake calipers a bonus.

Bad bits: In Jan '17 you could order B&O as a stand-alone option. Now it's only available at part of the Comfort & Sound package. I had assumed my car had the Comfort & Sound package because it has B&O - it doesn't. That means I do not have Rear cam or Advanced key (keyless entry), both things I'm used to having. I am likely to have the Audi rear cam retro-fitted but will be looking at £600-£800. The paintwork has typical Audi 'service wash' swirl marks and a few imperfections so it's off to my friends at Perfect Polish in Shrewsbury for paint correction and ceramic coating (actually something I had done straight from the dealer on my new F-pace in Sept '16).

I test drove the Golf R Estate Mk 7.5. Cracking engine but I refuse to pay £500 p.a. tax (at least not yet) and that's what I was looking at for a well optioned 7.5 as they are registered after April '17 and list over £40k with leather, pano, wheel upgrade. The build quality and interior of the Audi is a cut-above, it has proper Quattro, decent leather and other bits as standard and likely better resale over the Golf. I've also been able to capitalise on the sizable 12-month depreciation hit Audi S and RS cars tend to get so I now own a car which was £53k new before discount for £36k after just 13 months and 11k miles and as it was registered in Jan '17 £220 p.a. tax. From this point depreciation should (hopefully) start to level-off where the Golf will lose more over time.

[gazza5]

The joys of depreciation, tbh I would not have bothered with leather on the R - i find the standard seats better than the leather, and the leather seats in the R are not worth the option price at all imho, and certainly not worthy to put up the price above £40k for additional tax.

Plus you get the heated seats with the cloth anyway on the standard 7.5 R.

S4 is possibly next on my list, but will be looking after my lease on the R is up, 15 months to go.

[PaulConst]

gazza5 said:

The joys of depreciation, tbh I would not have bothered with leather on the R - i find the standard seats better than the leather, and the leather seats in the R are not worth the option price at all imho, and certainly not worthy to put up the price above £40k for additional tax.

Plus you get the heated seats with the cloth anyway on the standard 7.5 R.

S4 is possibly next on my list, but will be looking after my lease on the R is up, 15 months to go.

Going for cloth on a Golf was actually going to be the next plan for all the reasons you've stated had the S4 not come up.

Kids were my primary reason for leather over cloth but in reality their car seats would cover most of the rear and a car seat cover could have crap-protected the rest of the rear. After the option price and the extra tax because I would have been going over £40k with my options the leather would have been a VERY expensive option, particularly as it's pretty poor 'leather' anyhow (like most cars these days)

Having just sold the 2006 Suzuki Swift Sport I've been using for the last 6 months to get around I have to admit now I'm missing cloth a little

[Bryans69]

Thanks for the feedback. Specc'd a new one the DriveTheDeal to about £42k, which if I go for new will be a keeper anyway, so slightly less worried about deprecation, if that makes sense. Maybe second hand if right one come up. No need for B&O as mainly kids ste music on anyway. Don't really like the idea of extra tax, but such is life.

Whilst I get the appeal of the R Estate, had a couple of Golfs now, and just think this would be a step up generally