wanderinghand

Had my GTI now for around 4 months and absolutely love it. Engine is a peach, handling is just superb with amazing feedback (lift-off oversteer has never been so fun!), comfort is second-to-none in the class, practicality is perfect etc etc. In short, I've never made a better car-buying decision and I'd thank all of you here for making the wait so bearable. BUT!!! The thing that has most suprised me has been the longevity of the windscreen washing fluid. I've covered 6000 miles since I took delivery, driving in all sorts of conditions and particularly on the motorway in the winter, when salt, spray and grime would clog up a windscreen in seconds. Yet I STILL haven't had to re-fill my washer bottle!!! It's absolutely incredible and just one of the small things that make this such a great car!

Got the same problem - it's quite irritating! Dealer has agreed to have a look, although it took a long time to get them to respond to my e-mails. Looking at these other posts, it should be ok to fix. If for whatever reason they can't then I think I'll get them to refund the additional cost of the folding mirrors.

I've lost count of the number of times that's happened to me already. Infuriating.

Since my beloved GTI (write-up soon - just getting her past 1000 miles or so) is my first new car, I'm extremely paranoid about her being half-inched. On previous cars with no alarm I've put a steering wheel lock of some sort on. What are people doing with their GTIs? Trusting in good human nature and VW technology or putting a steering wheel lock on just to make sure? I usually park it on the street (reasonably busy with a constant trickle of traffic, even in the dead of the night). Thanks, 'Hand.

Mine was delivered with Dunlops too - I'm very impressed, although it's still very much the honeymooon period!!

Hee hee - it's the "stage name" I adopted when I used to be a funk DJ. Just kinda stuck.

I have just taken delivery of my GTI from them (Edgware Rd branch). I wasn't blown away by the service and have a slight mis-trusting of them. BUT, I had a chat with the MD who explained that they have just been subject to a management buy-out from the HR Owen group and are trying to make significant improvements to their customer service, as it has been recognised that this has been poor in the past. So may be worth a try....

Picked up the car from the Stealers yesterday and have now had the pleasure of its company for 24 hours. First thing is - it's AWESOME!!!! Obviously being careful with it for the first 1000 miles or so, which I thought would limit the fun, but with such astounding torque it's still a hoot. I forgot how immense the grip is, even in the less-than-ideal conditions we're in at the moment. Everything works just as I'd hoped (with the exception of the folding mirrors, which I'm trying to come to terms with!). Will publish a more in-depth view shortly, with some pics, but just thought I'd come on here and mention how chuffed I am. Oh yeah, and I can finally join in discussions about "steering grinding while stationary"! Take it easy, 'Hand.

[ QUOTE ] where's the £60 figure come from...... £20,000 - £5000 Deposit = £15,000 Bal £15,000 x 2.5% Surcharge = £375..... [/ QUOTE ] Just planning to put £4k - £5k on a credit card though - thus smaller transaction charge.

Picking mind up on Tuesday too!! Gonna be the best startto 2006, isn't it?!! Hope it all goes well, 'Hand.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Think I'll see what they'll take on a credit card without a charge and then offer to pay the transaction charge on the remainder. In a way, it's probably a good thing that they restrict the amount you can put on a card, what with ludicrous credit limits being chucked at people who can't really afford the extortionate interest rates (even if they're not doing it for those reasons). But sometimes it's quite useful to take advantage of these 0% offers and put one over the credit card companies once in a while.

Popped round to the Stealer earlier this afternoon and, thankfully, they've removed it from their forecourt - so at least some pi$$ed-up mug stumbling down the Edgware Road tomorrow evening won't key it. Of course, it might just mean that someone's taken it for a spin somewhere!! Good job I made a note of the mileage. Thanks for your responses, all. 'Hand.

We're fortunate enough that we are almost able to pay cash for the whole amount. We had intended to put the remainder (about £5k) on a credit card with 0% on purchases etc etc. However when I spoke to the dealer yesterday they claimed that they could only accept £1,000 - possibly £2,000 if we're nice - on credit card. I can't think of any earthly reason why this would be, with the possible exception of them wanting people to use their own credit facilities instead. Has anyone here managed to put any of theirs onto a credit card and, if you don't mind me asking, how much you were allowed to? I know there are charges for credit card transactions, but why that should suddenly kick-in and become prohibitive at £2,000 is anyone's guess.

Popped round to the Stealers yesterday to sign a form so that they could tax the car when it arrives next Tuesday. As I was walking through the forecourt I saw a nice looking slate grey 5-door out the front. "Nice", I thought, "We'll have one soon." Then reason prevailed, and I thought "what are the chances of them having 2 of the same spec in at the same time?" Not high, I concluded, and checked out the number plate. Imagine my suprise when I saw that it was, in fact, our car. Despite the dealer's adamance that it wouldn't be in until 3rd Jan. I had a word with a number of the salesmen and I got all sorts of conflicting reasons as to why the car was sitting, taking pride of place, at the front of their forecourt. "Oh it came this morning" [No it didn't, it had a full frost coating, and there was a frost-free space exactly underneath the car.]. "They come here first". [No they don't, they go straight to the compound at London Colney for PDI]. "It came early". [Yes, but yesterday you said the earliest - in fact NEXT - transporter was on 3rd Jan]. "We can't get it taxed until next week". [Funny that, I just went to the post office up the road to tax out other car.]. When I suggested that perhaps the branch had already met ther December sales targets and that it would really be rather convenient if they could defer a few of the vehicles into their January sales to help out next month - oh, and never mind the customer's wishes - they went a bit defensive and said "well I wouldn't know, I'm just the middle-man". Well excuse me for presuming that maybe you actually represent the dealership. Anyway, now that's off my chest (have just concluded that stealers are gentically programmed to lie through their teeth in the interests of their precious management accountants (I can say that - I am one)), I can continue to be excited about the car. I'll pick it up on Tuesday as originally intended. It looked gorgeous - nicer than I remember. I had a good look round it, sat in it, pretended to drive it (like being 7 again!), sat in every seat, pretended to put loads of luggage in the boot (a luxury not previously afforded to me, having just sold my faithful Austin Mini), checked the bottle opener was there, got the seat positioning right and tried to formulate an affectionate name from the number plate (sadly owing to the unusually high number of consonants, I think this would only be possible if I spoke a long-lost guttoral dialect from, oh I don't know, Mongolia). Put simply, I it. So glad that we went for it. And when I pick it up, if I restrain myself from lamping the dealer, I'll be sure to post first impressions of actually driving it. In the meantime, Happy New Year to you all!!

Thanks - I always go through insuresupermarket.co.uk - I seem to have been sorted out quite nicely in the past by them.