What TFB bought next

If it's ok, i'll start with a eulogy to the outgoing car :).

I bought the Golf in early 2018 for €8k, 1.6TDI EA189, Comfortline - R-Line with 130k kms on it. Until this week i took it to just shy of 185k kms. I ran it on 30k service intervals and in fairness to the car it was really really good at car doing car things.

I was half of a cute hoor and half fortunate when i bought it and had this engines known soft points, the injectors and EGR replaced under VW's "trust building measure". It had also just had the timing belt kit and water pump done by the previous owner at 5 years of age.

I had it serviced on the dreaded 30k intervals which it had been on it's whole life with no issue whatsoever, it has one minor (oil service) and one major (oil, air, fuel, pollen) during that time and was just coming up on another oil change. Other than servicing all it asked of me in that time was 4x tyres, front pads and discs and a battery, even the same set of bosch wipers that were fitted when i bought it were streak free 3 years and 55k later... until around 3 months ago when the oil cooler burst, that cost €700 ish but i kind of forgive it that. Kind of.

You'd get a comfortable 1000kms to a full tank without driving with economy in mind which i always found fantastic.

It was my first real venture into European cars and i have to say i liked it, always felt like you could park it anywhere, a fairly respectable looking bus and i think please God it'll still go on to be a great car for someone else for years to come. I think i'll miss it.

Been fluting around the last few months, will i change or will i not but i kind of felt i'd ran the course with the Golf and with it been due a service/ NCT in October, the clutch pedal was clutch pedal was getting a bit heavy, the A/C needed to be gassed i thought it was a good time to part company becuase if i spent the €1k or so it needed i would probably keep it another few years as it was going sweet and i didn't want to do that.

I had a taste for it now and fancied another VAG product and had to chew through the options. Really had my heart set on a Golf 7 but the main off putters were Mrs. Fanboi alreay has one and having his and hers cars might be odd, that and the price of Golfs seems to be spiraling upwards. For a 2017 ish Golf 7 that doesn't have a colourful history and isn't a Trendline you are talking north of €20k.

The only relative certainity this time was a petrol engine, not because petrol is back in vogue, mainly because the diesel was a bit agricultural that and reliability/ dependability/ durabity is better in modern petrols IMO. Looked at Jettas but couldn't stoop that low, considered a Polo Mk6 R-Line and was very close but felt it was a bit small for my needs. Was looking at Leons and came very close to buying an old model pre reg 201 but just thought it wasn't a great spec and decided against it at the last minute.

Looked at Octavias but discounted them because it's such a default choice for a multi purpose, catch all, steady vehicle choice and i thought the Mk3 fscelift was a bit of an ugly duckling.

Next thing i knew, the deposit was down.

182, Style spec, 1.0TSI.

Has a nice infotainment system, nav, phone connectivity etc, i like the flat bottom wheel, has auto lights and wipers, power fold mirrors, dual climate, decent size wheels, cavernous boot that i do-not-really-need. Best colour IMO too. May not set the world alight for many but my Golf didn't even have buttons on the steering wheel, so i've come a long way really.

One owner Irish car, 48k kms, full main dealer history, 4x new Firestone tyres fitted, 2 years Skoda warranty.