Another Year :D

[STALLED]

406 passed our equivalent of the MOT today. No warnings/advisories!

209,000km or 130,000m - pretty impressed. Gave it a service last weekend!

The other weekend I did a trip to Canberra (capital of Australia-land) and back from Sydney - Returned a decent 38mpg, inclusive of some inner city driving and ferrying people around!

That said, I am thinking of purchasing a new car - a VW Golf springs to mind. As much as I love the 406 and the 6 years of motoring it has given me, I just find that it is "getting a bit old" - that said, I just spent a stack of coin on it ensuring that it now drives ok. Needs a bit of work on the body though - scrape on the front bar and the roof needs a respray! That said, it is driving pretty darn good though at the moment!

Thoughts...?

[highlander]

a VW Golf springs to mind

The Golf and the 406 are incomparable - it's like apples and oranges. They are both cars, but they're so different.

The 406 is a comfy mile-munching cruiser. Comfy seats, soft suspension, loads of rubber round the wheels. Lazy engine/gearbox combos designed to achieve good MPG at motorway cruising speeds, and not necessarily to accelerate to those cruising speeds very quickly.

The Golf is predominantly a city car with a harder ride. It's designed for short-to-mid-range runs - shopping, going to/from work, the occasional fun pop out to the countryside down some twisty back-roads. You get good acceleration from the harder-tuned engines and you might find the Golf's handling more fun. Sure, it might have great MPG (the BlueMotion ones, for example) but you won't enjoy cruising in it as much as you do the 406.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for in a car.

MJB had a Golf along with his Coupe - I wonder if he has anything to add to this topic

[steve_earwig]

MJB had a Golf along with his Coupe - I wonder if he has anything to add to this topic

Lots, I'd imagine, probably something along the lines of "feed yourself to a shark first"

Thoughts...?

That said...

You've spent all that money on the car, it's a known quantity. You probably won't get much for it and you'll be going to a car you know little about.

Golf:
Plus - plenty of spares available.
Minus - you'll need them.

[sirwiggum]

Good news on the 406!

I don't rate the Golf though. Apart from the harsh ride, I don't think they're as well built as the marketing lets on. Have seen a lot with premature rust and the expensive ESP failure that VW wont repair under warranty.
Incredibly the Octavia seems to be more solid and has a Peugeot-like ride quality, even though it is basically the same car underneath

[highlander]

Incredibly the Octavia seems to be more solid and has a Peugeot-like ride quality

My ex-colleague had an Octavia - seemed to be a decent motor, but the interior trim left a fair bit to be desired. Even though his had all the toys, the interior plastics didn't seem to be of very good quality, and the seats seemed to be fairly hard.

I had a ride in a Skoda Superb while I was in Romania earlier this year - I was surprised at how much leg room there was in the back seats. The whole car seemed to be of exceptionally good quality - the ride was comfortable, the interior was quiet and not rattly, and everything seemed to have been made of good materials.

[DaiRees]

Yaaaay, well done mate

I've never really rated the Glof, I'm sure it's a perfectly adequate car but that's just it, there's very little out there these days that I'd consider special or inspiring. In the "medium sized hatchback" range at the moment I'd have to take a Focus

I dunno, I've been looking at changing my car for years but just can't bring myself to do it. I have started paying more attention to other vehicles and skulking around showrooms though, so something might be on the horizon

Anyone wanna buy a 406?

[FarmerPug]

My uncle has a golf mk4 1.9 tdi.
I don't think much of it, the build quality is all marketing talk, the doors feel heavier than a 406s and thats about it the rest of the car feels no different, my 406 has no rattles in the dash this golf has rattles and squeaks everywhere.
The driving of its no better than a 406, what i like about the steering of the 406 is your in control and its fairly quick to react, the golfs feels well weighted but slightly artificial and slow to react, and going round corners the golf seems to understeer a bit on corners that the 406 takes with ease.
Although this is on a standard golf the GTI/GTD might be different.

[scotty73]

Anyone wanna buy a 406?

I got a spare fiver plus my car so how does seven pounds and fifty English pence sound? tempting? i'll be over in ten minutes.

You will have to do the rear o/s calliper though before it catches fire ... Or just push it in the taff!!!

[STALLED]

Was thinking about a new TSI 1.4 MK6 - Not bad for the money!

That said, you are all probably right in terms of the cash which has been spent on the car as it. At least I know what is wrong with it now - not much!

The only thing I wish it had was a heated windscreen - the weather has been bloody cold here

[DaiRees]

You will have to do the rear o/s calliper though before it catches fire ... Or just push it in the taff!!!

WTF are you going on about? I've just spent £530 on the rear brakes, including a brand new rear o/s caliper . It's waaaay too good to push into the Taff you fecking heathen If no-one here wants it I'll mount it on a plinth in my front garden, with a sign saying "The best car I've ever owned"

[Doggy]

Well done getting it through the test Joel - be a real shame not to use it and get your money's worth.

Keep the faith, (& the 406).

[sirwiggum]

406 was a great handling car. It probably inspired greater confidence in flinging it about than the GTV (though that didn't have great tyres)

[Welly]

I would have bought the Golf (or other) BEFORE spending all that moneh on the 406

I hope this helps.

[sirwiggum]

I would rather burn the money than be forced to purchase a kdfwagen golf.

[scotty73]

You will have to do the rear o/s calliper though before it catches fire ... Or just push it in the taff!!!

WTF are you going on about? I've just spent £530 on the rear brakes, including a brand new rear o/s caliper . It's waaaay too good to push into the Taff you fecking heathen If no-one here wants it I'll mount it on a plinth in my front garden, with a sign saying "The best car I've ever owned"

I was talking about my rear o/s calliper it was errmm rather HOT on my trip home from Brecon yesterday and i thought i had sorted it