Thinking about the fact that you won't be doing too much mileage why not look at an Alfa 159 3.2 V6
I just bought a new Golf SE 1.6 TDi
Picked it up a couple of days ago.
Loving it so far and would recommend...!
Get a civic or ibiza, each for about a grand (both reliable).....and spend 5 grand going around the world for a year when you have time.
How are you going to go around the world for a year on a poxy 5k.
Cost more than that for a 2 week family holiday. (school holidays)
Easily, you would be backpacking and in hostels mind.
I went for the GTi version with the DSG gearbox and flappy paddle gear change. and the wife's commute in it is only 2 miles each way.
Had to go petrol as for a diesel model that commute would have destroyed the DPF.
absolute joy to drive. You cant go wrong with a Golf.
Why would you want to spend all that money on a 10 mile round trip?
Go for a Golf 1.4 TSI. Performance of a 2-litre, economy of a 1.4. Brilliant, brilliant engine, and car.
For that money and that mileage, go petrol. How about a Mazda 3 Sport with Bose stereo. Really really nice to drive, fantastic sounds, never goes wrong (VW/Audi TSI engine great but one or two potential problems). Whatever you get, enjoy it
Why shouldn't he spend that much if he wants to? He obviously has the money to spare and wants to drive something half-decent, I don't see the problem with that.
110% in my top 2. As it stands, it's currently the 1.4 TSI (absolute beast for a 1.4 engine!!) or 1.6 A3.
Well then it's a no-brainer – Golf all the way.
I guess everyone is different, but if you REALLY want to go down the Audi route, at least go for an A3 with the same engine (TFSI), as opposed to the older and inferior 1.6.
I have all 3 on my rental fleet. All have pros/cons.
The 1 series is probably the most fun, but is relatively uncomfortable at times. Suspension is hard and so are the seats. Also the boot is strangley small. BMW have a slightly offset driving postion (pedal alignment to seat postion) and for that reason I can never get comfortable driving a manaul one, although the automatic versions are fine.
As previously mentioned, The A3 and Golf are very similar - even down to the switches and dashboard systems they share alot of the same features. The Audi does look great though, especially the S-line version with sport trim/wheels etc.
If you were to buy s diesel version, you do have to think about the Diesel Particular filter (DPF) as it can get blocked if the car doesn't have a decent blast on the motorway every week or so. But I would recomend the diesel engine over the petrol as all 3 cars are fairly heavy and feel under-powered with 1.6 petrol engines in them.
When/if you've got the engine in economy mode and you're using the automatic gears, do you find the gearbox a bit slow to downshift when you need power?