I had my 07 since 2018. I had moved from Washington back to Utah and one day while just out getting a coffee, a lady apparently passed out at the wheel on some prescription meds hit into me from the other side of traffic. I saw her coming at me in her white Jeep and managed to turn just in time for it not to be a full frontal collision.
This is my car after the accident as they were putting it up for auction.
https://carsbidshistory.com/make/38...VOLKSWAGEN_NEW_GTI_22410153_WVWEV71K77W037117
My friend told me at the time I shouldn't sell this car. He said instead I should get it fixed up. I wish so bad I had listened to him. But I kind of rationalized in my head that the car WAS getting older in spite of the very low miles on it. Around 70k. The car ran great and just had some minor issues with some scratches on the body and a sunroof that acted up on its own from time to time.
So anyway, instead of taking money from the insurance company to get it fixed up, I opted to sell it for about $8k. This money I used for a down payment to get a 2018 GTI S. The new car was beautiful, but I didn't like the way the turbo felt, it didn't have a sunroof and the sound system was awful. At any rate, this was my car now and I was planning on sticking with it. But that was until the wife and I had a baby and we moved to Montana for a couple of years. We got it in our heads that we needed a better car for the snow and bad roads up there. I wanted to keep the GTI ultimately but I wasn't sure I'd have peace until I got us an AWD car. So I sold the GTI and got a Jeep Cherokee. The Jeep's just awful, but that's another story.
Anyway, moved back to Utah, and now my wife and I both miss my 2018 GTI. Now as the prices on all used cars have skyrocketed, I thought at least I could go shopping for another Mk5, thinking just how expensive could they really be? They're pretty expensive, but I can afford it better now. The problem really is just finding a car that old that had either so few miles as my Mk5 or at least in as good of shape as I kept mine with as few owners as possible.
I came really close at one point with a used car dealership in Oregon. They had a silver 2007 GTI, looked exactly like mine! Had a few rough spots but I was going to make the car my project as well and fix it up as nice as I could. I was at a big disadvantage though being out of state and just as I was ready to send them the cashier's check for the car, someone else bought it from under me. Sigh....
I just love the Mk5 so much and I especially loved mine. Sometimes I google the VIN of my old car and see if there's any new info on it. I'm sure I'll never see it again, despite having nervous dreams about the car. The dreams are usually the same, where I've gotten the car back but I can also sense I'm just dreaming and I'm feeling extremely disappointed.
Well, thanks for letting me vent all this. I hope some here can relate how hard it is to get that sweet car back, or how regretful you were ever getting rid of yours. I keep looking online for a good Mk5. I'm not....too picky I suppose. As long as it has the plaid seats, is a manual and has a sunroof again (why aren't these standard anymore??), then I can compromise on other aspects of the car. But in general while it's a tough time to be shopping for a car, it's especially hard to shop for any GTI 2006-2009. They're kind of selling like hot cakes and I think dealers have really caught on to what it is they have in their inventory when they possess a GTI. There's one last sweet one up in Washington I wanted to get that was a 2006 and had less than 70K miles on it. I couldn't believe it. But the car was just too much out of my price range and considering I could spend up to a grand just to transport the car back to Utah, I'm back to square one again.
I'm not giving up, but I had to take a break from looking online and just reach out to your community here. Thanks again for letting me vent. And of course I welcome any tips/advice on getting a Mk5 today. Still trying to get one around $10k, but wow, there's not a lot around that price that aren't totally beat up.
This is my car after the accident as they were putting it up for auction.
https://carsbidshistory.com/make/38...VOLKSWAGEN_NEW_GTI_22410153_WVWEV71K77W037117
My friend told me at the time I shouldn't sell this car. He said instead I should get it fixed up. I wish so bad I had listened to him. But I kind of rationalized in my head that the car WAS getting older in spite of the very low miles on it. Around 70k. The car ran great and just had some minor issues with some scratches on the body and a sunroof that acted up on its own from time to time.
So anyway, instead of taking money from the insurance company to get it fixed up, I opted to sell it for about $8k. This money I used for a down payment to get a 2018 GTI S. The new car was beautiful, but I didn't like the way the turbo felt, it didn't have a sunroof and the sound system was awful. At any rate, this was my car now and I was planning on sticking with it. But that was until the wife and I had a baby and we moved to Montana for a couple of years. We got it in our heads that we needed a better car for the snow and bad roads up there. I wanted to keep the GTI ultimately but I wasn't sure I'd have peace until I got us an AWD car. So I sold the GTI and got a Jeep Cherokee. The Jeep's just awful, but that's another story.
Anyway, moved back to Utah, and now my wife and I both miss my 2018 GTI. Now as the prices on all used cars have skyrocketed, I thought at least I could go shopping for another Mk5, thinking just how expensive could they really be? They're pretty expensive, but I can afford it better now. The problem really is just finding a car that old that had either so few miles as my Mk5 or at least in as good of shape as I kept mine with as few owners as possible.
I came really close at one point with a used car dealership in Oregon. They had a silver 2007 GTI, looked exactly like mine! Had a few rough spots but I was going to make the car my project as well and fix it up as nice as I could. I was at a big disadvantage though being out of state and just as I was ready to send them the cashier's check for the car, someone else bought it from under me. Sigh....
I just love the Mk5 so much and I especially loved mine. Sometimes I google the VIN of my old car and see if there's any new info on it. I'm sure I'll never see it again, despite having nervous dreams about the car. The dreams are usually the same, where I've gotten the car back but I can also sense I'm just dreaming and I'm feeling extremely disappointed.
Well, thanks for letting me vent all this. I hope some here can relate how hard it is to get that sweet car back, or how regretful you were ever getting rid of yours. I keep looking online for a good Mk5. I'm not....too picky I suppose. As long as it has the plaid seats, is a manual and has a sunroof again (why aren't these standard anymore??), then I can compromise on other aspects of the car. But in general while it's a tough time to be shopping for a car, it's especially hard to shop for any GTI 2006-2009. They're kind of selling like hot cakes and I think dealers have really caught on to what it is they have in their inventory when they possess a GTI. There's one last sweet one up in Washington I wanted to get that was a 2006 and had less than 70K miles on it. I couldn't believe it. But the car was just too much out of my price range and considering I could spend up to a grand just to transport the car back to Utah, I'm back to square one again.
I'm not giving up, but I had to take a break from looking online and just reach out to your community here. Thanks again for letting me vent. And of course I welcome any tips/advice on getting a Mk5 today. Still trying to get one around $10k, but wow, there's not a lot around that price that aren't totally beat up.