Not sure if this is breaking any forum rules but here goes 
As you probably know I sold my beloved Z4 coupe a couple of weeks ago, and this week I picked up its replacement. I only had a budget of 1k due to a house purchase, but didn't want anything too boring. My last 7 cars since 2004 have all been BMWs, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get another one within my budget unless it was either really old (E36/E34) or falling apart (E46/E39) so for once I put my sensible cap on, and ended up buying a 2000 Golf GTI 1.8T. It's amazing what you can buy for a grand these days: 120,000 miles, Recarco leather interior, genuine BBS alloys, full service history, and most importantly a sh*t load of work done in the last 12 months - new gearbox, four new Goodyear tyres, brake discs/pads, cambelt, water pump, shocks, and a whole list of other stuff, so (touch wood) it should hopefully give me some trouble-free motoring until I'm in a position to upgrade again.
It was obviously never going to compare to the Zed - it's noticeable slower (although not exactly a slouch) and feels slightly more dated and less refined. But there are a few things I love about it already - the driving position is a revelation, I forgot what it's like to be able to see where you're going :lol: the seats are amazing, far better than the Z4 Sports seats. And I forgot just how nice it is to have an after market stereo - like many on here I've been an OEM obsessive since owning BMWs so have always stuck with the original stereos, but seriously guys stop wasting your money on half-arsed work arounds bringing the Z4 stereo up to date or improving the terrible sound, just rip it out and put in something decent. For £70 I bought an Alpine stereo with Bluetooth music streaming and calls, and the difference in sound quality is unbelievable. I wish I had done this in some of my previous cars.
Anyway here's a few photos, thought some of you may be interested.
As you probably know I sold my beloved Z4 coupe a couple of weeks ago, and this week I picked up its replacement. I only had a budget of 1k due to a house purchase, but didn't want anything too boring. My last 7 cars since 2004 have all been BMWs, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get another one within my budget unless it was either really old (E36/E34) or falling apart (E46/E39) so for once I put my sensible cap on, and ended up buying a 2000 Golf GTI 1.8T. It's amazing what you can buy for a grand these days: 120,000 miles, Recarco leather interior, genuine BBS alloys, full service history, and most importantly a sh*t load of work done in the last 12 months - new gearbox, four new Goodyear tyres, brake discs/pads, cambelt, water pump, shocks, and a whole list of other stuff, so (touch wood) it should hopefully give me some trouble-free motoring until I'm in a position to upgrade again.
It was obviously never going to compare to the Zed - it's noticeable slower (although not exactly a slouch) and feels slightly more dated and less refined. But there are a few things I love about it already - the driving position is a revelation, I forgot what it's like to be able to see where you're going :lol: the seats are amazing, far better than the Z4 Sports seats. And I forgot just how nice it is to have an after market stereo - like many on here I've been an OEM obsessive since owning BMWs so have always stuck with the original stereos, but seriously guys stop wasting your money on half-arsed work arounds bringing the Z4 stereo up to date or improving the terrible sound, just rip it out and put in something decent. For £70 I bought an Alpine stereo with Bluetooth music streaming and calls, and the difference in sound quality is unbelievable. I wish I had done this in some of my previous cars.
Anyway here's a few photos, thought some of you may be interested.
possibly the first car i ever dreaded heading to France in for fear what my back would be like by halfway 
