Well - I sold my Golf today, and I am so glad that's over. What a bloody nightmare! It turns out you pay a high price for that market-leading quality
The new owner decided to have it inspected by a local, well-respected, independent VW and BMW specialist. For some reason I had not thought to go there before; I'd relied on the local franchise dealer for advice - one bit of advice was that the DSG-7 gearbox "does not require servicing, as the dry clutches don't degrade the fluid as wet clutches do". Therefore, the service was to be a simple engine oil change, which I carried out myself with ease, resetting the interval using the trip button as you do.
Now I should have borrowed the VCDS software and cable from a friend and checked the car at that point - but I didn't.
Therefore the inspection today, which took an hour and generated a 20-page report, turned up 235 faults including important ones such as 'DSG clutch wear exceeded tolerance' and 'DSG fluid quality deteriorated'. Plus a handful of more obvious mechanical faults, such as three oil leaks. Just about every system on the car had some kind of intermittent problem logged in the last few months, from the ABS pump to the reversing camera, even though no warning light had ever illuminated on the dash.
The buyer entered into a negotiation to fix the most major faults with the specialist and obtain a warranty through them at a total cost of $3000, which was probably sensible, and I accepted his offer of $500 less than my minimum price, which was a reasonable outcome for everyone involved.
The 2013 Golf 7 is therefore the most expensive car I've owned; not to buy, but in the $2000 of trips to the dealer to fix various faults with niceties such as the active cruise control and the remote key (I considered these may have related to the car's past life in Japan) - then the $5000 of lost value (significant depreciation, worse even than the same-aged Stilo that I used to own), AND then it turns out that during my ownership, a ton of new faults have been brewing. This is just in one year and about 14,000km of driving. A three-year-old car that costs that much to run? I wouldn't have believed it.
I've never felt quite so disconnected and dissatisfied with the maintenance of a car. Here I am, innocently changing the engine oil, and meanwhile the rain sensor is generating implausible signals, the parking brake calipers are uncalibrating themselves, and tomorrow the steering sensor will lose its position. Not exactly "simple, strong, honest, reliable, and safe", is it?
But hey, at least it will feel as refined as a Mercedes and there won't be any rattles or squeaks.
So although the Golf may be an amazing high-quality car when new, I cannot possibly recommend one as a second-hand buy, due to poor reliability, awful depreciation, and expensive maintenance costs. Clutches worn out at 75,000km?! And some people thought Selespeed was bad...
-Alex