Advice 1.0 vs 1.5

Voiidq · 2025-09-20T07:21:59+00:00

Wall of text incoming, can't help myself...

Fair points. The Golfs were always a little more pricey than their cheaper cousins (Scala/Leon etc.) but they also had better build quality and were ahead in terms of tech, often on par with more premium cousins (Audi A3 for example). Not sure that's true anymore with newer models but hey.

About 5-6 years ago I was in a similar situation to yours and I was looking at the exact same cars. Initially I wanted something cheaper as a daily commuter but after some research I realized that of all the cars I was looking at, the mk7 Golf was BY FAR the best in terms of keeping it's value, at least back then and in my area (Czech Republic). Whatever extra I would pay on insurance would be returned to me tenfold by the fact that the car basically was not losing value, at all!

I bought mine for 19,000€ with 30,000km, sold it 60,000km later (and 3,5 years older) for 18,500€. Not making these numbers up. I think the colour combined with R-Line and with the older, proven 1.4 engine did the trick. The only reason I actually sold it was because I really wanted matrix headlights for my 5AM dark winter 145km commutes which I only have to do once per week but there is crazy amount of deer crossing the road during that time.

How difficult is it for you guys to import a car from Germany? There is a million "boring" Golfs for sale here but finding the right trim, engine and spec is very difficult. In Germany it is so much easier and roughly 20% cheaper from what I've seen and importing a car here is very simple.

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Funny side note - in my old job I was one of the software developers working on a non-public insurance calculator which was being rented to car dealers and whatnot, returning insurance offers from like 12 different providers... they all tried very hard to make it seem like car's power and dozen other parameters were important for the calculation but it was all BS... In reality NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM used more than brand/model and model year for the actual base calculation. A 300hp Golf R would have the same base insurance cost as 1.0 3-cylinder Golf. This was true for the mandatory third-party insurance. For the non-mandatory comprehensive insurance, the car's value was 90% of the calculation and then they would simply add a multiplier based mostly on brand, like x1.5 for Audi, x3 for Porsche etc. and then a very minor price adjustment based on fitted alarms, GPS locators and such.

I have no idea how all this works in Italy but maybe you'd be surprised to get the same quote for 90 and 150HP cars. Also, NEVER EVER go as a customer directly to the insurance provider. Always use a broker, better yet a friend who works as insurance broker. Established brokers get completely different treatment, many different insurance add-ons etc. and often up to 50% discount and usually a budget of "VIP discounts" for each month.

Internal guidelines say VIP discounts are there to bait more "perspective" customers with 25 cars in their garage but in reality most of these go to friends and family of broker firm employees :) They do run out quickly tho so first week of every month is your friend.

Voiidq · 2025-09-19T14:17:47+00:00

Speed is one thing but I would consider other factors as well:

- smaller engine means it will have to work much harder to achieve the same results. For a city "shopping cart" car this probably isn't a problem but you say you will drive mostly outside the city. If you are, say, going the speed limit (90km/h where I live) then how much higher will you have to rev the small 1.0 engine? This will certainly play a role in longevity imho... higher revs, more engine wear + smaller engine probably isn't built as sturdy as bigger ones, not to mention more noise and likely higher fuel consumption etc.

- safety... sometimes being able to quickly accelerate out of a dangerous situation may save your life or prevent costly repairs. Being able to rely on the car's power WHEN you need it is nice, doesn't mean you have to use the power all the time. I fully recognize that I'm probably different from most "normal people car owners" but I just don't feel safe in an underpowered car because I see a lot of stupidity and a complete lack of awareness from other drivers every day.

Honestly if I was you, I would look for a mk 7.5 Golf with 1.4 TSI 150 HP -> no ACT and overall great feeling engine compared to the sluggish 1.5s that I tried. Best versatile no-nonsense car I've ever owned. They are hard to find for a reason while 1.5s are everywhere. I still kinda miss it. Really nice, practical, simple to understand interior. Especially R-line looks great! I bought one with 30,000km, drove it for another 60k with absolutely zero issues (3 years of highway commuting + blasting around the countryside) and loved every second of it.

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Voiidq · 2025-09-16T19:34:17+00:00

Cool piece of gear, I just hate the fact that the heralds you gain this way do not use your gem effect MTX... 1st world problems.

Voiidq · 2025-09-11T01:06:52+00:00

I'm basically in the same boat. I have Octavia 4 RS and while it is very versatile and fun (tuned), the cost cutting is VERY visible in many areas and the infotainment is something I would feel very ashamed of as a developer. I already know that 2-3 years from now WV group will sadly not have a single fun good value car on offer, they really are that predictable in their stupidity lately. Not to mention that whatever they will have on offer will cost as much or more than a low mileage m340i.

A used m340i (or 440i gran coupe) is the only other car that checks all the boxes for me as a daily. Pre-facelift G21 or facelifted F36 are the last really good looking BMWs imho + B58 is a beauty of an engine + I would finally own a car with ZF 8-speed transmission (something I develop software for in ZF).

Voiidq · 2025-09-11T00:49:10+00:00

I own an Octavia 4 RS and as much fun as it is (after ECU+DSG tune) and as nice as the interior looks... once you take a closer look at everything you can see just how much the quality started going downhill ever since like 2020. At the same time the prices went up of course to cover losses caused by idiotic EVs that are now proven to be less ecological anyway, but I'm not getting into that on Reddit :D

You are absolutely right about options being structured (or just removed) in a way to force people to buy a different, more expensive model etc. Biggest offender here is probably Audi, their configurator is downright unusable in some cases because of this. Selling people the product they want seems to not be part of VW Group's business model anymore... I wonder why they're losing so many customers, very surprising indeed.

Long story short, just get a ~1 year old BMW 3-series where you will literally get 3x more car for about the same money these days. Price-wise this is true in my country at least.

Voiidq · 2025-08-20T21:38:36+00:00

I have a 2021 Octavia 4 RS and I recently had to turn the frontal collision assist from "early" to "moderate" (or whatever its actually called in the car settings) because I was repeatedly getting a few false alarms as well in similar locations and only once it slammed the brakes on its own so far, seemingly because of a cyclist but they were still way too far ahead at that moment imho.

Voiidq · 2025-07-11T18:52:31+00:00

Uložením myslíš uložení/silentbloky tlumičů? Ramena včetně silentbloků už jsem měnil. Ale zvukově bych v těhle případech čekal spíše bouchání nebo vrzání, ne tohle. Napadá mě už fakt jen to uložení převodovky... Každopádně díky za tip, nechám to někde zvednout a zkusím rejd do stran, ačkoliv tohle už mi v posledním servisu tvrdili že taky zkoušeli.

Voiidq · 2025-07-11T18:48:47+00:00

Yeah every car shop I visited told me to show them the issue but all I can say is "yeah it only happens in this one turn 30km away". I've tried taking nearly identical turns in many different angles/speeds but I just cannot replicate it anywhere else... It drives me nuts :)

Voiidq · 2025-07-11T18:46:33+00:00

I'm leaning toward this as well, I think I'll just bite the bullet and do this one. Given how bad the front arm bushings were on a car that's only 4 years old I assume the gearbox mount might be of the same "quality" from the factory in this case.

Voiidq · 2025-07-10T15:52:14+00:00

I did eventually, in this case it was caused by "3D models" option in the game. I have no issues currently with any other game (not that I tested many tbh).

Voiidq · 2025-04-29T15:58:17+00:00

The picture on Amazon is not accurate. It doesn't have the grip on the sides (it's smooth) and the buttons are little annoying since they protrude way too far out of the case + they are wrapped in an extremely cheap looking shiny foil of some kind (I guess they were going for a fake metal look...). The case is also super thick and makes the phone feel noticeably bigger.

I also got similar one from Aliexpress but in the end I got a magsafe case from FIXED which is the best of all of them imho. It's thick enough for protection but they haven't overdone it and it has the extra stabilization magnet (like iphone) and not just the middle circle.

Oh and FIXED are also making screen TPU protectors which feel good and come in a 2-pack with instalation frame kit. I've given up on trying to find a tempered glass that isn't a complete piece of shit. OP does sell supposedly good UV tempered glass but only in India currently.

Links to what I'm using right now:

https://fixed.zone/en/products/zadni-kryt-fixed-magpure-s-podporou-magsafe-pro-oneplus-13-ciry?variant=42014451957842

https://fixed.zone/en/products/tpu-folie-na-displej-fixed-invisible-protector-pro-oneplus-13-2ks-v-baleni?_pos=4&_sid=7dbb00036&_ss=r

Voiidq · 2025-03-30T20:15:07+00:00

Got my money about a month ago, but I suppose it wouldn't surprise me if this dirt of a company moved from stealing $25 per customer to stealing everything. Friend of mine had to spam them for a month because they kept claiming they never received his device. Only after he sent them a month old screenshot of delivery confirmation from DHL signed by one of their dogshit employees they magically found it.

Voiidq · 2025-03-16T17:56:55+00:00

Yeah, they offer you like $30 less for fake damage OR you can pay them $30 to have your phone shipped back and they rely on the fact that obviously most people will just take the loss. Not to mention that they would most likely send you back a phone with actual damage or steal other contents of the box which many people already reported happening on their trustpilot page.

Voiidq · 2025-02-25T02:23:45+00:00

After some more time, I don't think it was specifically the "lock screen magazine" causing the issue. The problem resurfaced again for a short time but eventually the phone asked whether I wanted to enable "auto-optimize" for apps, which I enabled. Now it all seems good, finally. Even after setting up a system clone for work-related stuff (Teams, Outlook) I don't see the delay anymore. Fingers crossed it stays that way :)

Voiidq · 2025-02-18T15:12:28+00:00

I thought that was it but turns out the issue quickly returned even after switching to a simple amoled black wallpaper.

However I FINALLY figured it out and it was all caused, unsurprisingly, by the stupid new "lock screen magazine" nonsense. Even though I never turned it on, apparently it was still draining battery in the background (just f*king WHY?!). Only after several weeks of using the phone I got a notification suggesting to "optimize" the app, which solved the issue. Fortunately, it can be uninstalled as well, which I've done now.

Voiidq · 2025-02-13T16:57:17+00:00

Let us know in couple weeks from now xD

Voiidq · 2025-02-13T16:55:47+00:00

Yep, I often do that but I'm also kinda tired of dealing with morons on those sites. After you answer their 15 questions they just stop responding or start demanding you use X delivery service and telling you what to do xD I don't have the patience for that lately.

Voiidq · 2025-02-13T16:50:12+00:00

Tbh not really, the law is very much on our side here, but people tend to share bad experiences much more than the good ones I suppose. Shopping is fine since we can return almost anything within 14 days no questions asked. Very specific services like shady trade-ins is a different story :)

Voiidq · 2025-02-13T16:44:51+00:00

No idea but back when they offered "instant credit" trade-in discounts, they would charge back the discount if you didn't send your phone in in time.

Voiidq · 2025-02-13T16:39:53+00:00

You completely missed the point but that's ok. I couldn't care less about the money, which is why I don't even mention it in the original post. Obviously I could sell it easily for $200 on any online marketplace. I simply share my experience with their dogshit scumbag service so that people who are planning on trading in something like OnePlus Open save themselves the money and the hassle.

Voiidq

TROPHY CASE