Many moons ago at the start of my working life I worked for Land Rover Limited in the Midlands for 12 years and discovered the motor industry from the inside, very interesting it was too. I had loan cars and then a company car for many years and these were changed every few months, so I was very lucky indeed and I only had to add fuel.
When I moved on of course things changed radically and I came down to earth with a bang! Suddenly I became a private motorist and so I discovered just how much running a car really costs, for almost the first time. (My personal choice was always 2 wheels, but the UK weather can be really tough!!).
Then I moved to live and work in sunny Italy and things changed again. Of course I could use my bike more or less all year round as the climate is great but I still needed a car for some of my travel. Initially I purchased a Rover through an ex Land Rover colleague who was working for Rover/Land Rover Italia, then after 2 Rovers I discovered VW cars. Wow. I met the Valentino brothers who own and run Valentino VW in Roma where they have several shops and are 2 VERY bright guys, they took over the company from their Dad when it was Valentino Fiat and they have built an empire and become the biggest VW dealer in the capital. They now have Fiat too, as well as Jeep.
So I bought my very first VW, a one year old lovely white Passat station wagon with the fantastic 1.8T petrol engine. Goodness, what a wonderful car, this was my first experience of VW quality and that super smooth turbo engine also fitted to the Golf GTI. Sure, she drank alot when thrashed BUT was quite good on fuel when driven gently and I made some super European trips with her. Mmmm. I then traded her in and bought a stunning used Golf GTI with lovely Recaro leather interior but that was stolen in Roma within a few months so I then bought a new Passat, this time a new blue saloon with the super 2.0 diesel engine and 130 horses, 6 speed manual.
Well I became sooooo in love with VWs I then purchased a Lupo for the missus, that was the 1.4 petrol and it was LOVELY to drive, more or less like a go kart!! Then after the Lupo I bought her a new Polo with the 1.4 diesel engine and goodness, that was loved from 2005 thro to 2020 with about 150k kms having survived both of our kids learning to drive so several scars but hey, she took the 4 of us plus luggage to Milano and back in the snow for a wedding and averaged 60mpg!!! GREAT car and engine, that was the 1.4 diesel with very few horses but she went great and used very little fuel.
Well more recently for my lady I found a lovely VW Tiguan with the 2.0TDI engine at Valentino with 0km so I could not choose the spec but she was white and had everything I needed except cruise control, which I fitted later. GREAT car! She now has almost 100k kilometres on the clock and goes as well as she ever has, and with only 110 horses and so she manages 60mpg mmmm. Lovely car to drive with the 6 speed manual gearbox so revs very low at motorway speeds, hence the economy.
I did not really need a car (as I have a lovely Vito van) but I decided to purchase a pleasure car. I found a lovely and totally unloved Audi A5 (3200 V6 petrol) with zero service history and about 100k kms in a Roma dealer. The tyres were all destroyed so he was asking 19k and I offered 15k and walked away. Well, I should have offered less cos I paid 15k and took the car home. 4 tyres plus a very full service and about 2k later she was good and I loved that car. I drove her from 100 to 200k kilometres and really enjoyed the experience, great car to drive.
The main problem in this country is that any car over 2.0 is considered a main target for the tax man. Here one must pay a big tax for owning the car PLUS crazy annual road tax PLUS stupid insurance rates so really it is not a good idea. I sold the A5 for peanuts and found a stunning Audi S4 Quattro Avant with the amazing V8 4.2 engine BUT this one is UK registered LHD and thus I pay only normal insurance and road tax, phew. 345 horses and mmmm lovely car with Recaro grey leather interior.
When I find some photos I will add them!!!
Service no limits! 