VW Golf : First MOT

My Volkswagen Golf is now coming up to its third birthday which means I’ve just had to send it for its first MOT test. I normally regard these as more of an inconvenience than anything else as a properly maintained car should always be able to pass first time. Nevertheless there is always the worry that some unseen problem will be uncovered and end up costing the proverbial arm and leg.

I took out AA breakdown cover a few weeks ago which includes half price MOT tests at National garages as a perk (although they didn’t check my membership so his may just be a marketing ploy). The nearest garage that did this was in Dunfermline so I took the kids along to have a play in the park whilst the test was being done. It was a nice drive through Fife at least. This should have been harmless enough but I managed to twist my back again after falling down a hole looking for faeries or something. At least that was my excuse.

Searching for the source of VW's surreally expensive engine oil.

The car passed its MOT without any hassle – I’d expected this this as I’d had the rusted rear brake discs replaced a couple of weeks before. I had these done at my local garage which was £100 cheaper than the main dealer although the main reason was out of convenience as I couldn’t be bothered taking it into Stirling. The garage used APEC brakes rather than whatever the official VW ones were. The mechanic seemed to think very highly of these and they did seem to bed in almost instantly. They certainly work as well and I think it’s worth trying something else – the car was probably in storage for 3 months between leaving its rental fleet and me buying it so the rust may have set in then but, even so, discs should not corrode that badly.

I’ve tried to work out the annual running costs of the car in terms of depreciation and non-scheduled maintenance. It’s difficult to determine exactly but so far it seems to work out at about £1200 per year which is not too bad. Part of this will be down to the relatively cheap purchase price but after 3 years the worst of the depreciation should be over and it is still a relatively new car and so far has proven to be 100% reliable (rusted brakes accepted). The best part is that I still like the thing even if I do occasionally lose it in car parks amongst the other masses of boring silver Golfs. Hopefully it will continue to keep me in happily uneventful motoring.