Maintainance, insurance and all round value for money

neither - BUY AMERICAN

VW's are much cheaper to repair,
usually have cheaper insurance,
depending on driving record, and
hold value very well. Cheaper to purchase as well.

we are talking about 11 yr old cars here so on that basis i would say the BMW only because the golf is a hot hatch and will have been thrashed all its life, if you have the opportunity to look at the log books i bet the golf has had far more owners than the beemer and they will all have thrashed it.

Notice how that one guy has "idiot" in his name......... if you have to ask, get the VW.

Speaking from experience personally I'd go with the BMW. Although the Golf is cheaper to run and repair, it tends to needs repairing more often, and has some problems which just won't go away. However, with the BMW although it cost slightly more to run and more to fix, you will probably find it won't have nearly as many problems as the Golf. My boyfriend got through 3 golfs before he gave up. Iv got a BMW now and its great. Touch wood not a single fault with it.

your question got my attention just because it so happen that my bf and i have those cars however we got the newer model. I've had my 323i for awhile now and i still love it and he loves his '07 GTi.

I call my car the WOW car! and his GTi as NICE car. Buy whichever you want most since you're buying either way. Maintainance of BMW might be higher though.

I`d go with the golf!