I adopt the practical (some might say boring) approach when buying what are must have’s for me. Here are my purchases that I got for my car (not a Golf but a Polo GTI+) either before taking delivery of the car or within the first few weeks;
Touch up paint - this is one of the first things I always buy when getting a new car. With the generally poor state of the UK’s roads and the cheap surface dressing method used to resurface many roads, stone chips are inevitable so it’s more a case of when rather than if they’ll happen and I like to be prepared (the first stone chip on a new car is always the worst). i always check for stone chips as part of my car cleaning regime and if I find any, they get attended to there and then.
Car washing kit - for me, getting a new car is an opportunity to replenish my car washing and detailing supplies, so the car can always be washed using a safe wash technique using decent quality equipment and products. I never entrust washing my car to anyone else, and letting the VW dealer do a complementary service wash is a complete no-no for me; my car deserves better than to get a dealer-inflicted ‘scratch and swirl’ treatment for free!
Floor mats - the standard fit carpet mats get swapped out for rubber mats, which IMHO are much more durable than the rather poor quality standard VW carpet mats. No wet, soggy carpet mats for me during the winter months, and I quite like the utilitarian look of the rubber mats, which are also dead easy to clean.
Boot liner - A good quality boot liner is an early purchase too. I don’t like the flimsy VW foam type boot liners - there are better quality, better value aftermarket boot liners out there.
Mini compressor / tire inflator that‘s powered from the 12v socket. Car tyre pressures should be checked and adjusted when the tyres are cold, so I can check and adjust mine at home, rather than having to drive to the filling station, warming the tyres up on the journey there and then having to use the airline that might not have been tested / recalibrated for accuracy recently.
The expensive one - new alloys and tyres. i dislike diamond cut alloy wheels with a passion because of the poor durability of the lacquered finish and their susceptibility to white worm corrosion when kept on the car all year round. I replaced the diamond cut alloys on my car with a set that has a much more durable powder coated finish that’ll withstand the worst the British weather can throw at them. I also took the opportunity of replacing the ‘hard as nails’ factory fitted Bridgestone tyres with a set of much grippier Michelin PS4 tyres.
). I never use the in-cap brush option for the reasons described above - I use the nozzle by removing the clear plastic cap and gently squeezing the (plastic) ‘pen’ to dispense a small amount of paint through the nozzle directly into the stone chip(s). With larger stone chip repairs, IMHO less is more and it’s always better to apply small quantities of paint and gradually build up the paint thickness to fill the stone chip rather than try to fill it in one attempt.
.
