Hiya,
@GTi Fanatic
whether you should buy your GTI in Germany or in the US would - in my honest opinion - depend on 2 main questions that only you can answer to yourself:
a. Do I want to have fun now?
In this case buying your car in Germany is a must. Can't imagine that you will have such a fun with a car like the GTI in the USA. You just don't have an Autobahn ...
b. What about the taxes in the US? Does it really come cheaper than in Germany when I add these? (By the way: how high are the taxes for a case?) And are the cars really comparable, are there any things in the German version that are not included in the American one?
By the way: I paid app. 32.000 Euro (also with 16 % VAT) , but my one's stuffed with a lot of extras ... anyway, must be somewhere about 38.000 Dollars ...
Just don't forget: VAT is going to rise next year, so if you want the car in good old Germany, than do it this year!