look man i'm going to level with you, bimmers are great but i think you are going to regret getting the ti for more than the apparent reasons. first it's slow. second you are young and if you plan on paying for service the bimmer is going to be more then the vw and on the vw you will have warranty as for the ti you will just be out so if any thing were to go wrong you are going to pay big bucks. third if you plan on modifying at all the after market parts for beemers are usualy twice as expensive as any thing else. now if money is not an issue i would at least get the 325 if not 328 or M3. i'm from the M3 board and have seen people selling 95 M's with low milage for very low 20k. hope this helps.