Well, just like many other car comparisons, there's gonna be different strokes for different folks. Some people place a greater value on the Germanic driving experience and upscale interior and don't mind paying a bit more for maintenance and repairs when they occur. Others want an utterly reliable appliance that gets them from A to B with a low running cost and minimal maintenance requirements. For those in the second camp, there are probably better choices than the Golf TDI. Won't say that it's wrong or right- that's the beauty of having alternatives to choose from.
Personally, I value the driving experience, engineering detail, and interior quality/feel (not so much appearances- it has to work well). Being complex machines, I don't expect 100% reliability for 7 years. Things will break, repairs have to be made and paid for. It seems my X3 seems to require a significant repair or maintenance bill ($1500+) once a year, but that's fine by me for a nearly 8-year old vehicle that has over 189.000km on the clock. That's just what I expect from a car. Few, if anything else breaks in between, and I do a conservative oil change every 15.000km. Everything still works on the car.
But I care a lot about the steering, brakes, response, chassis, and all those other less tangible things. When I test drove the TDI, each time, it checked off those boxes. The interior knobs and switches feel substantial (ahem, Ford Focus pay attention), the brakes feel firm, the steering and chassis talk to me. And since most of my driving is highway at higher speeds, the diesel fuel consumption and autobahn-bred suspension are great plus points. I was in a bit of a rush last month and thus, drove a stretch of very rural freeway averaging about 150+km/h over distance of about 100km. Fairly high revs and speed, but it was as easy and relaxing as pie; the car's built for it. Too bad it guzzled fuel (averaged 11 l/100km), but a Golf TDI would solve that!
