Last focus I drove, was a 54plate and understeered like sh*t off a shovel anytime you asked anything of it. Didn’t like the way it delivered power either, thought it was cheap and tacky inside with not great head room in the rear. The focus does say I just don’t care anymore, I’m going from a to b, this will suffice. Second hand value is poor too.

Last golf I owned was a mkII gti and sold it after a year for a profit. 195k miles on the clock too 😆 Solid consistant power delivery through the revs and go kart handling. Rubbish in town, rubbish on the motorway, it leaked and vag parts are a rip off. Get it on a b road though 😀 ❗

The newer golfs I have driven have been comfortable and un spectacular. Well finished inside with a decent use of space.

Get something with character, like an Alfa 😉

So a rebadged Fiat Punto is now called ‘something with character’, most of these cars are almost the same underneath, all this stuff about VW’s being aspiration all and Ford’s being for people who’ve given up is just advertising and what you think that other people would like think about you. Don’t try dressing up choices about handling dynamics its almost always about how your neighbours treat you.
It all comes down to price, badge and how badly the dealer for servicing treats you in the end as far as I can see.

Last focus I drove, was a 54plate and understeered like sh*t off a shovel anytime you asked anything of it.

I found the Golf I owned had far less involved handling than the Focus I owned.

I also don’t really care that much about cars; I owned and thoroughly enjoyed an F reg Peugeot 205 GTI, which must have been about the same age as your VW, MechMan – so you’re looking at a car over 20 years old, likely with plenty of miles on the clock and a number of previous owners. Hardly what the original poster is asking for. The non-GTI mk2 also drove lack a sack of spuds, if my memories of driving my brothers’ are anything to go by.

YMMV.

We had shite autogrip tyres on our 10 plate focus, under steered if it looked at a damp corner never mind tried to negotiate it! Stuck on some decent tyres and its been transformed- I am often surprised by how well the car grips when going round the same bends!

most of these cars are almost the same underneath

Well not quite, Focuses have independent suspension at the back and Golfs have torsion beam. Independent suspension significantly improves handling but it takes up more space in the boot.

Well the Guy who went for the Volvo V50 went for the Focus in Volvo clothes, ( its a Focus floorpan) 8)

Volvo V50 2.0 D = Focus floor plan, Mondeo engine – was quite aware of that when I got it 🙂
Focus handles, as does the Volvo and has a better engine than commonly on offer in the Focus (hard to find a Focus with 2.0 diesel s/h)