It's down to personal preference really. But, the cars which are common are generally the better cars which is the case with the Golf apart from it being on the dull side. People buy it because of it's reviews and what other people say and tend not to bother looking at anything else. Why people buy Vauxhall Astras and Ford Focuses I'll never know. Having sat in both I felt like I was sat in something which was being mass produced in the same factory as a Hyundai.
I was under the impression from things I've heard about the Ford Focus that it was a much better car than it used to be, but interior quality was pretty shocking in my opinion. I know it's the better car to drive but I'd sooner kill my self after being surrounded by the plastics used in it. It even cost more than the exact equivilent Golf that we were looking at - by £2000. Rediculous.
Don't get me wrong the Fiat Punto and Mazda 3 are good cars but I'll always be a snob and turn my nose up at them (Weird seeing as I like Skoda so much :p) because I was brought up around Golfs and from my experience with them, nothing in the same class comes close. The old MKIII Golf GTI my mum's parter has which now has 170,000 miles on it doesn't have a single rattle and that's no word of a lie. I actually spent 20 minutes while I was in it the other weekend listening for them and there was nothing. It's not the most looked after car either.
Apart from the normal consumables it's been one of the most reliable cars I've ever come across. I know from personal experience that most brands just cannot make a car that good. Our Alfa has rattles in it already and it's done no more than 1,300 miles. My uncle's '07 Mondeo is falling to pieces around him, too.
My family generally goes by the old saying "Better the devil you know" which up until now has proven to be the right way of going about things.
I got the news yesterday that my mum is getting her new car on Tuesday at 11am and I'm going with her to get it.