Buying a brand new car means you lose a lot of money in depreciation. A better alternative would be buying an approved used car from the dealership. You can still get the warranty and the finance options are available too.
As rightly pointed out by few others, go for something which is cheap to insure and tax. Golf has generally got a higher insurance tax premium. Think about polo, UP, or perhaps the new ford fiesta.
To get an idea about insurance premiums for different cars, check sites such as confused.com. if you are buying and insuring your car on your international driving licence, the cost of insurance could be higher even further and few companies would insure you.
Let me know if you need any help. I've recently gone through the whole exercise so might be able to guide a bit.
Good luck!!!