If you’re stuck on the Golf I’d buy a low mileage used one for a lower monthly payment.
For a lease I typically will come up with what I need the selling price of the car to be (all fees rolled in) with only first payment and taxes at signing and then go from there. Usually you still get dealers stuck on payments so you have to back calculate on some to do an apples to apples comparison if the payment and initial upfront fees collected seem good.