What Car Hot Hatch test

[Rolfe]

Irma's 307 would have been an early one, not long after the 306 was superseded.  Don't remember the exact date.  That car was a turkey though.  I drove it when it was brand new, and I think that was the moment I decided my 306 would have to be prised from my cold, dead hands.

That's why I have to have the Golf GTi Mk VI.  Only a car better than the Peugeot can reconcile me to its demise.  Otherwise I'll still be paying for pointless repairs and throwing good money after bad when it's 20.

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

I just watched the old Top Gear clip again.

"The Peugeot 306 GTi becomes the best friend you ever had."

                      

And it has every single one of the goodies Clarkson praised the Golf for (aircon, trip meter and so on).  And its back folds down just as well as the Golf's, and the boot is even bigger.  I know, I measured it.

So he put the Golf ahead because it had 5 doors.  Five doors is a dealbreaker on a hot hatch, when speed and manoeuverability and fun factor are poorer?  Yo, maybe VW are paying him at that, and have been all along!   

And did you see him driving?  He had the headrest about level with the middle of his neck.  If he's crashed that, he'd have been geography.

Ah, but I'll treasure that little clip.

Rolfe.

ETA:  Are you sure that would have been the Mk IV Golf in the test?  I would have thought it would have been done in 1997 when the Peugeot was new.  I remember choosing the car in December 1997, and buying it at the beginning of 1998, and I'm pretty sure it was the Mk III that lost in the shortlist battle then.  But if the Mk IV came out later in 1998, perhaps it was indeed the Mk IV on the test.

[simonpolly]

Let it go,it will be a square lump of metals,plastics and glass soon 

[Exonian]

ETA:  Are you sure that would have been the Mk IV Golf in the test?  I would have thought it would have been done in 1997 when the Peugeot was new.  I remember choosing the car in December 1997, and buying it at the beginning of 1998, and I'm pretty sure it was the Mk III that lost in the shortlist battle then.  But if the Mk IV came out later in 1998, perhaps it was indeed the Mk IV on the test.

Yes it's a mk4, I remember watching the test when they did it and I just watched the first 5 seconds of the YouTube clip and that's definately a mk4.
They used the GTI-6 as it was the best of the then current crop and the mk4 Golf as it was leaps and bounds better than the crappy mk3. The mk4 was released in the UK around this time on an R plate.

[Rolfe]

That'll be right then.  I'm certain I bought the Peugeot before the Mk 4 came out.  I chose it just before Christmas 1997 and had some fun over Christmas visiting any dealer I happened to be passing to drool over their show cars.  I ordered in January and took delivery February.

The Mk 3 was the other half of the short list, but it lost in spades, I'm afraid.  Looks like it was a good decision, back then!

Clarkson isn't half pro-Golf in that clip though.  The Peugeot wiped the floor with the Golf on everything except having 5 doors, but he still chose the Golf.  He had a lot more criticism of the Mk 4 when he tested the Mk 5 though! 

Rolfe.

[ub7rm]

Clarkson is well known as a GTI enthusiast....maybe he lurks about this forum 

[Rolfe]

Clarkson is well known as a GTI enthusiast....maybe he lurks about this forum 

Well, it was his review of the Mk V that sold me on the Mk VI.  I questioned at the time if VW was slipping him the odd tenner for it....

I watched the Top Gear review of the Focus ST, which was funny and entertaining, and contained no especial reason to put me off the car.  But then I thought I'd see what he had to say about the Golf, and found the Mk V review without realising it wasn't the current model.  The line he took was simply far more in tune with what I wanted from a car, and although I'd already been attracted by a number of the Golf's features, I date my determination to have the Golf from the moment I watched that review.

Of course it did turn out to be the Mk V not the Mk VI, but I don't see the differences between the two models as all that substantial, and nobody unbiassed is seriously suggesting that the Mk VI is inferior, so altogether I'm a happy bunny.  I can see that it's necessary to correct for his blatant prejudice though! 

Sigh.  I'll miss the 306.  Only a peach like the Golf can possibly reconcile me to this....

Rolfe.