My very brief(ish) MK7.5 review (from the point of view of a diesel owner)

[Exonian]

There’s no getting away from what a compelling package the GTD was until Diesel went out of favour overnight 

Before the world suddenly decided Diesel was evil again the GTD pretty much had it all.
Looks
Handling
Real world performance
Satisfying power delivery
Economy
Well equipped
Great resale values making them affordable to acquire and run for both private and company car drivers

From an enthusiast perspective you also had the S&S pack and an incredibly easy engine to tune.

A lot of car ‘enthusiasts’ get sniffy about Diesels because some curly haired TV presenter loves to preach his views as gospel but I’ve been in some damned quick Diesel cars in my time and have a big soft spot for them.

[John F]

In addition to hating the dark mornings of winter months, I also don't look forward to being woken at 5am every weekday and some Saturday's by my neighbours clattering diesel Ford Galaxy. I barely notice it in the summer, as it runs so much quieter when it's not freezing outside.

The worst of all is a winter morning with frost, where the scraping of the windscreen is added to the diesel clatter. This can go on for 10 mins or so.

I long for the day he trades it in for a petrol, or even electric alternative!

[John F]

I am happy to confirm that my new GTI PP DSG is very much quicker than my soon to be removed A4 1.4  TFSI manual!

Just got the GTI this morning and been on two short runs. I need to feel my way into this car as the difference from the A4 is very clear. It just piles on the speed, especially in sport mode.

[Sootchucker]

Mine feels like it’s getting quicker and quicker as the Miles go on (just about to pass the 1k mark this weekend).

Also a quick question re all the glorious hot weather we’ve been having. My old GTD’s fuel economy got better the warmer it got, which I think was more down to much quicker warm up times when it’s hot and of course the forecourts have proper summer diesel.

The question is, (as I have no point of reference), do petrol engine cars perform better when it’s hot, or when it’s more mild (i don’t mean Winter and having to have heaters and headlights etc on), as I know turbo cars have an intercooler to keep the charge temp down, so would assume really hot weather isn’t a good friend of turbo cars ?.

I.e. just out of interest, under what weather conditions do turbocharged modern petrol engines perform at their optimum ?

[mcmaddy]

I haven't found much difference on long drives but certainly colder weather reduces the mpg on my commute to work. Winter I get between 28 and 31 depending what time I leave for work. During the summer months I get anywhere from 33 upwards. Drive from Sunderland to Leicester yesterday at 26° got me 45mpg. I'm more impressed with the GTi than I have been in any other car I've had.