Gti Reviews

[Foxy367]

Mr Volkswizard put a video on for his Clubby on track and was surprised by how well the brakes stood up to it. The CS of course has the bigger brake set up of the R.

NB it was a particularly hot day too.

[jon87]

A recent win for the GTI over the 128ti: https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/2022-bmw-128ti-v-2021-volkswagen-golf-gti-comparison/

It seems the GTI won in almost every area except the infotainment system!

[fredgroves]

Something worth pointing out is that the Aussies don't get the same 128ti engine we get in Europe.

That's not to say I'd be more likely to pick one here - I thought the ride was harder than my Mrs!

[Exonian]

I thought the ride was harder than my Mrs!

There are many ways to read that nugget and each of them leaves me mentally scarred! 

[Snoopy]

    

[BanksyGTI]

A recent win for the GTI over the 128ti: https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/2022-bmw-128ti-v-2021-volkswagen-golf-gti-comparison/

It seems the GTI won in almost every area except the infotainment system!

This review mirrors most of the German reviews. They don’t favour the 128 due to the firm ride, expensive price (to match the same spec as equivalent GTI/i130n), and average performance despite it supposedly having the on paper advantage. This opinion is flip reversed by the majority of British reviewers due to their inability to accept the Golf’s touchscreen and obsession with track testing. Opinions..

[BillSan]

I'm siding with the German reviews on this Banksy.   

I haven't driven the 128i but I very much doubt it is better than the GTi.   The fact that it gets round the Nurburgring 0.1 seconds faster, or can 0-60 quicker is irrelevant to me.  It's not what a car does, but how it does it that is important to me.  I love my GTi whilst accepting that others will not.  I also know that others have had more software problems which have led to them favouring any other car than the GTi.

It's great to have car options and different opinions.

[fredgroves]

Yeah the 128TI is cheaper because the base spec is lower.

Which of course comes back to whether if you had to pay for the things on the GTI whether you would...

In the past VW Germany used to sell the GTI very bare and let you add what you wanted - not something VW UK have ever done. A UK performance Mk7 or Mk8 is pretty loaded to start with vs most other "base spec" cars.

BMW have always tried to sucker their customers into paying for expensive options...

Apart from anything else I have previously said about my day with a 128TI, I'd add that I never felt like it was much fun. My Mk8 GTI is a lot more fun handling, with the zero understeer allowing you to really throw it round the corners with laser precision. The BMW just felt like it handled without any joy - despite what BMW tell you about having engineered it to be fun.

Most of the track based reviews tell you the same - but more extreme. Even on the road as a mediocre driver I can definitely say I can tell the difference.

[Exonian]

It’s only since the mk7 that the performance Golfs had increasingly loaded standard spec as each year went by.
Even as recently as mk5 and mk6 the GTI came with a fairly basic spec, no DAB, no nav, no xenons, 17” wheels etc etc.
VW had to compete with the likes of Ford and Vauxhall who had more powerful hatches with better spec for less money so changed things around in the UK, Irish specs are probably different.
 The mk7 became a bit of a Goldilocks car but ironically the pre mk7 models depreciated less drastically (ignoring current worldwide market weirdness) however VW seem to have taken the lion’s share of the hot hatch market sales now.

[JoeGTI]

Irish specs are probably different.
 

Very similar in Ireland Exonian... The MK5 and MK6 were very poorly spec'd here out of the box. Actually early MK7's were poor too. You had to stump up extra for a few things that you guys had as standard for years, e.g. climate control, parking sensors. I bought a new MK5 GTI in 2007 and paid extra for an arm rest 

Things changed dramatically here around 2015 when VW took over the direct distribution of their cars here. Our standard specs are fairly on par with UK now and in many cases they actually tend to be a bit better. The flip side is we pay about double what you guys pay...