Took it to the dealers for its 4 year service and 2nd MOT, with instructions to the dealer to not wash my car and inflict swirls in my freshly machine-polished paintwork!
Had a courtesy car for the day; not the usual base spec Polo or Up! that I was expecting, but a mk7 Golf GTD with only 800 miles on the clock. Nice to have one for the whole day for an 'extended test drive' to be able to compare it my mk6 GTD. I'd not driven a mk7 before today; my thoughts on the mk7;
Ride and handling; the handling is certainly sharper than the mk6; especially noticeable on roundabouts, and on the twisty bits. Ride quality on the standard 18's seemed very similar to my mk6 on 18's.
Fuel consumption; over the same 30 mile journey in very similar traffic conditions from my home to the dealers, the MFD was indicating my mk6 was better than the mk7 by around 5 mpg, although with only 800 miles on the clock, the mk7 wouldn't be fully loosened up yet.
Interior; the mk7 does feel more 'premium' than the mk6, although I didn't like the shiny black trim on the centre console and around the instrumentation dials in the mk7. The cloth seats were very comfy, but not quite as hip-hugging as the mk6 versions. I prefer the chunkier steering wheel in my car to the slimmer one in the mk7. All in all, the interior felt pretty well screwed together, although there were some annoying rattles and vibrations from the dashboard and the driver's door card which spoiled the overall effect; I may have been lucky, but my mk6 has rarely rattled in 4 years. Instrumentation illumination in the mk7 looks much more impressive than the mk6.
Sound quality from the non-Dynaudio sound system was pretty good compared to the Dynaudio RCD510 in my mk6. I'd like to have heard the mk7 Dynaudio system to see how it compares to the mk6.
Overall, I really liked it. Would I buy one? It would certainly be on the shortlist, but I would need to see what else is available when the time comes to change.
