I really needed to know what the Mark 7 GTI was like with DSG. So I rang a local dealer and couldn't believe it when then he said they had one in 5 door pure white. Which was even better because I really waned to see a 5 door before I committed to a 3 door.
When he said you can come and drive it now, I was like I'll be there in a hour!
Impressions of the 5 door DSG in white:
It looks very, very nice. Maybe not quite as nice as the 3 door, but it has its own beauty and is obviously much more practical. The pure white colour looks very nice even when slightly dirty if you know what I mean. A very practical colour indeed.
Now to the DSG. All I can say is wow! It was better than I expected. Simply effortless. A cracking box. I drove it in town traffic and on the M40 for a couple of junctions and it was so easy to drive, in D, S and manual paddle shifting. I drove a mark 6 DSG yesterday and there is a significant improvement in the mark 7 DSG box. It's drives off very smoothly from standstill, even with the stop/start function. At first I wondered what the sound was when moving away at the traffic lights because the engine is so damn quite lol. Then I realised it starts as soon as you lift your foot of the brake pedal and it was the sound of the engine restarting that I was hearing. All very refined stuff. I also flicked the 'A' button, disabling the stop/start function, which was so easy to do on the fly.
I don’t know what the CAR review was referring to about the long ratio 6th gear in D mode though? Yes it does kick into 6th gear at around 55-60 mph but when I wanted to accelerate I simply pressed on the pedal slightly and it dropped to 5th gear.
If anyone was in doubt if they should have chosen the DSG, I can safely say you will NOT be disappointed – it’s a peach! This car was so damn quick and it was a standard GTI. The PP version should be a cracker.
Btw, the dealer said I could have this exact car after 3 months once they fulfilled the demo required period.
Pics will be posted in the pics thread.
