Cancelled ordered Mk8 GTD and bought a Mk8 GTI

[Gjm]

Hi,

Long time lurker, but I now actually own a Golf so can experience all the thrills and frustrations that everybody else is going through 

History : Owned a Passat, and ordered a Golf GTD in November 2021, circumstances change in 18 months and the whole diesel vs. petrol has been running through my mind for the past 12 months. The delivery of the GTD was a couple of months away, so finally made up my mind, and with not doing the mileage I was 2 years ago, I decided to switch to petrol. Cancelled the GTD and found an in-stock GTI.

Went GTD to GTI as I wanted to keep the spec, and none of the other model Golfs come with the bells & whistles. Those bells & whistles are taking a bit of getting used to (touch controls!), but so far I'm loving it! 

[Gjm]

Attaching the Showroom picture for the moment, as it currently doesn't look anywhere as good as that considering I had to drive 200+ miles to pick it up and and drive it home, and then had another 350 mile journey to do a couple of days after! So it may be a bit "bug splattered" at the moment, but it has allowed me to really get the feel for driving it.

[Snoopy]

Nice 

[Exonian]

Very nice looking GTI there Gjm and it won’t be too bad on fuel either.
You were very patient with the GTD order but made the right decision in the end! 😁

[Gjm]

Thanks Exonian, it was a difficult decision about the GTD, I had waited for a long time, but as said the Diesel vs. Petrol debate has been running through my mind for the last 12 months. My Passat estate was diesel and it was driven so rarely due to being diesel and most of my journeys are now short ones, plus it’s a big car to drive around!

A new car is a big purchase, so really want to get it right, and I feel I did.

Regarding mpg, I’m pleasantly surprised. My motorway trips back from the dealership, Liverpool to Hampshire, and a weekend trip to Yorkshire, I averaged 45mpg, just tootling along around legal limits.

[Ceefeesh]

I like your car. Mine is very similar, 2021, Moonstone with Adelaides. I have had it for a year now. I like the lack of buttons and I don’t experience the problems others have with boingy software. The main problem I find is adjusting the temperature at night, on the move but for me that’s not a frequent occurrence. I have added a few bits to personalise it and make up for the bits they removed from the Mk 7.5 to save money. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Health to drive.

[Gjm]

Thanks Ceefeesh/EngineCover. Your pictures when you first posted them were the first ones I had seen of a GTI with that colour, and I thought it did look good and wished I had seen them before I had put my GTD order in. I had already been told that any changes would put me to the back of the queue, so resigned myself to living with what I ordered.

When I decided to switch and saw this one available I was quite happy, the colour works well with the red highlights, and the alloys just seem to fit. It had the winter pack which I wanted, but was missing the rear view camera, but I’m aiming to get that retrofitted. I was concerned with ride comfort with 19” wheels and no DCC, but again I don’t find it too bad. Got to go a bit slower over speed bumps, but on a decent road it feels fine.

I quite like the infotainment, the digital instrument cluster and the haptic buttons, although I haven’t done any night drives yet. Normally I wouldn’t touch the temperature as I usually set and forget, but my normal temp of 20 Deg does seem to blow out quite a bit cooler than I was expecting, so have found myself moving between 20 - 22 Deg during some drives.