I was in the dealer's yesterday sorting some paperwork out for my reg transfer and they had a GTD on the forecourt. Now, everyone's been talking about how it drives. I thought I'd throw in a comment about its looks and to be brutally honest it just didn't do it for me. It looked nice but the chrome bits (where we have red bits on ouur GTis) just made it look a bit like it was trying too hard and, ultimately, didn't lift it too much above a normal Golf. The alloys were nice but, again, nothing out of the ordinary and only what you see on countless £20k cars these days.
I suppose it can be summed up in the sense that when I look at my GTi I just love it and want to get in and drive the nuts off it. With that GTD there was none of that. And I reckon that's the point of a hot hatch isn't it?
I'm sure you will all have your own opinion on this.
As for the price, well, I thought the GTI was steep but this, at the end of the day, is a diesel. And having had diesels for years and finally gone back to the GTi I just feel they're boring. Simple as. Fuel economy, yes. Torque, yes. Excitement, no.