GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: charv94 on 27 June 2015, 21:54
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My friend, only 2 years older than me at 23, has just acquired himself an A45 AMG.
He's the type to drive round all night just for fun and chatting with friends and just enjoying life.
Anyway, I thought i'd give my views on the car and how it compares in many areas to my GTI which i took him out in a few times before he got his AMG.
Looks
The AMG is very very understated, its hard to really tell that its an AMG over one of the normal A class, especialy an A250 engineered by AMG. Anyway, its new so naturally its very shiny, Black suits the car very well and he's left the standard wheels on it.
The GTI however, in my opinion looks a little more purposeful, its easier to spot what the car is about because it is more different from a non performance golf. I would say i like the look of the GTI more, but that is me just being Biased.
Driving
Obviously, the GTI is massively underpowered compared to the AMG. He's running it in still so tries to keep it under 4500 revs, and due to such the big jump from a 1.4 ibiza is yet to floor it fully (still a bit scared of it). Inside, despite what ive read in the press, its not very much dissimilar to the ride comfort of the GTI.
He's got the Performance exhaust which is sport creates a cacophony of pops and bangs. I really wish the GTI did this (i have a manual), the DSG may have done something to bridge to void, but i wish there was a way without aftermarket.
I followed him back to his briefly late last night, opened them both up onto the national speed limit b road near to his, i followed. He most definitely pulled away, however to say he has more than 50% more power and has a 30% quicker 0-60, he didn't blast off from me. An R would be close i suspect.
Interior
The quality of the interior in the AMG was a let down for me though, many people complain about the fake carbon in the GTI (i happen to like it) but the AMG has an even worse fake. There also seems to be a rattle under heavy acceleration, exhaust vibrating the dash is what i suspect to be the cause.
I also do not like the iPad'esc screen, but would prefer a Idrive style system in the GTI.
Sound system is harmon Kardon, Incredible to say the least, wish id got dynoaudio now.
Overall
Very jealous if I'm honest, it makes me wish more after something like an S3 or M135i for the closest performance due to being unable to stretch to an RS3.
Noise for a 4 cylinder is incredible and i like it very much.
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Mate, I think you should just be grateful that you've been given such an amazing car as a present at such a young age. There are very few people in such a privileged position. I was driving a ten year old 1ltr Fiesta when I was your age. Honestly, you've only had the car for a couple of months and your already complaining.
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I don't mean to complain. I love my car, I just keep company that makes it seem less special. I feel the GTI is better is some aspects and as a whole feel the post shows a preferance to the GTI not the Amg I see now the overall section was weak in showing this so apologise.
I don't want to appear at all ungrateful. Apologies
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There's no need for apologies. All I'm trying to say is that you should try and enjoy the car you have which is a very fine car. At 21 you have loads of time to move up the car ladder and your already starting off in a brilliant position. :smiley: :smiley:
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Will certainly enjoy it. Quick question relating the GTI does an aftermarket exhaust system invalidate the warranty?
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Wow wish I could've afforded a brand new GTI at 21!
I certainly wouldn't be comparing the 2 as the Merc is about £10k more expensive so it should be better at lots of things.
For info, I had an M135i and I actually prefer the GTI, it's a better all rounder by some distance. But the M135i is bloody quick if that's what your mainly after and they could be picked up on the cheap pre LCI (I got 18% discount off a new one).
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The AMG is very very understated, its hard to really tell that its an AMG over one of the normal A class, especialy an A250 engineered by AMG. Anyway, its new so naturally its very shiny, Black suits the car very well and he's left the standard wheels on it.
It's interesting you think it looks very understated. My dentist has a silver AMG, and last time I was visiting the surfery, I admit to having a bit of a nose round his car in the car park. I was interested as I briefly considered the AMG before settling on the R. Purely aesthetically, from the front and rear, overall I thought it looked far too 'blingy'. But then at the sides it looks very mundane, a strange combination of 'in yer face' and 'blah' at the same time. Somebody on here once said it looked like an Astra from the side and I think that's an accurate description. Maybe it looks less spangly in black, but I prefer the subtle but purposeful styling of the GTI, which gets the balance spot on IMO.
Anyway I didn't go so far as to test drive the AMG, but did spec one up, and spent the rest of the afternoon laughing at the ridiculous price it came out at :shocked: :grin:
Then I ordered an R :smiley:
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Be grateful for what you've got and enjoy it. Don't compare yourself to others as this will just make you miserable.
My first car was a 106 Gti and I felt very privileged to have that. I've just bought my first ever brand new car and I'm 32!
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Before I settled on the R, I compared it with the A45 AMG and M135i.
The M135i was fab drive, a bit skitty in the wet due to RWD (such fun!). But its challenging looks really put me off. Those looks are now much improved with the latest version. It is still the only hatchback I would swop the R for.
The A45 AMG had a bone shaking ride IMO, was difficult to drive smoothly (it was either full-on or off due to the massive turbo lag), the Auto Box was a bit slow an the build quality was not to my liking. But it was the bone shaking ride that really put me off. It was pretty mental though which did put a smile on my face. Speccing it with some options gave a price which was laughable and OTT. It is still a great car but not the car for me.
The R felt just as fast to me as the A45 AMG, had a much better ride, felt more refined, had/has a much better gearbox, was easier to drive smoothly, felt on par with my BMW F30 in key aspects, had/has a nicer interior than the Merc to these eyes and was available at a rather tasty lease deal. So I chose it.
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Life's a b!tch unless you're rich.
A45's seem to be designed to appeal to 20 year olds but alas it mostly seems to be 50 year olds that you see driving them. Affordability.
As above, 99.9% of people don't get a £30k car for their 21st Birthday and I appreciate that private school kids have a superiority complex driven into them, but look around and see what most 21 year olds are driving whilst trying desperately to afford a deposit for somewhere to live or just out partying and enjoying being young.
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Charv94 can't really help it if he can afford a £30k car at 21. But, he would do well to appreciate the position he's in. My first car was a beige Mini Metro 3 speed auto. Absolutely shocking AND looked like sh*t. It's memories like that that make me feel humble about being able to afford and drive a legendary GTI. A car I've always wanted to own. And I love it to bits :wink:
Lecture over.
To compare the base GTI to an AMG 45 is quite unfair (performance wise). I wouldn't know about their respective interiors. A better comparison would be AMG 45 vs R400 (if indeed its ever produced).
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4WD Hot Hatches:
The R trounces the A45 AMG in every single comparative test. It also trounces the S3 and the RS3. The R is the better driver's car.
As for acceleration 0-60mph, R=4.5secs (Top Gear), RS3=4.1secs (Autocar), A45 AMG=who cares! Plus the R is much, much cheaper than the RS3 and the A45 AMG.
Enough of this willy waiving. :laugh:
Charv94: You've got a GTI which is a wonderful car. At 21yrs young, count yourself very lucky and blessed you own a damned great icon. Enjoy it and be happy and satisfied with your good fortune.
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A45 to now have facelift and get a power upgrade to 385 to put it above the rs3 and option packs that have adjustable dampers to improve the ride.
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A45 to now have facelift and get a power upgrade to 385 to put it above the rs3 and option packs that have adjustable dampers to improve the ride.
I know, but to my eyes it still looks a minger. But ETTO, and I'm being very PC regarding it. :wink:
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they had one running up the hill at Goodwood with the sports exhaust, blimey it was mental and a lot more vocal than the RS3 (which is being flogged to death by Audi at the moment and I am getting fed up of Englebert)
never fails to impress me nowadays how MB can make an expensive car feel so cheap
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they had one running up the hill at Goodwood with the sports exhaust, blimey it was mental and a lot more vocal than the RS3 (which is being flogged to death by Audi at the moment and I am getting fed up of Englebert)
never fails to impress me nowadays how MB can make an expensive car feel so cheap
I think the MB A class is made by pissed (off) Finns. The A class (and A45 AMG) is their new Nokia.
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I own a B class, and have driven a few newish A class on loan now from MB, and OK these were not the AMG, but I can tell you this.
The Golf will handle quite well. The A45 will not. The steering on the A is vague and artificial to say the least. The Golf has a very good ride handling compromise. The A45 crashes and the damping sucks.
The build quality, (both materials and fit, engineering etc.) especially the interior trim is not up to VW/Audi levels, when you compare these two models at least.
The A45 looks nice, but as an on-going ownership proposition, Golf every time.
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I am getting fed up of Englebert)
Humperdink ?
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/91/c5/2a/91c52a8242a0e1e276901d52038b1d95.jpg)
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When I was 21 I was driving a 750cc Fiat Panda in bright green! I would have killed for a brand new GTI!
Who cares what anyone else has got, enjoy what you have! And if you don't like it, then change cars! Never get jealous over someone else's car - because otherwise you will spend your whole life being jealous - there's always someone with more money and a faster car - always.
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When I was 21, I had a Mark 1 Toyota MR2, all white, fully resprayed with no decals and the classic pop-up headlights! :-) Wouldn't of changed it for the world, well until I had a long daily commute and needed to change our for a boring diesel.
Anyway, back on topic. These are two completely different cars and can't really be compared against each other.
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Lol you're all showing your age, I had a Leon fr. Traded up from a 1.4 Megane. And I loved it so much I replaced it with the facelift! What you need is a decent map charv but if you're warranty conscious then a tuning box, I sense you can afford the expensive ones too :smiley:
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And yes a full exhaust system will effect the warranty but it's the downpipe vw won't like the most so ask your dealer if a simple cat back would bother them too much, severely doubt they could link any engine faults to bigger tailpipes and a lack of a muffler imo
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When I was 21 I had a mini 850 with so much rust you could see the road passing by through the floor. But I still enjoyed owning it at the time. Just enjoy it, don't mod it. I had to wait until my late 40's before I could afford a brand new Golf GTi. People admire the car until they see the old git getting out.
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When I was 21, I had a Mark 1 Toyota MR2, all white, fully resprayed with no decals and the classic pop-up headlights! :-)
When I was 18, I blagged a test drive in a brand new one of these. At 21 I'd saved up enough to buy a 3 year old Mk2 Cavalier SRi 130.
I was 29 when I bought my first new car. A 1999 Golf GTI, albeit a 2.sl0w.
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This thread should be changed to "When i was 21, i was driving....."
When i was 21....i had a purple clio, then i got my first company car...a 1.4tdi Polo...it had 75bhp
:laugh:
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At 18, my father bough me a Mercedes. At 21, my father bought me a Jag E-type. At 30, my father bought me nothing as he was dead. I bought myself a Datsun 240Z. At 40, I bought myself ..... can't remember. At 50, I bought a Porsche, an Alfa and a Mercedes. Moving on to 90, I leased a Golf R and a BMW. At 100, I will hopefully be in a hearse (leased for the day), any make of hearse, but not a black one, please. :laugh:
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The E-type was launched in 1961, so if you had one of the first, that would make you just 75 Asker. Still, I suppose at three score plus ten, plus a bit more, things can seem quite confusing.
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The E-type was launched in 1961, so if you had one of the first, that would make you just 75 Asker. Still, I suppose at three score plus ten, plus a bit more, things can seem quite confusing.
The whole post was tongue-in-cheek and with many untruths and even more inaccuracies. Stop being so serious and lighten up. I can just imagine you calculating my age which you got very wrong.
I am off to the beach in Greece now.
I forgot ..... :kiss:
Oh, and the E-Type remained in production for many, many years. :wink:
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This thread should be changed to "When i was 21, i was driving....."
When i was 21....i had a purple clio, then i got my first company car...a 1.4tdi Polo...it had 75bhp
:laugh:
When I was 21, I didn't have a car, travelled everywhere on my trusty old road racing bike (stolen long, long ago -RIP).
I didn't learn to drive till I was 30, and well, that was it.....no looking back! :laugh:
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At 18, my father bough me a Mercedes. At 21, my father bought me a Jag E-type. At 30, my father bought me nothing as he was dead. I bought myself a Datsun 240Z. At 40, I bought myself ..... can't remember. At 50, I bought a Porsche, an Alfa and a Mercedes. Moving on to 90, I leased a Golf R and a BMW. At 100, I will hopefully be in a hearse (leased for the day), any make of hearse, but not a black one, please. :laugh:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Only you Asker!
Asker, there's a queue almost as long as a line at a Greek ATM on your Monza Shadow thread in the For Sale section, pop in and sort them out will you.
Me? At 18 I bought a Scirocco GTI of 1980 vintage in gold with contrasting rust. At 21 I still had it and was broke having just bought my first property. The Scirocco had turned into an oil leaking mobile skip that was driven at 10/10th's everywhere whilst I renovated/bodged my new flat. It was probably a bad investment at the time as property prices were sky high and Maggie had sold off all the council houses then decided to make the whole country homeless by raising the interest rates to about 15%, which somehow I scraped through; often having to work extra shifts to be able to afford to put fuel in the car just to get to work in order to pay the mortgage. Happy days.
At 22 I'd scraped together enough to buy a 7 year old mk1 Golf GTI in white and then got dragged down the aisle.
I think I was about 40 by the time I'd scraped together enough loose change to be able to afford a new Golf GTI. But after years of scrimping I decided I'd buy a second hand one anyway.
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At 18, my father bough me a Mercedes. At 21, my father bought me a Jag E-type. At 30, my father bought me nothing as he was dead. I bought myself a Datsun 240Z. At 40, I bought myself ..... can't remember. At 50, I bought a Porsche, an Alfa and a Mercedes. Moving on to 90, I leased a Golf R and a BMW. At 100, I will hopefully be in a hearse (leased for the day), any make of hearse, but not a black one, please. :laugh:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Only you Asker!
Asker, there's a queue almost as long as a line at a Greek ATM on your Monza Shadow thread in the For Sale section, pop in and sort them out will you.
Could not go and relax at the beach. Thunder storms.
Yes, one of the guys has PM'd me. Thanks Andy.
Oh, I have owned a couple of Porsches, Mercs, BMWs, Audis, a Jag, Alfas, a Triumph, a Rover, Hondas, a Seat, a Peugeot, Renaults, a Datsun, VWs, a Fiat, an NSU Ro80, a Buick, a Cadillac, a Chevrolet, a Pontiac, etc. ........... Changed cars more often than my underwear ......
Andy:
Are you going to change your Bridgestones to slightly less noisy Conti 5 tyres? Best go for the top rated though expensive Michelin PSS rubber IMO. Not too costly in 18" size and only appox £10 each more than the Conti 5.
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The E-type was launched in 1961, so if you had one of the first, that would make you just 75 Asker. Still, I suppose at three score plus ten, plus a bit more, things can seem quite confusing.
The whole post was tongue-in-cheek and with many untruths and even more inaccuracies. Stop being so serious and lighten up. I can just imagine you calculating my age which you got very wrong.
So was mine. :rolleyes:
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Andy:
Are you going to change your Bridgestones to slightly less noisy Conti 5 tyres? Best go for the top rated though expensive Michelin PSS rubber IMO. Not too costly in 18" size and only appox £10 each more than the Conti 5.
I took the car for a 40 mile run this morning before the lark started strutting its stuff.
I did notice the sh!testones were noisy (very noisy) over some newly surfaced dual carriageway but were ok other than that.
I'm not going to change anything on the R I've decided. It was born in rental spec and will stay in rental spec. I'm a reformed character. :whistle:
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Andy:
Are you going to change your Bridgestones to slightly less noisy Conti 5 tyres? Best go for the top rated though expensive Michelin PSS rubber IMO. Not too costly in 18" size and only appox £10 each more than the Conti 5.
I took the car for a 40 mile run this morning before the lark started strutting its stuff.
I did notice the sh!testones were noisy (very noisy) over some newly surfaced dual carriageway but were ok other than that.
I'm not going to change anything on the R I've decided. It was born in rental spec and will stay in rental spec. I'm a reformed character. :whistle:
Good man keeping it in Rental Spec which is pretty good spec anyway. Knowing you, that car will be off your hands in around 6 months. I wonder what will be next? I can feel your itch even in Athens. :laugh:
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I took the car for a 40 mile run this morning before the lark started strutting its stuff.
I did notice the sh!testones were noisy (very noisy) over some newly surfaced dual carriageway but were ok other than that.
I'm not going to change anything on the R I've decided. It was born in rental spec and will stay in rental spec. I'm a reformed character. :whistle:
Good man keeping it in Rental Spec which is pretty good spec anyway. Knowing you, that car will be off your hands in around 6 months. I wonder what will be next? I can feel your itch even in Athens. :laugh:
Whatever his next car is, what are the chances it will be white :whistle:
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Back to the original question - when Autocar tested the GTI pp against the A45 AMG and the M135i the conclusion was that the Golf was better than the M135i (same ish price bracket) but if money is no object to you the A45 wins. Interesting test you can find it if you google it.
IMHO as an all round proposition the GTI is pretty much unbeatable. Anyhow why are they naming the car after a road in the midlands? I'd rather be playing golf. :grin: