Impressions of the 105hp 1.6 Bluemotion diesel

[Andy B]

I had the chance to drive all over Scotland over easter in a hire care which turned out to be a 2 week old golf mk7 'S' with the most efficient engine - a 105hp diesel claiming 85mpg on the 'extra urban' european cycle.

Driving mainly A/B roads at around 50-60mph, I got generally about 65mpg in what is hilly territory, so quite good if you ignore the official headline figures. The edition 30 would give me around 35ish for the same roads and relaxed driving.

General impressions:

- Boot: Supposedly bigger, but shallower, so we couldn't get our two big bags in the back which fit in the mk5.
- The 'composition audio' is great. We used its bluetooth connection, and the screen is easy to work - not bad considering we were driving the bottom of the range vehicle. The only annoyance was that the bluetooth didn't work properly unless the phone was in the glove box.. but then it was hard to plug into the charger. When the phone was out in the car acting as a satnav, the audio occasionally had buffering problems.

- Wasn't really overwhelmed by the way it looks, but will see how the gti looks in comparison with our edition 30.
- Cabin interior wasn't bad at all for a budget car. The seats were ok - not much grip, but comfortable.
- I couldn't find a way to dim the instrument console at night. Maybe the option was in the composition media system. Anyone know?
- The fuel cap was a push-to-open thing, with no key on the fuel cap behind it. I think I'd like a way to lock the fuel.
- Engine was a bit noisy at low revs, but for the 'slowest' engine still quite nice to drive once it got going, though pulling out into traffic was a bit of a chore. Drivetrain was excellent. Manual gearchange was a bit notchy but generally good - perhaps will get better once the car was older. Steering was ok, but going round roundabouts showed quite a bit of roll (not helped by the lack of grip on the seats).

Overall, it was a decent hire car, but I was left yearning for all the things I like about our edition 30, and worry a little that the new gti won't quite be as good!

[ajmoir36]

Some interesting facts in there.  Especially as you are comparing a mk5 to a mk7. I was especially interested in the fuel economy.  I would have said hilly territory 65mpg is probably pretty good, a decent run down the motorway at a sensible speed so gain more.

[charlie]

We test drove the the same spec car and I pulled out to overtake a lorry it did it but not comfortable so we opted for same powered fabia and it just pulls better, I know the golf is a bigger car but I would if in the market buy the 2 litre 

[ajmoir36]

We test drove the the same spec car and I pulled out to overtake a lorry it did it but not comfortable so we opted for same powered fabia and it just pulls better, I know the golf is a bigger car but I would if in the market buy the 2 litre 

What fabia did you buy? Whats the mpg out of it?

[charlie]

We test drove the the same spec car and I pulled out to overtake a lorry it did it but not comfortable so we opted for same powered fabia and it just pulls better, I know the golf is a bigger car but I would if in the market buy the 2 litre 

What fabia did you buy? Whats the mpg out of it?

1.6 105hp Monte Carlo it has only done about 150 miles and yesterday we were ave about 56.5 to the gallon that was stop start town driving and a road 50 ish dual carriageway 75 80 ish round trip probably 50 odd miles

[ajmoir36]

We test drove the the same spec car and I pulled out to overtake a lorry it did it but not comfortable so we opted for same powered fabia and it just pulls better, I know the golf is a bigger car but I would if in the market buy the 2 litre 

What fabia did you buy? Whats the mpg out of it?

1.6 105hp Monte Carlo it has only done about 150 miles and yesterday we were ave about 56.5 to the gallon that was stop start town driving and a road 50 ish dual carriageway 75 80 ish round trip probably 50 odd miles

Thanks, been thinking of changing the GTD for one of these super MPG beasts but in reality I don't think its worth it.

[Jimble]

@OP interesting read thanks, the fuel flap locks with the central locking like the mk6 but i'm curious about the boot, did you put the boot floor into the bottom of the boot or was it pretty flush with the opening? I've been in a couple now and it seems pretty similar to my mk6.

[charlie]

I also think the boot isn't as big as well I know you can drop the floor down but it still looks smaller

[Andy B]

@OP interesting read thanks, the fuel flap locks with the central locking like the mk6 but i'm curious about the boot, did you put the boot floor into the bottom of the boot or was it pretty flush with the opening? I've been in a couple now and it seems pretty similar to my mk6.

Nice to know the fuel cap flap locks. I didn't know the boot floor could be lowered. It was flush with the opening. How much lower does it go?

The other thing I forgot to mention was the electric parking brake. The hire car company left the manual out of the car and their notes didn't explain how to work it, and it took a bit of trial and error to learn that if moving away forwards, it just releases automatically, which is nice.  Reversing... well it didn't seem to release at all unless you did things in a certain order, which was a bit embarrassing the first time as it looked like I couldn't drive!

[Andy B]

I would have said hilly territory 65mpg is probably pretty good, a decent run down the motorway at a sensible speed so gain more.

I'm not sure you'd get much more out of it at 70mph on the motorway. It'd probably be slightly lower. The 'extra urban' cycle runs at a lower average speed with a few gentle accelerations and decelerations, and at higher speeds, wind resistance starts being a major mpg killer.

http://www.mech.kuleuven.be/ice/research/control/images/ece_eudc_hires.jpg

None of the official mpg figures are of much use if trying to answer the question 'how much will it do at a steady 60 or 70 or 80 mph' - which are the sorts of things I'd like to know.

When I made the car's information panel show the current mpg, it was clear that if running at 40 or 50mph, you could get it to show far higher mpg than at faster speeds.

Though there were lots of hills in Scotland, for much of the time I just eased up on the downhills and used the accelerator more on the uphills. I didn't notice that much difference between journeys in the hills and journeys on the flat east coast - all ended up roughly 65ish mpg, +/- 5mpg. Driving was relaxed and I'm normally very good at getting the best mpg out of a car.

For the same driving conditions, I could have got about 35-37 out of my ED 30 if trying not to use fuel. I can get about 33-35 at 70, 32ish at 80. That car has an extra urban figure of 45mpg. The new GTD has a figure for the same test of 76mpg, and the GTI 55mpg (both manual). For the petrol engine, that's a useful but not dramatic jump. The GTD has a headline figure just about 10mpg shy of the 1.6 I drove, so I'll give that a go in a while.