MK7 GTI vs M135i

[mk7gti]

Remember you will have run flat tyres on a M135i having worked in the tyre industry for a few years its never a good thing for the bank balance...

[Marcus007]

Only if you spec them on the M135i otherwise they come with normal tyres.

[AAddict]

Only if you spec them on the M135i otherwise they come with normal tyres.

+1, Michelin Pilot Supersports are standard.

[Bill_the_Bear]

Drive I had was on the Michelins and with no adaptive suspension, found it fine... Not sure what the car I'd buy has but could probably ask them to switch them, if they want the sale I'm sure they'd do it.

I suspect neither the GTI nor M needs the adaptive suspension now, ride should be fine on both.

[Snoopy]

The more I talk to normal people I find the GTI badge has little to no meening now. It did once but that was before the mk3 and mk4. It only has image with older people imo.
I know if i parked a 1 series in the car park outside work and parked a mk7 GTI next to it and asked the office staff which was the classier and more upmarket 99% would pick the BMW. When asked i bet i would get replys thats just a golf but thats a BMW.
Thats why cars like the 1series Audi A1, A3 exist. For people who are not car enthusiasts and won't know better.

[CraigW]

Clearly your office staff are not car enthusiasts either then

[monkeyhanger]

The more I talk to normal people I find the GTI badge has little to no meening now. It did once but that was before the mk3 and mk4. It only has image with older people imo.
I know if i parked a 1 series in the car park outside work and parked a mk7 GTI next to it and asked the office staff which was the classier and more upmarket 99% would pick the BMW. When asked i bet i would get replys thats just a golf but thats a BMW.
Thats why cars like the 1series Audi A1, A3 exist. For people who are not car enthusiasts and won't know better.

The GTI badge is more of a heritage thing. In MK1 and MK2 it meant you were in pretty much the best performing hot hatch out there, solidly built (putting it head and shoulders above the Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9). They did nowt with it in MK3, but the car got heavier and ugly. MK4 was a joke - huge upgrade on the main car for interior and exterior (for all Golfs), and for the GTI there were 3 engines available initially, including a truly wimpy 2.0 with 115PS. MK5 brought it nearly back up there in the power stakes, but since them the performance competition has peeled away and the GTI has become quite expensive. Only the comprehensive and geniunely useful standard equipment makes it stand out as a better buy than the A3 offerings now (looks aside). The badge now means a great all rounder and well equipped. It is a practical car with a bit of bite now. How many people here bought it for it's relative value for money as much as its performance figures.

A lot of people don't know the cost of a VW now. A colleague of mine who has a Mini Cooper asked me about my Scirocco, thinking that they'd like one as their next car. They thought a GT 170TDI cost £16k new, they were dumbfounded that it was a £24k car.

The GTI is a great car, but it is not the must-have that it once was. Most GTI fans are VW fans, but for the general public it doesn't stand out as the best hot hatch in an increasingly larger group of hot hatches on the market. Whenever I give a lift to someone who doesn't drive a German car, they seem quite taken aback how much better it feels than their Ford or Vauxhall for ride comfort/refinement and interior quality - many people out there don't know what the fuss is about as they've not driven one.

On the other hand, I don't think many people consider the 1 series to be a true BMW - it is built to a price, not a spec. It is definitely trading on its badge rather than its looks (i'm talking generally about the 1 series here, not specifically the M135i) - the BMW for people who can't afford a BMW. Away from the upper dashboard there are some woefully low rent meterials being used in the 1 series interior, hard/scratchy/brittle plastics - the money saving measures are there to be seen. The 3 and 5 series are rep mobiles now, having taken the Mondeos place. The BMW badge image has taken a battering over the last 5 years - you don't have to be very well off to own/run one.

[Snoopy]

Clearly your office staff are not car enthusiasts either then

Thats the point i was trying to make. They are all in their 20s and 30s or older women. They are pen pushing paper shufflers like 99% of the uk population. They have little interest in engineering or cars. Some of them maybe snobbish think there better tyan others and to them a badge meens everything. To say in this thead the golf is a higher class is incorrect. It maybe to an enthusiast but class is image. A BMW badge will always have more image than a VW badge.

GTI history I do know it as an enthusiast.
 Ive owned this mk1 GTI for 23 years and owned other Golf GTIs before and during that time.
Theres talk of VW quality its funny but ever since 2005 with the mk5  and 2010 with the mk6 ive actually been slightly embarrised when work colleges travel In my car as both cars have always had at least one rattle and lots of tyre noise. Ive spent probably weeks of my life on forums since 2005 telling others how to fix this or that rattle as many suffer them with the mk5 then the mk6 and probably days of my life fixing the rattles.  But when I get in work colleges fords or mazdas or citroens they are very quiet, refined and rattle free and often older cars than mine...
To also judge a cars quality on touchy feely plastics as an engineer I always find funny.
Thats not quality. Thats just a way of making journalists who have no idea of engineering because their just writers make people believe there better. Quality was always how well something was designed.
How well something was engineered. How well something is screwed together. How well something lasted in the environment it was designed to be used in. Material long lasting ability (touchy feely does not do well here look at the mk4s). VW materials dont now ware well over many years of use. Its a consumer white good replaced in a few years. Look at how the mk5 is suffering with rust and worn interior leather and cloth. Thats not quality.
Im not saying the bmw would be better it probably won't, but I do find it funny when people bleet on about vw quality when what they really meen is the interior has a touchy feely dash and materials and nothing more. What they often forget is maybe that money to pay for that was took from the engineering budget or something else...

[CraigW]

Clearly your office staff are not car enthusiasts either then

Thats the point i was trying to make. They are all in their 20s and 30s or older women. They are pen pushing paper shufflers like 99% of the uk population. They have little interest in engineering or cars. Some of them maybe snobbish think there better tyan others and to them a badge meens everything. To say in this thead the golf is a higher class is incorrect. It maybe to an enthusiast but class is image. A BMW badge will always have more image than a VW badge.

GTI history I do know it as an enthusiast.
 Ive owned this mk1 GTI for 23 years and owned other Golf GTIs before and during that time.
Theres talk of VW quality its funny but ever since 2005 with the mk5  and 2010 with the mk6 ive actually been slightly embarrised when work colleges travel In my car as both cars have always had at least one rattle and lots of tyre noise. Ive spent probably weeks of my life on forums since 2005 telling others how to fix this or that rattle as many suffer them with the mk5 then the mk6 and probably days of my life fixing the rattles.  But when I get in work colleges fords or mazdas or citroens they are very quiet, refined and rattle free and often older cars than mine...
To also judge a cars quality on touchy feely plastics as an engineer I always find funny.
Thats not quality. Thats just a way of making journalists who have no idea of engineering because their just writers make people believe there better. Quality was always how well something was designed.
How well something was engineered. How well something is screwed together. How well something lasted in the environment it was designed to be used in. Material long lasting ability (touchy feely does not do well here look at the mk4s). VW materials dont now ware well over many years of use. Its a consumer white good replaced in a few years. Look at how the mk5 is suffering with rust and worn interior leather and cloth. Thats not quality.
Im not saying the bmw would be better it probably won't, but I do find it funny when people bleet on about vw quality when what they really meen is the interior has a touchy feely dash and materials and nothing more. What they often forget is maybe that money to pay for that was took from the engineering budget or something else...

Snoopy with ten edits in the last 5mins I'd have thought you would have got your spelling right by now    only joking pal

[Poached]

The more I talk to normal people I find the GTI badge has little to no meening now. It did once but that was before the mk3 and mk4. It only has image with older people imo.
I know if i parked a 1 series in the car park outside work and parked a mk7 GTI next to it and asked the office staff which was the classier and more upmarket 99% would pick the BMW. When asked i bet i would get replys thats just a golf but thats a BMW.
Thats why cars like the 1series Audi A1, A3 exist. For people who are not car enthusiasts and won't know better.

The GTI badge is more of a heritage thing. In MK1 and MK2 it meant you were in pretty much the best performing hot hatch out there, solidly built (putting it head and shoulders above the Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9). They did nowt with it in MK3, but the car got heavier and ugly. MK4 was a joke - huge upgrade on the main car for interior and exterior (for all Golfs), and for the GTI there were 3 engines available initially, including a truly wimpy 2.0 with 115PS. MK5 brought it nearly back up there in the power stakes, but since them the performance competition has peeled away and the GTI has become quite expensive. Only the comprehensive and geniunely useful standard equipment makes it stand out as a better buy than the A3 offerings now (looks aside). The badge now means a great all rounder and well equipped. It is a practical car with a bit of bite now. How many people here bought it for it's relative value for money as much as its performance figures.

A lot of people don't know the cost of a VW now. A colleague of mine who has a Mini Cooper asked me about my Scirocco, thinking that they'd like one as their next car. They thought a GT 170TDI cost £16k new, they were dumbfounded that it was a £24k car.

The GTI is a great car, but it is not the must-have that it once was. Most GTI fans are VW fans, but for the general public it doesn't stand out as the best hot hatch in an increasingly larger group of hot hatches on the market. Whenever I give a lift to someone who doesn't drive a German car, they seem quite taken aback how much better it feels than their Ford or Vauxhall for ride comfort/refinement and interior quality - many people out there don't know what the fuss is about as they've not driven one.

On the other hand, I don't think many people consider the 1 series to be a true BMW - it is built to a price, not a spec. It is definitely trading on its badge rather than its looks (i'm talking generally about the 1 series here, not specifically the M135i) - the BMW for people who can't afford a BMW. Away from the upper dashboard there are some woefully low rent meterials being used in the 1 series interior, hard/scratchy/brittle plastics - the money saving measures are there to be seen. The 3 and 5 series are rep mobiles now, having taken the Mondeos place. The BMW badge image has taken a battering over the last 5 years - you don't have to be very well off to own/run one.

Good points here.

To buy a vehicle solely for a badge is a bit sad but I'm sure people do it... 'It must be reliable because it's a VW' or 'The brand is prestigious' like Bmw when in fact it's very common and many older Bmw's seem to be driven round by chavs.

Feels like some of these cars are built to last a lease period.