« Reply #1 on: 17 February 2014, 15:13 »
Just sat and read this myself.
All stuff most of us have considered at some point.
Neil asked for readers experiences and it will be interesting to see what people think on here.
My personal view was the GTI was only purchased by me because of the VAQ diff with a thought on future modifications and how previous remapped cars have struggled with understeer and torque steer at times, not to mention wheel spin.
I'd have happily kept my much loved mk6 GTI otherwise as it was all paid for and a fabulous all rounder with the spec it had.
Everyone on here will have a different reason for their purchase and different financial reasons.
I'm old fashioned and pay for my car with hard cash as this also puts me in the position that I can modify my car without having to read the small print on the insurance (company car schemes for example), PCP, GAP, Lease or whatever. I'm probably very much in the minority.
So the GTI was the only one with the option of the VAQ diff.
My question now is whether the GTI is going to become a much slower seller as the GTD will very much be bought with the head, is just as good to drive and will have excellent resale value - now thrown into the mix the fact that the R is not that much more expensive than the GTI considering the difference in power, all wheel drive and various other aspects that a performance car driver will look at.
So, VW throw a lot of money at the development of the VAQ diff then release an R with 300PS to the baying public who generally look at monthly payments rather than purchase price at not a huge difference in £££££
So, if I were in the same position now as i was 12 months ago what would I do?
Cupra? Very possibly
R? Hmmmm, maybe
GTI? Less likely
GTD? with sound pack option its quite a credible alternative assuming I could be arsed to swap from my much loved mk6 GTI, most of the benefits of the mk7 GTI sans PP VAQ diff...
Logged
‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
