I guess it's time I dropped a thread in having been largely absent for a loooong time.
I still drop by daily to catch up on the goings on but rarely have any time to add any worthwhile input.
It's been a busy year, working long hours earlier in the year, kids going through exams, holiday, house move and the associated disasters therein, then sorting out the new house which takes ages.
So I'm sat here surveying the GTI parked up, covered in building site dust having not turned a wheel for over two weeks except to be rolled away from the garage to be washed and rolled back again.
It's easy to fall out of love with a car when you're not using it and as the months roll by as it heads towards its first birthday later this month I think it's only covered just over 3k miles.
However a few weeks ago a workmate hired a BMW 335D 4wd monster for a week that had only done a handful of miles. And what a beast! The acceleration at full chat was phenomenal for a smallish Diesel saloon, literally feeling like an aeroplane rolling up the runway ready for take off. Even a few laps around Castle Coombe a few years ago as a passenger in REVO's stage 2+ Leon Cupra being driven by a proper race driver didn't generate G-force like the BM did. However once it had to deal with a few twists and roundabouts it was soon clear that the 335 was no lithe hot hatch pretender. The 335D has its forte and is amazing at what it does munching up easy miles but it ain't a GTI replacement.
Fast forward a week or two and my friend had the keys back to his long suffering mk7 GTI company car which had been out and about with other staff members for a while. As it's a development vehicle for electronics we bolt on a DTUK box from time to time for a bit of fun and we took it for a quick blast on a Saturday afternoon and that reminded me of what a GTI is all about.
The torque of the mk7 is what sets it apart from my much loved mk6's but even with the FSR box it doesn't quite have that low end shove of the best remapped mk5's and mk6's off a roundabout or out of a tight bend. However I think the mk7 in general must be either higher geared or less responsive at very low revs despite the claimed factory 258lb ft torque peak at 1500 rpm.
In other respects the FSR is great and the pedal box accompaniment just as beneficial to driving enjoyment. I wonder whether some of the OBD remapped mk7's have a slightly better low end shove(?) but have to say the FSR is very very smooth and factory in its delivery and the torque is delivered in such a way as I doubt it would put any extra strain on the clutch unlike a few remapped cars I've owned in the past.
A couple of interesting snippets from that drive out the other Saturday, the FSR equipped GTI is easily a match for a mk7 R in give and take legal speed road driving (we found a willing participant!) and theres' no substitute for cubic inches as the 'Mericans say. An old Audi (I'm not into cars so don't have a clue about what Audi has what engine) which was quite long and probably around 10 to 15 years old judging by its shape (in the obligatory silver) had the jump on the modified GTI in the upper reaches of the rev range for sure. Still, the GTI didn't disgrace itself without really even trying, traction being the main issue (and lack of 350bhp!!!). All good clean fun and nothing irresponsible entered into.
I think the main question nowadays is where the GTI fits in. The GTD is a wonderful car, the thinking man's GTI for sure if you do any sort of significant mileage, and with the Sport and Sound package it looks and sounds the part too (the red callipers finish it off visually), and then there's the R - so closely priced to the GTI that it makes you wonder how VW sell many GTI's? Unless at a huge discount, but going by the prices of some nearly new GTI's up for sale second hand by VW dealers around the country there isn't that much discounting going on, with the nearly new ones up for more than broker bought new ones! The resale on the GTD is probably much better along with the R; and with a 'Trevor' a GTD will easily match a GTI on the road.
Monkeyhanger's finance calculations in the recent threads have fascinated me as to how affordable an R is to buy if you're using finance. It kind of really throws the questions of where the GTI fits in?
Still, as a used buy the GTI probably still offers an awful lot, and now it's available Stateside the modifications development will come in thick and fast and maybe that will address some of the issues of the gulf between the GTI and R.
In its previous guise the R had a slower spinning turbo and needed to be really driven hard to make it feel better than a modified GTI, but with the 7 having its torque peak only slightly higher than the GTIs 258 at 1500 (280 lb ft at 1800) it offers a whole different perspective. With the mk6 VW found it hard to shift the R and with the mk7 they're flying out the doors!
So, bearing in mind the R was still a distant dot on the horizon and VW's line was "if we import the mk7 R into the UK" as they reflected on the poor sales of the mk6 R when I put my order in, I'd have to ask myself if I was ordering again right now - which would I go for?
And the more I think about it the more I just don't know!
