Talk some sense into me...

[ffrank]

Exonian - where are you?

Sitting back with popcorn?

[Poached]

You wont be getting a radically different car, so other than the economy improvement there isn't much point.

[Exonian]

Perhaps this song might convince you to stick with the GTI:

Ode to the GTi by Sir Cliff Richard
Words adapted by am1w

When I was young my father said
"Son I have something to say",
And what he told me I'll never forget
Until my dyin' day.
He said, "Son you are a GTi boy,
And that's the way to stay,
Son, you be a GTi boy until your dyin' day".

When I was sixteen I fell in love
With a girl as sweet as could be.
But I remembered just in time
What my daddy said to me.
He said, "Son you are a GTi boy,
And that's the way to stay.
Son, you be a GTi boy until your dyin' day."

Those are the words I needed to hear! Thanks Asker!!! 

Exonian - where are you?

Sorry! Had a hellish few days working silly long hours but I'm here and admiring all the responses right now!

Well what can I say; thanks for all the opinions, advice, words of wisdom and most of all the p!ss taking (without which it just wouldn't be worth getting out of bed in the morning!)

I've taken a couple of cold showers now to calm my eagerness and thankfully being frantically busy at work has diluted my thoughts over the last few days.

In answer to various things put to me and in no particular order:


I don't owe anything on the GTI as I had a few coppers tucked down the back of the sofa so decided I'd put some of 'our' house moving fund to better use and bought the GTI before my darling wife cleaned out everything when we moved house.
The GTD would need a few grand throwing at it as my car is only worth about £19k now according to CAP despite having a very low mileage thanks to said house move meaning I hardly went anywhere this year and my other old runabout has been used as a mobile skip so had been doing all the mileage (probably hence why I needed a new battery at the grand age of 12 months).
My GTI is about 15 months old now so hardly an old rattler but with the 'new' GTD being pretty cheap for what it is I'd kind of hoped it would depreciate less in the next 12-18 months than my GTI and I'd probably also use it a lot more as to be honest my GTI has been an expensive and very dusty ornament lately.

The only options on the GTD is the poverty but still overpriced nav but my GTI was hardly specced to the hilt as I just put on it cheaper options aside from the PP to minimise depreciation - so RVC and 'miracle parking' are the only options aside from poverty nav.

And to Andy Wigit:  funnily enough as all of our work vehicles need the Diesel glove treatment and I still often use them for my petrol cars as the whole pump areas are often smeared with the yucky oily stuff. Ewwww! So I keep a load of Diesel gloves (borrowed from work) in my car as it is!
I'll whisper the next bit quietly Your R isn't quite standard and I wouldn't mind betting a standard one wouldn't set your world on fire! 


Anyway, keep the abuse coming everybody as I'm still thinking about it!

[wigit]

as it needed a service the R was flashed back to stock at the beginning of December, it corrupts in the way it goes about its business, actually not as shabby stock as i remember 

i thought you'd been looking for a pipe and slippers given you'd be trading in the driving loafers

[Exonian]

 

I'm very much in pipe and slippers mode these days and have given in to old age!

mind you when my dear friend and colleague took me out in his hired GTD DSG a few weeks ago and overtook three cars in a row it rather woke me up to the fact that the GTD has the power and torque right where you need it and kind of reminded me of the wise words a racing driver said to me as I sat cowering in the passenger seat of a 360bhp Cupra going round Castle Combe: "You just can't use this performance on the road and you're far better off in a quick Diesel as a road car"

[Mr Savage]

Sorry Exonian but you must have lost the plot.

Don't change your GTI for a GTD it makes no logical sense at all. I can understand the people who changed to the R (even though they took a massive hit in the pocket) I can understand people who changed for a BMW M135I or Audi S3.

GTD owners were all complaining about their MPG and combined with diesel being more expensive per litre than petrol it's a bit of a false economy.

You're losing the limited slip diff, higher revving, better sounding, faster car for a little bit of better economy and paying for it.

Don't do it.

How can it be false economy when you get nearly 20 miles per gallon more from a gtd than you do from a gti. I don't remember gtd people complaining about mpg's other than it didn't get what was claimed from vw but neither does the gti oh and the gti isn't any faster in real terms over the gtd. I've only done 10k in my gtd since September 13 and the only issue I've got is the size of the boot 

Because my average MPG is 35 and I drive with a lead foot and I have even managed 57MPG on a motorway run. (I have the pic to prove) Cracking 40MPG in the GTI is easily done without even trying on the motorway. Factor in that diesel is almost 10p more a litre and the difference isn't great. I know because I used to drive a diesel!

How is the GTI not faster than the GTD in real terms? They are both front wheel drive, the diesel is heavier and the GTI cracks it to 60 in 6.3 secs over the GTD doing it in 7.3 seconds due to being at a 50BHP disadvantage.

[monkeyhanger]

How is the GTI not faster than the GTD in real terms? They are both front wheel drive, the diesel is heavier and the GTI cracks it to 60 in 6.3 secs over the GTD doing it in 7.3 seconds due to being at a 50BHP disadvantage.

Some of that 1s disadvantage is due to being unable to put that power and torque down from standstill, add Quattro to an A3 with the same TDI engine and you lose 0.7s off the 0-62 time. That's not to say the GTI wouldn't gain on it's 0-62 time with 4WD traction, but I doubt it would gain as much. The in gear differences are less noticeable, but still there. The GTD is as quick in gear as the MK6 GTI in the higher gears, but not quite as quick as the MK7 (the extra torque it got has probably given it more edge than the 10ps increase). There's only around 20kg in it weight wise, i'd hardly consider it relevant when a PP adds 14Kg, DSG adds 16Kg and 5 doors adds 34kg - a 5 door DSG PP GTI can weigh 44Kg more than a 3 door GTD manual.

Pulling away quickly from a static start is where you'll see the clear advantage of the GTI, in gear differences not so much, and the GTDs in gear grunt is easier to access - you'll have to push the GTI harder to beat the GTD.

If I already had a perfectly fine GTI, i'd personally be reluctant to swap prematurely for a GTD, the additional depreciation hit of chopping in early will bit into those mpg savings and petrol is so cheap now.

[CraigW]

How is the GTI not faster than the GTD in real terms? They are both front wheel drive, the diesel is heavier and the GTI cracks it to 60 in 6.3 secs over the GTD doing it in 7.3 seconds due to being at a 50BHP disadvantage.

Some of that 1s disadvantage is due to being unable to put that power and torque down from standstill, add Quattro to an A3 with the same TDI engine and you lose 0.7s off the 0-62 time. That's not to say the GTI wouldn't gain on it's 0-62 time with 4WD traction, but I doubt it would gain as much. The in gear differences are less noticeable, but still there. The GTD is as quick in gear as the MK6 GTI in the higher gears, but not quite as quick as the MK7 (the extra torque it got has probably given it more edge than the 10ps increase). There's only around 20kg in it weight wise, i'd hardly consider it relevant when a PP adds 14Kg, DSG adds 16Kg and 5 doors adds 34kg - a 5 door DSG PP GTI can weigh 44Kg more than a 3 door GTD manual.

Pulling away quickly from a static start is where you'll see the clear advantage of the GTI, in gear differences not so much, and the GTDs in gear grunt is easier to access - you'll have to push the GTI harder to beat the GTD.

If I already had a perfectly fine GTI, i'd personally be reluctant to swap prematurely for a GTD, the additional depreciation hit of chopping in early will bit into those mpg savings and petrol is so cheap now.

Where do you get all these stats from? You must have far too much time on your hands. 

[monkeyhanger]

CraigW: Yes, I have lots of time on my hands. More stats on the German VW site than our own. 

[Exonian]

If I already had a perfectly fine GTI, i'd personally be reluctant to swap prematurely for a GTD, the additional depreciation hit of chopping in early will bit into those mpg savings and petrol is so cheap now.

Ahh, there's reluctant and there's dismissing it as lunacy!
If the GTD was coming with a £5k discount then that's an awful lot of the first year depreciation gobbled up so therefore there are quite a few costs to be balanced up and fuel economy isn't one of the main ones. The fuel economy advantage for me would be gobbled up quickly as I do a lowish annual mileage and therefore the first service would wipe that out as my GTI is on a service plan.
There are other factors to consider such as general lower running costs, potentially better resale value, and insurance, additional tank range and the fact I quite like quick TDI's once they've been fettled with a little (the power spread is in the right rev band for road use without thrashing the car - I'm not a 0-60 sprinter).
So a lowish cost GTD kept for a shortish time is being factored into more long term plans...

It was just a thought, going from an unplanned conversation with a guy in a suit with not too much to do at the time...