My GTD soon departs after a happy two years, is it time to get a Golf R ? R mpg?

[Exonian]

I agree MonkeyH, the GTD does struggle to get its power down on a hard throttle standing start and even worse in wet. I guess the R just leaves the line with no fuss.

My main concern with the R is people saying they get about 20mpg or less, but no one has shouted that out, so sounds another reason to get one.

I see the GTD/GTI now gets sat nav, keyless and heated seats as std, yet the top of the range R still needs all that added as options.

Am I right in saying the R also has no front fogs? Not a major issue, or are they in the headlight units somewhere?

Mine's averaging about 29mpg on the computer.
It'll drop to about 27 or 28 over the winter, if not less.
On a decent run it'll do mid 30's and round town about 24-25. The R turbo set up doesn't like town driving as far as economy is concerned but it spools quite well from under 2000rpm which is good. Not that it matters if you have DSG.

The lack of front fogs are a bit of a pain in the butt if you drive on dark and winding roads with no other traffic about (like I do) but the xenons do a good job on their own and when in such use I have them set so the cornering lights come on as much as possible.

Nobody much bought GTI's for a while as the cost difference between it and an R was too close so VW upped the UK spec on the GTI to make it better value for money.
The R as a standard car is something you're paying a pretty much good value for money bang for your buck 300bhp 4wd family hatchback. The 300bhp and 4wd are where your money is going - it's quite easy to make it into an expensive car by loading it with options.
Mind you it's quite easy to make a Golf GT or whatever an expensive car if you hit the options, only you will know how much you value the options versus what you either can or wish to spend.

[AdmiralGant]

Yes, I am now thinking GTI but prepared to go the whole hog and head to the R. Just need to weigh a few things up and helpful to know about rough mpg.

Agree Hawaii-FiveO, my mpg on the GTD is rubbish. It seems to be the short runs that hit it, did a gentle run to the supermarket last week, 8 miles round trip and it returned 36mpg!! To railway station in the mornings about 12 miles, it does about 45mpg, best I have seen is 300 miles to Devon and Yorkshire where it did actually hit 50mpg.

My last vehicle, a BMW 325d Auto on a 10 plate did 37.1mpg over 3 years, much bigger 6 pot engine, old torque converter box and bigger car, so either that was amazing or the Golf is poor.

So does a R only run on super unleaded fuel ? 

[matchboy]

I take every opportunity I can to nail it in Sport and Race, and drive it hard.  And when I can't due to traffice, its in D and Race.  I usually get 27-28 in mixed driving on a daily basis - so you'll easily get over 25.  On a long journey (motorway) I can get 34 odd.

[Booth11]

So does a R only run on super unleaded fuel ? 

The R is optimised to run on 98/99RON but I know in Ireland that fuel is not available and the Irish R owners seem happy enough with the performance of their R's on 95RON.  I do always use 99 in mine though, Shell V Power and used it in my last GTI even though that was meant to be run on 95RON. I definitely felt a difference between the two fuels, with the engine being noticeably smoother on 99. Don't think there's much benefit mpg wise though.

[fredgroves]

So you were dissapointed with the GTD's fuel economy, so the answer is to buy something with roughly half the fuel economy that needs to run on more expensive super unleaded.

LOL

These sort of things make me laugh on here too much.

Why not ask the question, "So I want to buy a sexxxxy R because its sexxxxy, anyone got any reason not to? (la-la-la-la i can't hear you, anyway its too late I've had a test drive and paid my deposit)"

I reckon those 12 miles to the station each day will be approximately 5 seconds shorter. Make sure you've figured out how you are going to use them ;-)

Full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes!

[CraigW]

These sort of things make me laugh on here too much.

Why not ask the question, "So I want to buy a sexxxxy R because its sexxxxy, anyone got any reason not to? (la-la-la-la i can't hear you, anyway its too late I've had a test drive and paid my deposit)"

  . So true. I don't know why people bother asking when they've clearly made their mind up already.

[monkeyhanger]

I agree MonkeyH, the GTD does struggle to get its power down on a hard throttle standing start and even worse in wet. I guess the R just leaves the line with no fuss.

My main concern with the R is people saying they get about 20mpg or less, but no one has shouted that out, so sounds another reason to get one.

I see the GTD/GTI now gets sat nav, keyless and heated seats as std, yet the top of the range R still needs all that added as options.

Am I right in saying the R also has no front fogs? Not a major issue, or are they in the headlight units somewhere?

My 20 mile commute was a delight today with the half-term lull in traffic. Not much chance to put my foot down on the way there, but when I could I did and the car did an indicated 34mpg.

On the way home there was plenty of opportunity to put my foot down and I really took advantage, but still got a respectable 31mpg. If you get stuck in slow (but moving) heavy traffic regularly, the R is more forgiving than the GTD - the lower gearing really lends itself to city traffic, on the flat the R is happy maintaining 40mph in 6th.

I doubt you'll regret getting an R but if the poor traction of your GTD annoys, you might not be completely leave it behind if you get a GTI unless it comes with Contis.

Lack of fogs is no issue - i've had reason to use my fogs by the letter of the law about 4 times in 5 years.

[Exonian]

These sort of things make me laugh on here too much.

Why not ask the question, "So I want to buy a sexxxxy R because its sexxxxy, anyone got any reason not to? (la-la-la-la i can't hear you, anyway its too late I've had a test drive and paid my deposit)"

  . So true. I don't know why people bother asking when they've clearly made their mind up already.

It's a coming to terms with it thing.

"I've just taken the mad decision to buy an almost identical car that has a bit more power and a bit worse looks; please can someone talk me out of watching another ten grand vanish overnight as I really should be old enough and sensible enough not to be thinking like this..."

[Booth11]

These sort of things make me laugh on here too much.

Why not ask the question, "So I want to buy a sexxxxy R because its sexxxxy, anyone got any reason not to? (la-la-la-la i can't hear you, anyway its too late I've had a test drive and paid my deposit)"

  . So true. I don't know why people bother asking when they've clearly made their mind up already.

It's a coming to terms with it thing.

"I've just taken the mad decision to buy an almost identical car that has a bit more power and a bit worse looks; please can someone talk me out of watching another ten grand vanish overnight as I really should be old enough and sensible enough not to be thinking like this..."

Have you come to terms with it yet Mr Ex? 

[Exonian]

I'm still in denial.