Golf R... Why buy a Golf GTI?

[mjh_056]

^Just goes to show how mpg can vary so much on driving style, length of journey and how the car was run in.

The R is noticeably more economical on RON99 (Shell/Tesco) than RON97 (Esso/BP) - not sure if fuel brand choice makes much of a difference to a GTI being ran on standard RON95 from wherever.

Think the overall thought to keep is the lower the mileage the lower the impact regardless of the MPG differential.

If everything stays as is for next 3 years personally think be doing 7k less miles than previous 3 years and so my overall fuel spend on the R should not be much more than the GTD which with the higher diesel cost and short journeys is only giving me 42MPG

Its going to be an interesting experiment to see exactly how much difference the mileage makes from the GTD to the R as it will be a pretty equal test as doubt driving pattern and style will change at all.

The style is cruise on Motorways, sometimes in ECO and just go with the flow on town and A road traffic, and push it on the roads where can and which are well known to me locally ... The one difference will be that getting away into a gap will be immediate and without the small tramp and minor 'lag' as power kicks in. (maybe even more economical!)

If that now 43 MPG comes in at anywhere near 32MPG then be very happy.

[GTD1414]

What's the real world mpg of a gti on a long run. Mid 40s?? I struggled sometimes in the gtd to get 45 on a run before and my long term was about 39 to 41. I know if I go gti it's not about mpgs but it's all part of the package. If I can at least match or better the Tiguan then I would be happy.

If you drive like a nun you might see early 40s Chris. The R (and GTI, carrying a little less weight) are most economical sat at 30-50mph, purring along in 5th or 6th gear at 1500 -2000rpm not under load. That makes their mpg penalty less noticeable vs the GTD in city traffic, when the GTD's high gearing makes it difficult to be sat in 6th gear often.

When you get up to motorway speeds though, that lower gearing makes the GTI and R much thirstier than the GTD - doing a constant 80mph on the motorway, you'll be lucky to average 32mpg in the R or 35mpg in the GTI. The mpg difference between the R and the GTI is pretty small, it's only lugging 8% extra weight in the haldex which will behaving like a 2WD when not pressing on - about half the extra fueling costs of the R come from having to shell out at least 5p per litre more for the premium stuff.

Today I had a steady drive, quick but with no real opportunities to put my foot down apart from a 5 mile stretch of Newcastle's central motorway and my 20 mile commute saw me get 37.1mpg (indicated) and i'm averaging 34.2mpg for my tank on Tesco Momentum (despite driving with a bit of a mean streak on my way home last night).

You do get less mpg drop-off in the winter vs the GTD, diesels are much thirstier in the winter (for the combustion temp of the diesel, warm air loaded with moisture makes a far bigger difference to the mpg than it does for the petrol).

Stay light on the options Chris - that's what's really pushing your monthlies up when you change every 2 years.

My 'long-term' mpg reset itself at the start of the week. Does anyone know how it does is? It was an average over about 4-5k miles once? Circa 41-43mpg.

Anyway, I've only been travelling from home to my office and little short journeys this week, 20min 15mile journey, in traffic, and my 'long term' over 221 miles is 37.4mpg. Shows where the GTD struggles.

[mcmaddy]

Just some loose figures but a gti will cost me about 40 to 50 quid a month more to run on fuel, tax and payments etc. Is it that much better than a gtd? I've got a 15 mile round trip to work and after factoring in fuel costs which are nearly the same up here it comes to about the figures above.

[CraigW]

Just some loose figures but a gti will cost me about 40 to 50 quid a month more to run on fuel, tax and payments etc. Is it that much better than a gtd? I've got a 15 mile round trip to work and after factoring in fuel costs which are nearly the same up here it comes to about the figures above.

Only you know your financial position. If your worried about the cost go for the GTD. If not then go for the GTI, its that simple

[fredgroves]

Something else I forgot to mention for all you BIK'ers like me.... HMRC are proposing to introduce new rules for any salary sacrifice schemes (that's where you pay for a car lease from your gross pay) from April 2017.

Under this new proposal, if the BIK tax you pay is not as much as you would have paid in income tax and NI on the lease payments, then you have to pay the balance in tax...

Which basically means if you have done what I did and chosen a low CO2 polluting car for maximum tax efficiency (which is the way they encourage you not to pollute) then you will be penalized.

 If you've not given a crap about the environment (or your pocket), then you won't.

Clearly there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle, but its going to take a lot of spreadsheet work to find it I think!

All of my coworkers with their PHEV junk though will be cursing.

Its not clear yet whether HMRC will allow a grandfather clause though (ie stitching up people mid lease who had no idea this was coming when they engaged in the transaction) but I'd doubt they will be able to figure that out or even give a crap.

Looks more likely now that I'll ditch the oil burner or plans for a hybrid and just personally lease a GTI, probably with DSG now I don't care about the emissions.

I can see a long old weekend with spreadsheets coming up...

[JoeGTI]

The biggest cost of car ownership by far is depreciation, especially when chopping and changing every couple of years. A few mpg either way is a drop in the ocean in comparison.

[mjh_056]

What's the real world mpg of a gti on a long run. Mid 40s?? I struggled sometimes in the gtd to get 45 on a run before and my long term was about 39 to 41. I know if I go gti it's not about mpgs but it's all part of the package. If I can at least match or better the Tiguan then I would be happy.

If you drive like a nun you might see early 40s Chris. The R (and GTI, carrying a little less weight) are most economical sat at 30-50mph, purring along in 5th or 6th gear at 1500 -2000rpm not under load. That makes their mpg penalty less noticeable vs the GTD in city traffic, when the GTD's high gearing makes it difficult to be sat in 6th gear often.

When you get up to motorway speeds though, that lower gearing makes the GTI and R much thirstier than the GTD - doing a constant 80mph on the motorway, you'll be lucky to average 32mpg in the R or 35mpg in the GTI. The mpg difference between the R and the GTI is pretty small, it's only lugging 8% extra weight in the haldex which will behaving like a 2WD when not pressing on - about half the extra fueling costs of the R come from having to shell out at least 5p per litre more for the premium stuff.

Today I had a steady drive, quick but with no real opportunities to put my foot down apart from a 5 mile stretch of Newcastle's central motorway and my 20 mile commute saw me get 37.1mpg (indicated) and i'm averaging 34.2mpg for my tank on Tesco Momentum (despite driving with a bit of a mean streak on my way home last night).

You do get less mpg drop-off in the winter vs the GTD, diesels are much thirstier in the winter (for the combustion temp of the diesel, warm air loaded with moisture makes a far bigger difference to the mpg than it does for the petrol).

Stay light on the options Chris - that's what's really pushing your monthlies up when you change every 2 years.

My 'long-term' mpg reset itself at the start of the week. Does anyone know how it does is? It was an average over about 4-5k miles once? Circa 41-43mpg.

Anyway, I've only been travelling from home to my office and little short journeys this week, 20min 15mile journey, in traffic, and my 'long term' over 221 miles is 37.4mpg. Shows where the GTD struggles.

Them figures sound about right for that type of journey as its become more and more my journey and only a couple of long runs have taken that figure over 40 long term, and so if get around 30- 32 MPG on that same 221 miles journey it will definitely demonstrate how much gap closes to petrol from diesel.

Think my experience will give a really good comparison as month by month the type of driving will be very similar and will report back on how doing.

[mjh_056]

The biggest cost of car ownership by far is depreciation, especially when chopping and changing every couple of years. A few mpg either way is a drop in the ocean in comparison.

Biggest reason that pulled the trigger in the end, as do not own the car, if lost job its handed back, no insurance cost and so it was down to running cost alone and the extra may equate to a couple of Costa for two a month, the wife will have to have one less

So while earning can readily pay for pleasure and if for any reason was not, not lumbered with car cannot afford.

Its a whole new ball game if you having to calculate the depreciation and pretty sure would have come out of the process with something completely different in car and spec and been looking at something for 5 years.

[Sootchucker]

As you know Chris, when I changed my 2013 GTD earlier this year, I'd actually ordered a GTI. Don't get me wrong, despite what the diesel haters on here will have you believe ( ) it's a superb package, great economy for the performance on offer, not really that much slower in the real world than a GTI (except the traffic light grand prix), but I think the best looking of the performance Golf's (no red accents on the lights and interior), and a better front end than the R (personal opinion before all you R owners shoot me) - but then you know all this as you had one.

No I wanted a GTI as I'd had 3 diesels on the row and whilst all brilliant, there's just something about a performance petrol engine experience that the diesel doesn't offer (I'm not talking about performance,  but rather the feeling it gives you). As it happened, my job changed slightly which means around 20-25k miles per year rather than the 7-8k miles I was doing, so in the end, I opted or a new 2016 GTD. TBH, I'm delighted with it as it's 10% better all round than my 2013 model. To give you an idea, I haven't been traveling much at all really and just from work to home and back, due to losing my father in law, then my mother within weeks recently. For my pottering to work and back though usual town traffic etc, with little motorway work, I've averaged 47.1 and 48.6 over the last two tanks. When I took the new car down to Swansea in May 2 weeks after getting it (with only 300 miles on it), I averaged 60.3 overall for the 465 mile round trip (calculated with brim to brim fill) - and that's DSG as well.

I still think if my mileage was as small as yours is I'd be running a GTI as the fuel saving over a GTD wouldn't be too bad. As for the "R", well yes, technically it's the best of the bunch, the fastest, best handling etc (and with some unique colors), but I don't think they look as nice as the GTI/GTD, and around my parts are as common as muck. In terms of frequency, near me, it's R then GTD then only a few GTI's, so that makes the GTI quite exclusive and another good reason to own one.

[mcmaddy]

Hi Andrew I text you this morning but not sure if you've changed your number. Chris