Just back from test driving R and Gti PP

[mcmaddy]

Been out this morning to test drive an R and a Gti PP. Must say I was quite disappointed with the gti. The ride felt very very choppy against the R and they both had 19" wheels on. R felt a lot smoother to drive than the gti and the gti felt a bit wheezy which I suppose it would considering its 70bhp down on the R. The biggest surprise was that on exactly the same test route I got 33mpg out of the R and 30 out of the gti!! I've now got an even bigger dilemma than I had before I went 

[monkeyhanger]

Chris - what was the spec of each? Both manual? Both DSG? One DSG one manual?

The mpg differences could be likely with a manual R vs a DSG GTI.

Did they both have (or not have) DCC? I find my R's ride (on Prets) a little harsh crawling around in traffic, but really smooth above 20mph, without DCC. Ride differences could also be down to the rubber each had and tyre pressure differences - Bridgestones that came with my R were very much harder on the ride than the Michelin PSS that replaced them.

Did you get the opportunity to give it some welly? Assumiing you went to Lookers Silverlink, all those poxy average speed cameras that have cropped up around the Silverlink roundabout in all 4 directions might not have given you much of a chance to stretch the car's legs if it was just a short test drive.

My mobile is dead at the moment - needs a charge, so will not have seen any messages you might've said on the subject.

[Booth11]

Been out this morning to test drive an R and a Gti PP. Must say I was quite disappointed with the gti. The ride felt very very choppy against the R and they both had 19" wheels on. R felt a lot smoother to drive than the gti and the gti felt a bit wheezy which I suppose it would considering its 70bhp down on the R. The biggest surprise was that on exactly the same test route I got 33mpg out of the R and 30 out of the gti!! I've now got an even bigger dilemma than I had before I went 

I would say you now have much less of dilemma than before. 

[kalimon]

Been out this morning to test drive an R and a Gti PP. Must say I was quite disappointed with the gti. The ride felt very very choppy against the R and they both had 19" wheels on. R felt a lot smoother to drive than the gti and the gti felt a bit wheezy which I suppose it would considering its 70bhp down on the R. The biggest surprise was that on exactly the same test route I got 33mpg out of the R and 30 out of the gti!! I've now got an even bigger dilemma than I had before I went 

I would say you now have much less of dilemma than before. 

Agreed. Just get the R and stop messing about.
If I wanted a GTI,  I wouldn't test drive an R

[Booth11]

Been out this morning to test drive an R and a Gti PP. Must say I was quite disappointed with the gti. The ride felt very very choppy against the R and they both had 19" wheels on. R felt a lot smoother to drive than the gti and the gti felt a bit wheezy which I suppose it would considering its 70bhp down on the R. The biggest surprise was that on exactly the same test route I got 33mpg out of the R and 30 out of the gti!! I've now got an even bigger dilemma than I had before I went 

I would say you now have much less of dilemma than before. 

Agreed. Just get the R and stop messing about.
If I wanted a GTI,  I wouldn't test drive an R

Well said kalimon.

[mcmaddy]

Both were manual and neither had dcc. The R had continentals and the gti had pirellis. Looks like I might be getting an R with 19s 

[JoeGTI]

I think the GTI's 19" tyre has a different size than the R's 19. The GTI tyre is narrower and has a slightly lower profile as a result. That might explain the choppier ride. Plus the R carries a bit more weight and generally feels much more planted on the road imo.

[mcmaddy]

I thought the tyres were exactly the same but could it be the width of the rim too?

[Hawaii-Five-O]

Been out this morning to test drive an R and a Gti PP. Must say I was quite disappointed with the gti. The ride felt very very choppy against the R and they both had 19" wheels on. R felt a lot smoother to drive than the gti and the gti felt a bit wheezy which I suppose it would considering its 70bhp down on the R. The biggest surprise was that on exactly the same test route I got 33mpg out of the R and 30 out of the gti!! I've now got an even bigger dilemma than I had before I went 

Mcmaddy - have you considered anything else? Non VW I mean. I've just ordered a BMW M140i. Utterly blew me away. The straight six is like silk. Also does around 33 mpg. Fancy a change away from VW for a bit. I've been quite loyal 

[JoeGTI]

I thought the tyres were exactly the same but could it be the width of the rim too?

The GTI tyre is 10mm narrower with the same % profile, so it does have a lower profile than the R tyre. It's an unusual size afaik, so it could well be more costly to replace the GTI tyres.