Test drives (sorry if it's a bit long)

[Ikura]

Hi All, new heere but I have been lurking for a while so please bear with me.
We went to Peter Cooper Portsmouth this morning to test drive the GTD DSG and GTi DSG.
We already have a GTD manual, on lease which is due to go back in November so we are looking at a replacement.
We also have a Tiguan TDi DSG that is going to the in-laws next week and they are then buying it when the lease period is up in December.
We love the GTD but having had the Tiguan we really have fallen for the DSG box, but don't like the Tiguan much. It's the 150 TDi SE Nav and it's like driving a box. It rolls like it's floating on water and just doesn't feel very sure footed, especially around winding country roads. The GTD copes with everything we have thrown at it in nearly 3 years and we would have liked to replace it with another one on lease, but at 33 week delivery we will have to hand our GTD back well before that so we are in a bit of a pickle.
We did wonder if the GTi would have been a good replacement but to be honest neither of us were that taken with it. I thought it would have been similar but quicker than the GTD but it just didn't feel as nice.
The GTD DSG we drove is only 6 months old with under 3000 miles on it but the wheels have had a fair few kerbings and the whole car just looks like it hasn't been looked after. It's also not cheap.
I guess I'm looking for some kind of answer here but realise that might not be possible.
Any thoughts anyone has will be appreciated, even if it's bug83r off, especially as this is a GTi forum.
Many thanks.

[mcmaddy]

Not sure why the GTi didn't feel as nice but I've gone from gtd to r line Tiguan to GTi and I can safely say the the GTi is the best of them all. You could maybe try test driving a different GTi to see if it's just the one you've given. When I test drove both the GTi and R the first GTi I tried was awful, the drive was terrible but I drove another one and it was completely different.

[davyk31]

We went manual GTD to DSG GTI and it’s a much nicer car. Great smooth quiet power delivery. Only thing the gtd does better is fuel economy but at an extra few hundred quid a year on petrol it’s well worth it.

[Guzzle]

Have you spoken to the lease company?

VWFS allowed me to keep my Octavia an extra 6 months while I sorted my replacement GTD. They will try and help a loyal customer rather than lose your business.

[mcmaddy]

As Guzzle has said if you remain with VW finance they will nominally extend your current lease for as long as your new car takes to come. All you would need to do is provide an order number to vwfs to prove you've ordered a replacement. Work colleague has done just this.

[Exonian]

You probably just noticed that lack of TDI kick driving the GTI.
Everyone’s opinion of a car will differ so it’s whst suits you, and if the GTD DSG felt right to you, and you’ve certainly had enough experience of a GTD to know whether you like it or not, then just go for it.

A car is an expensive item so think long and hard to committing to something for a few years. Test drive a few more, both GTI and GTD, there’s no shortage of dealers around.

 It’s very much a personal choice and there are plenty on here who have owned both (myself included).

Just don’t buy the ratty example you test drove!

[Dunc245]

Hi Ikura,

I recently bought a GTI using the CarWow site. That gets you offers from dealers and they are good prices too. When you get the offers through to your 'showroom' page, there is also a section on cars available in 2 weeks. That shows you where dealers have one in, or about to arrive in, stock. I lucked out and found what I wanted already on site at a local dealer. 

The whole buying process is done with the dealer just as if you'd walked in the door, but most of the haggling has effectively been done for you (they undercut each other where they can on the CarWowsite), and the VW PCP deals etc are all there to use. You may not get the exact spec you want, but it's one way of getting a GTI/GTD without the 5 months plus lead time etc. May be worth a look?

[Ikura]

Many thanks guys. I guess we have been spoiled by having a nearly exclusive run of diesel Golf's. Our first was a silver Mk4 GT TDi which did 104,000 before I bought a Mk5 GT TDi. We then sold the Mk4 at 144,000 and Caroline bought a Mk6, which I hated driving and much preferred the Mk5. We let the Mk5 go at 124,000 and couldn't get shot of the Mk6 quick enough. It was just not a good car and couldn't keep up with the Mk5 in corners. It never really felt all that safe.

We then leased a Mk7 GTD, and 2 years later we leased another Mk7 GTD, which is the car we are still using. It seems like the GTD is just a car that was designed for us and the way we drive, which is pretty normal motoring with the odd few miles of bat crazy speed when the roads are clear, and the mood takes us.

We will do as you suggest and test drive a couple more GTi's and see where we get to. If we could pick up another lease deal on a GTD I reckon we would jump for it but maybe the time is right to buy a car rather than leasing.

We are nervous as to where this media driven diesel hatred will end up though. It is ridiculous and completely wrong thinking and is going to lead to some pretty expensive blind alleys for a lot of motoring companies.

I really appreciate your input very much.
 

[Exonian]

That’s the crunch question, whether to actually buy a Diesel right now!
If you’re going to keep it many years then it won’t matter, you can pick up GTD’s with huge discounts, often new and in stock ones or delivery miles with big savings if you can’t wait for a build slot.

If you can get another cheapish lease on a GTD that would make life easy. It’d take the gamble of resale value and government policies out of the equation and also it would bring you smack bang into mk8 production when the lease ends.
At that point you could decide whether there’s a model in the new range that fitted the bill and I’m sure most of the performance mk8’s will be DSG and quite likely electrically assisted.

Definitely try a GTI over a longer period of time, maybe hire one for a few days if you can’t get a test drive long enough. They’re very good on fuel, very responsive and have an almost Diesel like power delivery.

[BobbyT]

You should test drive the R too