Gti Reviews

[ub7rm]

Pretty much consistent with every other review, great mechanical, iffy looks and retrograde interface. 

[Exonian]

https://apple.news/AgO5L9uU4Sw2CrvobobGqQA

Clarkson review of GTI in Sunday times today. Guess the link is only useful if you have apple news on phone/iPad but it’s interesting.

That was actually bang on by Clarkson.
Good find

And here's the mega mega hot hatch group test

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/comparison/2020/hot-hatch-megatest/

If you look carefully they do mention the gti.

There are some other interesting angles in that article that contradict what everyone else says...the S3 is apparently great for example.

That test is a bit bizarre, presumably it's down to the exact mix of cars they could test at a given time. Why test the m135i against things like the gti and the focus for example.

Just read this article fully. It is interesting!
Hugely diverse bunch of cars, and no clear definition of what makes " the best hot hatch".
To me, that was always- fun, practical, comfortable, cheap.
There's a £56k motor car in this group- that was supercar money not too long ago.
It's also becoming pretty clear to me that there is a complete lack of objectivity from the motoring press in relation to the GRY. There's something a bit like groupthink going on here.
I think it'll win every group test going from now and forever more- because of the engineering, the backstory, and it's ability.
And as a result- from when the first reviews came out in November- lead time has leapt up from a few weeks to several months.
I drove it this week to find out-
1. Is it a good car for daily use.
2. Is it fun to drive on the road.

Answer to both questions, in my view, is "no". I would say it's a poor hot hatch
There's hardly any mention of the turbo lag- you'll never complain about the throttle mapping in a golf after driving one of these. ( In all honesty I was slightly disorientated when I got back in my golf- I had to check I wasn't in my 205 !)
The fake noise is terrible. I thought my 6 year old was in the back screaming "brrrm brrrrrr".
Pi55 poor. At least in the golf you can virtually turn it off.
And did I have fun driving it? No.
It's a monster of a car. Frightening rather than fun.
You don't need to slow down for anything and there's a complete lack of engagement as a result.
I'd be as quick as Tommi Makinen driving one of these on the public road, because how fast you go has nothing to do with ability and more to do with how antisocial you are. In fact I suspect, the usual asbo types would be considerably quicker than Makinen.
If you leave aside the fact that it is too capable to enjoy on most public roads, it's a car that can't really be enjoyed at lower speeds- and that's the biggest issue for me. It's got some nice weight to it's controls but just doesn't have the feel of the best drivers cars- certainly not at road speeds.

On the other hand, half way down this article, the golf is described as " a deeply talented hot hatch" . "It would be bothering the podium if we were looking for the most all round capable hot hatch". Well what are you looking for if not that???
I'm no VW fanboy- I've only ever owned 1- but I wouldn't hesitate to buy the mk8 if I was in the market now. Reading between the lines of some of this nonsense, it's still the best.
And I think there will be many people offloading their GRYs a year or so from now- yeah some will use on track, some have access to some great roads. Most won't.

That was really interesting to read, especially about your thoughts on the GRY.

[Snoopy]

A problem i have with the current mk8 GTI apart from that interior is simply its performance hasn't really moved on since 2005. It maybe 45bhp more powerful but the added size and weight negates that gain. Humdrum family cars and basic rep spec diesel saloon cars have moved on and are as quick and often quicker nowadays. Some even more engaging than a GTI.
I feel the basic GTI mk8 is the mk3 2.0 8v and mk4 2.0 GTI of its time. Good reviews now when new but will not be remembered well. More a badge exercise and really shouldn't exist except for keeping the marketing department happy. The GTI range imo should start with the clubsport at least and be available as a manual not just an auto. I shouldn't really be suprised the VR/R range has strangled the GTI since they were introduced. I so want to like the 8 as a GTI enthusiast whos owned and had the use of many GTIs over the past 30yrs.

[clarky92]

A problem i have with the current mk8 GTI apart from that interior is simply its performance hasn't really moved on since 2005. It maybe 45bhp more powerful but the added size and weight negates that gain. Humdrum family cars and basic rep spec diesel saloon cars have moved on and are as quick and often quicker nowadays. Some even more engaging than a GTI.
I feel the basic GTI mk8 is the mk3 2.0 8v and mk4 2.0 GTI of its time. Good reviews now when new but will not be remembered well. More a badge exercise and really shouldn't exist except for keeping the marketing department happy. The GTI range imo should start with the clubsport at least and be available as a manual not just an auto. I shouldn't really be suprised the VR/R range has strangled the GTI since they were introduced. I so want to like the 8 as a GTI enthusiast whos owned and had the use of many GTIs over the past 30yrs.

Agreed. The 8 Clubsport should be the base GTI in terms of performance. I've been over it a few times, I cannot see why someone would move from a 7.5 GTI PP to a 8 GTI. Unless its purely because you want a new car, I think its actually a slight downgrade, your giving up the 7.5 PP brakes for one.

[fredgroves]

I don't think the GTI even from early days was ever the highest performer out there. It was the highest performing Golf, but it was still a Golf. There were more powerful similar things always.

The R's pushed that limit a bit more, but the GTI was always a sort of 2 litre warmed up engine, not either the exotic engines of the R series and then the highly tuned 2 litre of the more recent R's.

I think the outlier is actually the trend for clubby/TCR to start to push something with a GTI badge to nearer the R.

You also have to remember the drive for less emissions. The remarkable thing is more that they've managed to sustain the power output in face of emmissions reduction targets.

The Mk5 DSG was 189g/km for 197bhp in 1327kg
The Mk8 DSG is  168g/km for 245bhp - and that CO2 figure is WLTP not NEDC and we know WLTP is significantly higher numbers - in 1463kg

I compare the Mk5 as it was quite a while ago, but the first of the second half of GTI history.

If VW sold only a 300 bhp Golf GTI it would be very damaging to their CO2 figures. They sell millions of GTI's every year, most people wanting the badge and the trim level more than whether its the fastest car on the market. If people only bought a GTI because it was the fastest, they'd never sell any... not now, not in the Mk7.

[Guzzle]

Golf Mk5 GTi manual (3dr) 17 inch wheels
Max Power 200ps at 5100 rpm
Max torque 280nm at 1800 to 5000 rpm
Unladen weight 1328kg
0-62mph 7.2 seconds
Combined mpg 35.3 (old test regime)
CO2 g/km 189

Golf Mk5 GTi Ed30 manual (3dr) 18 inch wheels
Max Power 230ps at 5500 rpm
Max torque 300nm at 2200 to 5200 rpm
Unladen weight 1358kg
0-62mph 6.8 seconds
Combined mpg 34.4 (old test regime)
CO2 g/km 194

Golf Mk8 GTi manual (5dr) 18 inch wheels
Max Power 245ps
Max torque 370 nm at 1600 - 4300 rpm
Unladen weight 1429kg
0-62mph 6.4 seconds
Combined mpg 38 (wltp)
CO2 g/km 169

I'd say that's progress. As Fred says, a Golf GTi has never been about outright performance. It wasn't in the Mk5 days, and it still isn't in the Mk8 days. But VW are getting more performance, more mpg and less co2 from the same engine size. The extra weight of the Mk8 needs to factor in all the extra equipment a Mk8 includes that added both cost and weight to a Mk5, like extra doors, bigger wheels etc. plus the fact it's a slightly bigger car now.

[Exonian]

My thoughts too ^^^

Unless you track the car there’s very little between a mk5/6/7/8 GTI dynamically other than personal preference of driver involvement through to UI. The best one is the one you prefer.

As above, I’ve been right through from mk1 to mk8 and at no point in that time was the GTI the fastest or best handling at any stage that I can remember. VW’s brief was always the best blend, and with speeding seen as massively antisocial these days on our badly surfaced congested roads, it’s all academic. 

[JoeGTI]

Some good / interesting posts there 

I'm a bit disappointed by the lacklustre reviews for the new car. Like Snoopy, I want to love it. My first GTI was the MK5 and that car as we all know was universally praised, it regularly topped the reviews/group tests, so its a bit disappointing that this car isn't getting that same kudos in the press.

However I feel that journalists are lazy for the most part and with the you tubers and influencers, its even worse than ever. They all latch onto "something" about the car and repeat it, like you'd repeat something you heard down in the pub. Oh the touch sensitive buttons on the steering wheel are crap, I know someone said that somewhere, so yeah, in my review I'll say they're crap too.

[fredgroves]

Which brings me back to car group test reviews - what are they actually about?

They are testing and scoring cars against some criteria which isn't at all what people use to buy them.

Of that Car Mag group test, which of those are actually Golf GTI competitors? Pitched exactly in the same space? "Hot Hatch" is a very wide spectrum.

It's also suicide to try to market your product in exactly the same space as a competitor - you always need a difference - either in features, price or perceived worth.

Look at the 128ti vs the GTI - BMW could have made their car spec'ed exactly the same - all of the gear is in the options list. If they both came down to the same kit level and power, how would you choose? Is BMW a more desirable brand than a Golf GTI? I don't think it is in this segment, hence BMW had to push the car out with less kit to get the price under VW. BMW pricing themselves lower than VW? Doesn't that say something? It should be the other way around shouldn't it?

[JoeGTI]

Agreed Fred.
The "Group tests" are ridiculous sometimes. No one who's interested in a MK8 GTI is going to consider the GR Yaris for instance. Or vice versa. They're totally different cars.

Agree too that in this segment, a BMW or Audi holds no more brand appeal than the VW. Arguably less imo, as the GTI does have a very established "Brand" whereas if you bought that 128ti you'd spend the next 3 years explaining to people what "Ti" is, that its "ti" not "GTI" and no, someone didn't steal the "G" off the boot badge and no, its not a 116d.