MK3 Gti-Now moving on to a MK4

[UKflex]

At resent i have a MK3 8Valva (Modded a bit), and I am looking to upgrade (if you can say that) to a MK4.  Few days ago I drove a 2.0l GTi, and i have to say it was very slow and had no pull what so ever.  The car had only done 44K, so now I have narrowed my choice down to a TDi, 1.8T and my favourite one the V5, I think the 4motion is a little out of my reach.

Please could anybody advise me on what they would go for. To be truthful, economy is not an issue as my company pays for the juice.

Cheers Ukflex

[S11EPS]

Can I ask a few questions first, then I'll have a go at making a recommendation?

What's your budget going to be?
What sort of driver are you? (are you happy to pootle about at 3000rpm, or are you a 'bounce it off the limiter' sort of guy'?)
What sort of journeys do you do mostly, to work for example? (Is it a 50 mile blast down a motorway, or a hack across country roads?)

S11EPS

[UKflex]

My budget is around ?6.5K,
I would say I?m a bouncer, not all the time but I like a little race from time to time..
My journeys are 150-200 miles a day, 40-45k a year, mostly motorways,. Like I said earlier, economy is not a issue.

What can you make from that?

[S11EPS]

Personally speaking, I'd discount the V5.

To be honest, it has less torque than any of the quick diesels, and really isn't that quick. Doing a quick search on autotrader reveals that the cheapest in the country are starting at ?7k

That leaves you with one of the diesels or a 1.8t.

I would go for (un-biased here) one of the quick diesels:

The useless performance benchmark (0-60 mph) puts them on a par, but look at the in-gear figures - they are leagues apart. If you do a lot of motorway driving a TD really is the way forward.

And before anyone says the petrol car can be tuned, well so can the diesel!

I would get your ass down to a main dealer, who has a stock of all of these cars (even if you don't plan on buying from here) and drive them all, back-to-back, over a mixture of roads, making sure that you take in some motoorways, as this is where you spend your time.

On a personal note, driving a diesel I do actually miss ringing the nuts off a car. But then, when I'm sat on the motorway, I fl;ex my foot and my car pulls like a train in 6th at 100mph I'm glad I went for the diesel  

[Nimrod]

I agree, When I was looking to get a company car early last year, I had my heart set on a petrol 1.8T (as that was about the limit of my budget) and went to book a test drive.  The dealer asked if I had ever thought about the 150 diesel, it was fairly new then and I stared at him blankly and thought 'why is this bloke trying to flog me a rubbish old oil burner??  But he convinced me with his sales patter...actually it was when he said that he had to take one to another garage and in his words 'it f*cking flew' that I decided I'd try it!

Anyway, within 2 minutes I was a converted diesel lover, I still vividly remember the massive gormless grin on my face when I first put my foot down and felt all that torque hauling the car through to 100 mph.

I wouldn't recommend anything other than a diesel for all that motorway driving, excellent economy, low revs, less gear changes and will destroy any V5 you care to chuck at it!

[kniterider]

youll struggle to get a pd tdi for that budget unless you can up it id be going for the 1.8t nice and nippy, diesels mega nippy 130/150 bhp models, but like i said youll struggle to get one in that buget let us know how you get on

[Nimrod]

yeah, actually I would be well impressed if you got the nippy diesels with your budget!

[antgti]

Hey

I have always been a petrol man, had my share of Xr's and A GT Turbo punto, which makes most Golfs look slow. But when i got the comapny car list  i was well up for a golf cos i liked them so much, on my list was a lovely 1.8turbo until someone kept on about the tax, so i decided to have a look at the tdi and after driving both i have to admit that the turbo is quick but there is no real urgency, its not like an old school RS turbo or Reno 5 turbo.  But the PD130 i have is really push into the seat sort of stuff.  I have just got in after doing Cambridg to Canterbury, sat all the way at 85 and the average fuel consumption was 52mpg.  Did have a play with a Leon Cupra (not R) and i think even he was shocked as he put his foot down and overtook him coming out of the roadworks on the M2.  The Torque is the stuff.  But against the diesel is the smell of th bloody stuff, but the TDi is the ultimate Q car, looks and sounds like a normal golf but will give most cars a good run for the money.  

Also has anyone actually looked in Autocars road tests.  They have tested the 0-60 on the 130 as 8.5 secs, and i agrea that this is probably more like it. Christ knows what the 150 is like, anyone wanna swap for a while,,,,.  I think i will put my order in for the Mk5 2.0 TDi 170Bhp coming out next year...

Sorry if i sound liek I'm slagging off petrols, but i guess I am a real convert, but don't get me wrong i don't think we're ever gonna see a Ferrarri 360 diesel, but diesels do have a lot of potential.

i step off my soap box!!!

[Nimrod]

I've never actually timed myself in my 150 tdi, bit tricky on your own and I'm pretty sure the missus wouldn't be too impressed being asked to do it!  I did read in diesel car magazine that they did 0-60 in 7.6 in the one they tested.  the figures for 30-70 (I think that was the speed range) in 5th gear are astounding when you compare them to the same figures for all of the petrol hot hatches out there, and even the bigger executive cars.

[S11EPS]

In my opinion, the only reason that a 1.8t is comparible to a PD150 0-60 is because of gearing - us PD boys have to grab 3rd in order to hit 60 - the petrol boys can hang onto second.

If you take into account the time taken to change gear, it actually means that the PD accelerates harder than the petrol model, but is hampered by the requirement of grabbing another gear.

If it weren't for this, PD 0-60 time would be sub seven seconds, no problem.