MKV GT TDI

[nefarious]

Just a quick post. I looking for thoughts about the MKV GT TDI. I’m going to try to have a look a few on Sunday and am seeking a few opinions about the car generally – good or bad.

Kind regards to all

Brad.

[phil1101]

I previously ran an Audi A3 S-Line TDI DSG, not a golf but shares the same power plant. I found the 140 BHP TDI engine noisy on start up but this soon settled down (always knew it was a diesel though) it pulled well, always returned in excess of 40 mpg (even after remap) and was totally reliable! Other than its sound, the only negative point was that it quickly ran out of puff however this is a failing of most diesel engines! Ride in the A3 was harsh but it was an S-Line running on 18" wheels, I am led to believe that the VW rides much better than the A3 in all its variants! I ran the A3 for 12K and found it a good overall package, even cheap to own and lost very little when traded in for the GTI, hope this is of some help, 

[Hurdy]

Hi Brad,

My last car was a 54 reg Golf MKV GT TDI 140 DSG and I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed my 2yrs with it. The power delivery is a lot smoother than the MKIV GT TDI which I also owned and the DSG gearbox worked seamlessly. It wasn't all roses in the garden though as the DSG needed it's ecu controller replacing after it started to stall on me whenever I set off from junctions (not good and definitely not safe!). Overall the ownership experience was good and I only moved onto another car when the ED30 came along (too much temptation to miss). The car rode a lot better than the MKIV too and although there is a difference between the GTTDI and the ED30 I have to say the GTTDI actually was a slightly smoother ride. The trade off is that it isn't quite as agile as the GTI, but I never expected it would be. I can recommend the GTTDI MKV thoroughly

[KentBladeboy]

I had an early Mk5 GT TDI 140 manual. (Jan 04)  Positives were good midrange, effortless 90mph cruising, averaged 47mpg over 35k miles, great load lugger, motorcycle tower, and did 2 family holidays, 4 up, 3 mountain bikes, on hitch mounted rack, and a large roof box, still sat at 100mph on the autoroute and never dropped below 40mpg.
The negitives, were horrendous reliability, 45 days off road in 30 months, and one massive row with VAG UK Customer dis-service dept.  List of replaced parts too long to list, including a gearbox. Also the car had a real tendency to bottom out if pushing on over undulating roads,
to the point where I ripped off the engine undertray on one fast B road. The dampers could not cope with fast changes in compression/uncompression scenarios.
Took a leap off faith in VW (and some VAG cash) to replace it with a GTI, and to be honest it doesn't even feel like you are driving the same model.
Think I had a Freitag car, but the early ones were definately suspect build quality, as I knew other owners with similar stories.

[bonkers-gti]

Hi mate,

I totally agree with the last statement - I had a MKV GT TDi 140 (54 plate) which had a list of problems ranging from build quality, rattles, wind noise from drivers door etc. The car also had a weird noise on the engine/ exhaust system, which VW couldn't solve (it's known as the Owl noise, which other people have experienced see www.uk-mkivs.net) - this was definitely a friday afternoon car as I used a GT TDi 140 in my work (pool car) and that was fine - only problem we had was door seals having to be replaced (common fault with the early ones I think). With all the various problems on my own GT TDi 140, I rejected the vehicle and got a VW Bora TDi Sport 150 (great car, huge depreciation!) then bought a MKV GTi 

This is not me being biased, but the GTi is a totally different car to the 140 - I have to be honest.

I only paid £650 less than what I originally paid for the new (standard spec) GT TDi 140, for a year old 10k miles GTi MKV with extras!

Cheers,

Rob

[GTI CV7]

I had an 05 GT TDi, It was great... I could get 450 miles on a tank and it had a real quality feel to it. It was pretty responsive and the mid-range torque was very respectable. I had it remapped by Superchips which turned out to be a mistake... but a great car, highly recommended!

[TagnuT]

I had an 05 GT TDi, It was great... I could get 450 miles on a tank and it had a real quality feel to it. It was pretty responsive and the mid-range torque was very respectable. I had it remapped by Superchips which turned out to be a mistake... but a great car, highly recommended!

What happen with the rechip?

[GTI CV7]

I had an 05 GT TDi, It was great... I could get 450 miles on a tank and it had a real quality feel to it. It was pretty responsive and the mid-range torque was very respectable. I had it remapped by Superchips which turned out to be a mistake... but a great car, highly recommended!

What happen with the rechip?

The turbo went bang...

[Russ.C]

It might be worth looking at the GT version, I believe its 170bhp - the torque would be fantastic!

[Mattso]

Before my GTI I had an A3 2.0 TDI Sport.

I've basically changed to a more fun car as I don't commute by road anymore and I really missed the nice noise of a decent petrol engine.

I test drove the A3 and golf tdi, and personally I thought the sound deadening in the A3 was miles better than the golf.