Hi guys, I promised my thoughts on my new GTI, and here they are. Sorry for the delay, the baby arrived! And thanks again for all your help prior to purchase.
Btw a quick question - should I be using super unleaded rather than the normal stuff? Will I notice any difference?
Back to my feedback, in short, it's great! fun to drive fast, really comfy for family stuff. Highly recommended.
Pros -
Really impressed with the autobox (i.e. without using the paddles). Not had an autobox before and the flexibility and responsiveness of the kick-down was quite a surprise. Looking fwd to spending some time driving without a pregnant wife or new baby and exploring the paddles in more detail!
Torque, less of a powerband and more of a constant pull, especially impressive overtaking uphill. Although, it's almost TOO efficient and smooth as you don't get quite the kick in the back as you accelerate hard - maybe I need to try harder!
Driving position, in terms of seats and instruments (rather than visability), it's fantastic, very supportive seat and everything is very well thoughtout.
Toys, are great! Coming from a 10 yr old car, the joy of heated leather, xenons, hi-line computer, MFSW, sat nav etc is really fun. Well pleased I held out for a car with all the trimmings.
Cons - Just niggles really, nothing major.
Visability isn't great, although that may be down to having the seat as low as it can go (which is great, becuase it makes me feel like a racing driver!), but the pillars at the rear seem quite broad and, more annoyingly, the pillars at the front - particularly on the driver's side - are right where I want to look at the kerb as I turn right at roundabouts. In any case, I'm sure this is down to being used to thinner pillars on an older (less safe?) car.
Noise, it's very quiet! Again, a lot more refined that my old GTi-6, so can't really hold that against it.
Head rests at the front don't support the neck, so - for me - they don't provide much ability to support the weight of my head. That may be down to me not being very tall. Plus the wife can't sit comfortably with her hair tied in a pony tail!
cheers, Rob
Btw hats off to Ridgeway VW in Wantage, they did a load of work on the car before I got it, answered all my questions, happily helped me by ferrying it to London (twice) to look at, were fair and reasonable to negotiate with and generally very easy to buy from. Well done them.
