HELP WITH CHOICE GTI,GTTDI OR R32

[ste338]

 like the title says, i am in the market for a golf and have around the £20 mark to spend.
 now i have driven a couple of r32"s and love them, this would be my first choice BUT one thing concerns me, the mpg, i have been told ill get 25mpg round town etc, which i am fine with this but then i have this is load of crap and are much heavier, so this makes me think of the gti, and i have also been told that the gttdi 170 is a nice one too, so can you guys help me out with your experiance and ownership of these cars.
                                                               thanks
                                                                steve

[Manu_R32]

Between the GTI and the R32 they are both fantastic cars....obviously every one here will try and convince you to go towards the GTI. It all depends what you are after at the end of the day. You mention you test drove the R32 but have you test drove the GTI?

[ste338]

no not yet, but do intend to before parting with my hard erned

[Manu_R32]

If you test drove it, it would deffinatley help you with your decision making. I currently have a GTI but as from next week will be a proud owner of an R32 so...once i drive that n stuff il give you my opinions on that car....the GTI is still very nice and easy to drive!

[bennyboy]

hi ste338
i own a gttdi which i paid £20.000 for brand new i think that you need to be making your own choice as its your money , and its you who's gonna hane to live with it . myself i tend to spend alot of time on motorways and dual carriage ways so a diesel was my choice due to the +40mpg , and with the price always going up it was one of the main points i went for .
so you need to think what is your car going to be used for eg mainly fun , or pure power , sensible family taxi if its a bit of all you need to go and have some fun testing them all .

GOOD LUCK IN CHOOSING

[RedRobin]

....As the other guys have said: It's a personal choice which should be based on test driving them all.

The R32 wasn't out when I test drove a DSG 2.0 TDI and a Manual GTI back to back. I chose and ordered the TDI but then the following day I locked Captain Sensible in the garden shed and changed my order to a GTI.

About a year later I test drove a Manual R32 back to back on exactly the same roads and route as my GTI (my dealer lent me the .:R). I loved the 4WD grunt and V6 soundtrack but mpg was silly and the car felt heavy compared with my GTI.

I'm driving about 18k a year so far.

Captain Sensible is still screaming in the garden shed and I have no regrets but only you can decide

[ste338]

 think your right there, buy the way thats a realy nice gttdi

[topher]

I test drove a GTI during the launch week and *dons flame suit* wasn't impressed, mainly with the power delivery, which a remap would've fixed but I wasn't prepared to do that to a brand new car, so I shelved the idea of a new car for a while.

When the ED30 GTI was released however, I was torn between that or an R32. The 4wd, extra toys as standard and the awesome exhaust note swung my decision towards the R32, especially since petrol consumption wasn't a huge factor in my situation. I've had it two weeks now and am loving it. However it DOES drink a lot of petrol, especially in inner city driving with traffic crawling and stop/starting.

If I had to do a lot of traffic driving, I would've chosen the ED30, but since my daily commute is mostly dual carriageway and winding country B roads with lots of roundabouts to slide around I really get to take full advantage of the fantastic haldex 4wd system. Oh and the noise, did I mention the noise yet?

Oh and I never even considered the diesel, because they're smelly and sound like tractors *runs away quickly*

[RedRobin]

........and the awesome exhaust note swung my decision towards the R32,........Oh and the noise, did I mention the noise yet?

Oh and I never even considered the diesel, because they're smelly and sound like tractors *runs away quickly*

....I hate the sound of diesels and simply don't understand how anyone who calls themselves a performance car enthusiast can not be bothered about the soundtrack of their xzorst! But I'm an old petrolhead and proud of it!

[2007GTI]

as much as the R32 sounds and looks like, you do know the road tax is going to be £400+ per year?