Well, today has arrived and at 10am this morning I did the deed and said goodbye to my beloved VXR
But then I said hello to my new MY08 GTI
As I've mentioned before, I just cannot fault the Astra. It has given me two years of trouble free, fun, yet manic driving but it was time for me to change as I've recently falling out of love with the 'in yer face' styling of the VXR.
There was only ever going to be one other hot hatch that I would even consider changing it for and that was the GTI. So about three weeks ago I placed an order for a new Diamond black, 18" monza's, centre armrest and parking sensors, ipod and parrot bluetooth.
I've only driven about 60 miles today (came with 6 miles on the clock
), so not had much time to do an awful lot of comparing, but I'll give my initial views.
The Astra cabin is very narrow with just enough room between the front seats to fit a handbrake. If someone large is next to you in the passenger seat, it is a very claustrophobic place to be. The view out of the rear is also non existent, real tricky when reversing but in time you get used to it. The drivers seat is also way to high, with a real lack of adjustment.
The GTI seems huge in comparison, the all-round view is much better and it's just a brighter, better place to be. The leather seats are far more comfortable offering much more adjustability, you are able to set the seat up to be in a much better driving position.
So the cabin wins hands down with the only slight hitch being the pedal heights, they are just too high I feel and you cant seem to be able to rest your heal on the floor when your on the clutch. It'll be something I get used to though I'd guess.
Now performance
In first and second I'd say there's nothing in it. The weather today has been appalling with heavy rain, in the Astra even on a dry day let alone a wet one, you have to be very gentle with the accelerator in both first and second because it wants to just spin the front wheels. This is one of the other things that started to annoy me with VXR, it's not the easiest or most fun car to drive at low speeds because you've forever concentrating on putting the power down gradually.
The GTI was way way easier to drive even in the pouring rain, I just put my foot down and it pulled away so smoothly, a real pleasure.
Once your moving though and say you floored then both in third gear, the VXR is much much quicker or certainly feels a lot quicker.
Overall even though it's been only day one, I'm happy with the change. The GTI has a much nicer interior and although not as quick in some situations, it's a nicer smooth comfortable drive, so im very happy
There's one problem though, because of the rain today the car is bloody filthy and looks months old!
Martin
