I don't get how your mate seems more interested in the  pretty little doodads on your dashboard than he is about the driving dynamics of his car. But each to his/her own I guess and if he thinks the interior of our Golf is finished to a higher standard than the BMW well then, I guess that is his opinion, even though he seems to be in a minority. If you were comparing the mkIV Golf with it's contemporary's then I would have agreed with you probably. 

 

I stand by my Impreza comments, havening owned 2.  Very quick, interesting engine, but rather anodyne handling (actually the first one understeered like a stuck pug), oh and your mate who cares mostly about the interior of a car, must have hated the Impreza, it was looked like a 1980s Japanese shopping trolley that had had every plastic surface polished within an inch of it's life. And of course none of your wonderful dashboard toys. I do remember having 8 replacement clocks (led timepiece) replacement alloys as they leaked from new and new discs and pads as they glazed up within the first few months of ownership,    in fact I swapped my second Impreza for a Golf Gt TDi mkIV and it had masses of toys. Sat Nav (in1999!! cost a fortune too) Auto wipers and lights (unheard of on a small family hatch then) and of course those blue dials. your mate would have approved of it over the Scooby I suppose? I bought it because I was doing 30K miles a year and couldn't afford the petrol of the Scooby. It's fair to say it didn't drive as well as an Impreza either. 

 

I'm not saying understeer is not as good as neutral handling or oversteer, if that's what you like as a basic set up, then enjoy your Golf.

Dude you seem to take everything your mate says as gospel. If he's not happy with his car then fair enough but doesn't mean his opinion (or yours) is replicated across the majority of satisfied owners....

The turbo'd Six and RWD is the USP of this car and dominates the driving experience. It's the main reason most people who enjoy driving bought the car in the first place so I'd have to respectfully disagree about it being a "small perceived experience".

I can't shake the feeling that you might be slightly dissatisfied with your car too, maybe you wished you'd waited for a Golf R estate? No doubt they will be a cracking drive, can't wait to have ago in one when they arrive at the dealers. Fingers crossed I can persuade SWMBO she needs one lol!

Anyone know when the first R-estate demos are due in at dealers?

 

Interestingly a lot of guys I work with aren't interested in the M135 either, but the ones who are bikers are. They seem to get the USP of this car and appreciate the straight 6. I wish Jag or Merc would go back to them too. I am looking forward to a proper test of the new RS 2.5 Audis, now that engine in a Golf and a bit of handling guru magic..... Nom Nom  Got a colleague who has the previous TT version and it sounds great, pulls well and corners very quickly. Not sure if it's as much fun as his previous Exige though

Interestingly a lot of guys I work with aren't interested in the M135 either, but the ones who are bikers are. They seem to get the USP of this car and appreciate the straight 6. I wish Jag or Merc would go back to them too. I am looking forward to a proper test of the new RS 2.5 Audis, now that engine in a Golf and a bit of handling guru magic..... Nom Nom Got a colleague who has the previous TT version and it sounds great, pulls well and corners very quickly. Not sure if it's as much fun as his previous Exige though

Yeah the new RS3 should be a good car. Keen to take one of those out too. I've got a soft-spot for a nice sounding 5-cyl!

Oh, and if the RS3 has a climate sync button that would be me sold on one ;-)

Dude you seem to take everything your mate says as gospel. If he's not happy with his car then fair enough but doesn't mean his opinion (or yours) is replicated across the majority of satisfied owners....

I can't shake the feeling that you might be slightly dissatisfied with your car too, maybe you wished you'd waited for a Golf R estate? No doubt they will be a cracking drive, can't wait to have ago in one when they arrive at the dealers. Fingers crossed I can persuade SWMBO she needs one lol!

 

 

 I knew the R estate was coming out before I ordered my GT.........I can justify & afford it cash, the R but I really cant' be arsed with the extra expense of fuel, tax, insurance just for that extra bit of licence losing fun...................I know what I would be like.....................it's there so use it!.............

 

I don't get how your mate seems more interested in the  pretty little doodads on your dashboard than he is about the driving dynamics of his car. But each to his/her own I guess and if he thinks the interior of our Golf is finished to a higher standard than the BMW well then, I guess that is his opinion, even though he seems to be in a minority. If you were comparing the mkIV Golf with it's contemporary's then I would have agreed with you probably. 

 

I stand by my Impreza comments, havening owned 2.  Very quick, interesting engine, but rather anodyne handling (actually the first one understeered like a stuck pug), oh and your mate who cares mostly about the interior of a car, must have hated the Impreza, it was looked like a 1980s Japanese shopping trolley that had had every plastic surface polished within an inch of it's life. And of course none of your wonderful dashboard toys. I do remember having 8 replacement clocks (led timepiece) replacement alloys as they leaked from new and new discs and pads as they glazed up within the first few months of ownership,     in fact I swapped my second Impreza for a Golf Gt TDi mkIV and it had masses of toys. Sat Nav (in1999!! cost a fortune too) Auto wipers and lights (unheard of on a small family hatch then) and of course those blue dials. your mate would have approved of it over the Scooby I suppose? I bought it because I was doing 30K miles a year and couldn't afford the petrol of the Scooby. It's fair to say it didn't drive as well as an Impreza either. 

 

I'm not saying understeer is not as good as neutral handling or oversteer, if that's what you like as a basic set up, then enjoy your Golf.

 

Again as above my mates opinion is his............thing is I happen to agree with him......................

 

He never had that much trouble with his P1..mabe you were unlucky?...........................as for him not liking the dash of the P1..........even he agreed it was basic...........but you paid for the handling, engine, rally pedigree & fun..........the BMW you are paying for the engine & handling ......supposedly but with extra luxury............the fact my Golf has better luxury than his BWM stuck in his throat.................considering if he wanted the better handling/engine he prefers the old P1!.................the BMW is a halfway house so to speak.......................I think he really misses the 4wd...............

 

.......like I said if the M135I was in X-drive in uk then different story........................

Yeah the new RS3 should be a good car. Keen to take one of those out too. I've got a soft-spot for a nice sounding 5-cyl!

Oh, and if the RS3 has a climate sync button that would be me sold on one ;-)

 Don't forget the very nice dashboards FTW...............

 

 

 

 

 

Actually what am I saying, the new TT dash is epic :D

I knew the R estate was coming out before I ordered my GT.........I can justify & afford it cash, the R but I really cant' be arsed with the extra expense of fuel, tax, insurance just for that extra bit of licence losing fun...................I know what I would be like.....................it's there so use it!.............

 

...

That's fair enough, we all prioritise our wants and needs with what we are prepared to pay for them :-)

 I knew the R estate was coming out before I ordered my GT.........I can justify & afford it cash, the R but I really cant' be arsed with the extra expense of fuel, tax, insurance just for that extra bit of licence losing fun...................I know what I would be like.....................it's there so use it!.............

 

 

Again as above my mates opinion is his............thing is I happen to agree with him......................

 

He never had that much trouble with his P1..mabe you were unlucky?...........................as for him not liking the dash of the P1..........even he agreed it was basic...........but you paid for the handling, engine, rally pedigree & fun..........the BMW you are paying for the engine & handling ......supposedly but with extra luxury............the fact my Golf has better luxury than his BWM stuck in his throat.................considering if he wanted the better handling/engine he prefers the old P1!.................the BMW is a halfway house so to speak.......................I think he really misses the 4wd...............

 

.......like I said if the M135I was in X-drive in uk then different story........................

 

The point of owning a performance car surely has to be how it drives. I've got a Passat 140 TDi Estate, and it's a perfectly good car with plenty of toys but it hardly makes me want to jump in and just take it for a drive. What does it matter if your car is more luxurious (in your perception) than his M135i? The point of the M135i is to have that engine with RWD in a small and very chuckable package. End of story.

 

If you're content to have a 3 door manual M135i, you can get one for around £24.5K. That's the bargain of the century in my eyes.

 

I had one of the first Impreza Turbo's to come into the country (complete with zip off seat covers for the farmers out there), and it was absolutely **** inside. It was brilliant to drive, though. I followed it up with several more Impreza's and finally an Evo 6 RSX. Even though the Evo was 4WD, it had no ABS, no traction control, no stability control and no AYC. It was a proper drivers car, and it relied on your skill to drive it fast and safely. That's what I like about the Beemer. Sure, the Golf R will be a better companion on wet, icy or snowy roads, but I'd still take the M135i on proper winter tyres every time (4WD on summer tyres will always be inferior to RWD on winters in extreme conditions). I know, as I've done plenty of driving in Swedish winters in both types of car.

 

If you spec. up the Beemer, then it does get expensive, but that's a choice for the individual. I recently test drove the Golf R, and even with Discover Pro, the infotainment stuff in the Beemer (with Pro Nav) is still way better. The new Passat does have some internet elements in there (Google search etc.), but it still can't touch the ConnectedDrive services. The Golf R currently has none of this stuff. I know that some people prefer touch screens, but I think the BMW controller is much safer when driving than trying to poke at buttons on a touch screen. I've got experience of both, as my previous car was a Superb II with Columbus.

 

The Golf R is a damned good car, especially considering the lease deals that are around. It's just not what I want from a performance car, as I've done the 4WD thing to death in the past. If you were comparing the R to the M135i, then fair enough. I just don't see how you think a 1.4 Golf is even in the same country as either the R or the M135i, no matter how many toys it has.

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by Bagpuss

. I just don't see how you think a 1.4 Golf is even in the same country as either the R or the M135i, no matter how many toys it has.

 

Go back & read my first post page 48, I think............................I stated my INTERIOR is similar to that of an R..............my mate was impressed with the spec & comfort of it (the interior) & remarked in his opinion that it is better than his M135i......................I stated that the interior spec of my GT is very similar to the R.........

 

FFS people............................. :wonder: ..

 

NEVER I have stated that my 1.4 has the same 4wd & 2lt engine as the R......................I think I know the difference between an R & GT.............as I write this my mates MK4 R32 sits outside my window..............I have driven that car properly down the back roads with him as passenger..........plus I do the servicing on it.

 

WTF people???..................really what is with you lot?................... :wonder:  :wonder:

The zip off seat covers, I'd forgotten about them The original seat were hopeless though, weren't they. No side bolstering at all. Mind you, I was really skinny in those days, so perhaps I rattled about more. I took a lot of stick when I got it as nobody knew what they were (Imprezas) so I placed a copy of Farmers Weekly on the rear parcel shelf and went out to play with the M3s. played silly beggars with one from a standstill and it wasn't until I ran out of 3rd gear that he left me for dead. Having said that, I caught up with him at a set of lights and it had started to rain, he looked carefully at my car and shock his head in surrender I've got used to that feeling, but in the same camp as that M3 these days. RWD means I guess I'm going to have to continue to let the Golf Rs get on with it in the traffic light GPs in the wet

Go back & read my first post page 48, I think............................I stated my INTERIOR is similar to that of an R..............my mate was impressed with the spec & comfort of it (the interior) & remarked in his opinion that it is better than his M135i......................I stated that the interior spec of my GT is very similar to the R.........

 

FFS people............................. :wonder: ..

 

NEVER I have stated that my 1.4 has the same 4wd & 2lt engine as the R......................I think I know the difference between an R & GT.............as I write this my mates MK4 R32 sits outside my window..............I have driven that car properly down the back roads with him as passenger..........plus I do the servicing on it.

 

WTF people???..................really what is with you lot?................... :wonder:  :wonder:

 

I think we're at crossed purposes. I didn't mean to suggest that you were comparing the driving experience of your Golf to the R or M135i. What I'm trying to say is that it surely doesn't matter if your Golf is more luxurious than your mate's M135i. It's how his car drives that's the important part.  If he's upset at the quality of the interior or with how it drives, perhaps he should have done his research more thoroughly before buying it?

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by Bagpuss

I can safely say the interior of a car has never been the overriding point for me when buying a car. I owned several Fiats and Lancias when I was younger and although they had more dials than the Star Ship Enterprise, only half of them seemed to work at any time and probably only 2 of them where even close to accurate. I will miss the tactile delights of my current Merc as the M135 doesn't feel quite as nice to the touch (assuming the LCi isn't improved), but if the interior mattered more than the drive, then I would buy a Barrats Show home (see what I did there ).

 

Golf R is a good car, no question, regardless as to whether it has a touch screen or not

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by Lady Elanore

 If he's upset at the quality of the interior or with how it drives, perhaps he should have done his research more thoroughly before buying it?

 

I mentioned this in an earlier post...........................he had a P1 for the driving experience, moved to the M135i for the luxury & to retain driving experience (admittedly different from the P1).............

 

However he states my Golf GT has better "luxury" than his M135i...so he sees he has "lost out" on one of the reasons for getting the M135i when a lowly Golf "trumps" his BMW!............

 

He also misses the 4wd as up here the roads are very bad, slimy, snow, rain etc......even with his M135i on winters he says it's poor grip compared to his old P1 on winters.........................so again 4wd wins out in his mind................

 

This is why I think he will get a Golf R........& when the estate comes out...............I think he'll defo get one!.......makes sense!!

The zip off seat covers, I'd forgotten about them The original seat were hopeless though, weren't they. No side bolstering at all. Mind you, I was really skinny in those days, so perhaps I rattled about more. I took a lot of stick when I got it as nobody knew what they were (Imprezas) so I placed a copy of Farmers Weekly on the rear parcel shelf and went out to play with the M3s. played silly beggars with one from a standstill and it wasn't until I ran out of 3rd gear that he left me for dead. Having said that, I caught up with him at a set of lights and it had started to rain, he looked carefully at my car and shock his head in surrender I've got used to that feeling, but in the same camp as that M3 these days. RWD means I guess I'm going to have to continue to let the Golf Rs get on with it in the traffic light GPs in the wet

 

I had (and still do have) a more ample frame, and even I rattled around in those original seats

The seats in my Catalunya were a huge improvement. I really liked the red and black combination as well.

I really liked the fact that nobody knew what it was (except for the true petrolheads and rally nuts). Those days are long gone, though. I tried the new STi recently, and I think Subaru have really lost their way. The whole car is just a bit of a dinosaur, and will surely be extinct without significant changes in the near future. It's no longer good enough to mate 4WD with a powerful engine. The rest of the world has caught up with Subaru, and are offering similar driving experiences with better fuel economy, lower emissions and nicer cabins.

I mentioned this in an earlier post...........................he had a P1 for the driving experience, moved to the M135i for the luxury & to retain driving experience (admittedly different from the P1).............

 

However he states my Golf GT has better "luxury" than his M135i...so he sees he has "lost out" on one of the reasons for getting the M135i when a lowly Golf "trumps" his BMW!............

 

He also misses the 4wd as up here the roads are very bad, slimy, snow, rain etc......even with his M135i on winters he says it's poor grip compared to his old P1 on winters.........................so again 4wd wins out in his mind................

 

This is why I think he will get a Golf R........& when the estate comes out...............I think he'll defo get one!.......makes sense!!

My Vitara will out trump the Golf R when it is snowy so that means my 4x4 system is better than the Golf's and my MB does more mpg than the Golf so buying a small engine performance car isn't a fuel saver then. He will never be happy imho.......unless......I suspect your mate was putting an alternative view on the merits of your car by complimenting it (as friends do). Is your mate one one of the BMW forums?

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by Lady Elanore

He didnt honestly buy a RWD m135i and expect it to grip like a 4wd rally bread car on bad Tarmac, rain and lose stuff did he?

Thats just basic physics isnt it haha.

He didnt honestly buy a RWD m135i and expect it to grip like a 4wd rally bread car on bad Tarmac, rain and lose stuff did he?

Thats just basic physics isnt it haha.

 

I think he bought into the BMW advertising  "the ultimate driving" machine/experience................ 

 

....really check has now hit him..........................Golf R estate methinks he will order........

I think he bought into the BMW advertising "the ultimate driving" machine/experience................

....really check has now hit him..........................Golf R estate methinks he will order........

Yep, sounds like he made the school-boy error of not doing his homework correctly before committing to the purchase.

If he is after a 2.0 4-cyl car with 4WD then the M135i won't provide that....

I think we will have to agree to disagree on the interior issues tho. Swapping from an M135i to a golf is a retrograde step in that department, but if he's happy then good luck to him.

Personally I'd love a Golf-R estate on our driveway to go alongside the M135i. Would compliment each other quite well. But would I swap my M135i for an R if I could have only one car? No bloody chance! :-)

What the hell's happened here?!

 

I like the Golf R.

 

I like the M135i.

 

Will that stop the earth from rotating correctly on its axis?! 

What the hell's happened here?!

 

 

 

You have entered the twilight zone..........  ...........& no I don't mean teenage angst ridden vampires..........

I thought I'd come back to a thread about the Golf R. Oh well, silly me.

On and on and on........

Yep, sounds like he made the school-boy error of not doing his homework correctly before committing to the purchase.

If he is after a 2.0 4-cyl car with 4WD then the M135i won't provide that....

Personally I'd love a Golf-R estate on our driveway to go alongside the M135i. Would compliment each other quite well. But would I swap my M135i for an R if I could have only one car? No bloody chance! :-)

 

TBH he's had so many different engine types............... engine choice isn't a priority....................so long as it goes fast...............I think going back to 4wd because of our roads up here is a must...................& it must be cheaper to run than the old P1...!!..........................well that's easy it drank fuel like a dipsomaniac!.............

 

Golf R estate.......................go on give it a go...............loads of boot space for everything, 4wd for winter & our carp roads................cheaper insurance & tax than the M135i......................

On and on and on........

 

I have been mentioning the R & the estate R above...............see...............

 

 

Sorry I got drawn into her "way"..........................now I know how she has a huge post count!...............

Is your full stop key broken?

I have been mentioning the R & the estate R above...............see...............

 

 

Sorry I got drawn into her "way"..........................now I know how she has a huge post count!...............

Enough, no winners here, just a bloody headache.