Just git in form the local VW dealer where I had a test drive in a 5 door GTi Golf.

Despite the understated looks on the outside, the Golf still manages to look a bit mean, even in five door guise. The interior is very nice too, with this particular model being fitted with leather Recaro seats (a £1000+ option) and a CD changer mounted under the central arm rest.

The heated seats where very supportive and the steering wheel chunky and well placed. The instruments take the normal VW look with blue and red illumination - including red LED's in the ceiling to illuminate the gear shift area, a feature of which I had previously been sceptical.

The car I drove had the 6 speed manual box and it was a joy to use. A nice crisp change coupled to a well weighted clutch made changing gear at low speeds and in traffic a pleasure.

But no matter how good the gear change is, it can in no way eclipse the engine! Being used to a remapped Octavia, the Golf diddnt feel that fast, until you look down at the speedo :eek: Pushing the throttle doesnt create the sudden lunge that I experience in the Octavia but I think this Is partly due to the smooth power delivery and lack of turbo lag.

The way the engine revs is incredible, it keeps on pulling right up to 7500rpm where you simply choose the next cog in the 6 speed box and it happens all over again. Each time the engine sings to you with a glorious noise.

The test drive was disapointingly short as the salesman ahd other people to see, the upside of this will follow later But it did mean I got to swing the car right round a roundabout, half way round I eased in the throttle before booting it in 3rd gear on the exit. I was expecting the ESP light to flash at me in the 4C temperatures (given it was doing so in the Octavia on the way to the dealer) but the Golf gripped and sent us flying forwards once more.

With a suprisingly big boot and 5 doors even Mrs Gooch liked it

Would I buy one? Yes! if I had around £23 to spend on a vehicle of the same spec.

Once back at the dealer we began talking about what else I am considering, to cut a long story short this is exactly what he said about the competition:

"The Subaru is unreliable..... you have to service them every 7000miles"

"The Skoda VRS is built by lower paid people in Scandinavia"

"Nothing compares to the Golf, people will try and buy it off you in the street. People wont want to buy a Skoda"

However, the best part of this story is yet to come - I mentioned I would like to see one in the daylight to see if I could manage without a sunroof (£600 option on the GTi). The guy said "well, if you're really serious we can arrange for you to have it for an hour or two at some point, maybe collect it in the morning and return it at lunch time?" hmmmmm....... wonder if I could fit that in before I leave the airfield ?

EDIT: One thing I diddnt like, the mirror mounted indicators wrap round the ends so they flash in your face. I expect this would be annoying if the windows were wet and the light would bounce off all the water.

My mates returned 5 cars to VW all first generation GTis, i understand they have sorted a few of the problems now but it took a lawyer to get his money back after rejecting all 5 with various faults. But he did enjoy driving when they wern't being repaired.

"The Skoda VRS is built by lower paid people in Scandinavia"

"Nothing compares to the Golf, people will try and buy it off you in the street. People wont want to buy a Skoda"

What a **** head !!!

One annoying thing was that the sales guy diddnt know if 6th was the same ratio as 5th on the 5 speed box :(

Nice review Phil. :thumbup:

Id like drive in one to see just how close it is to the Octavia vRS in terms of handling and grip. I agree about the engine note though, it begs to be revved, and revved hard.

"The Skoda VRS is built by lower paid people in Scandinavia"

:rofl: :clapclap:

Didnt you know the Czechs were somewhere rather different on the map :D

Was tempted to say "do volvo make Skodas then?"

Re the engine note: apparently the left hand drive cars have a slightly different air inlet and sound even better!

Nice car.Unduly expensive.

"The Subaru is unreliable..... you have to service them every 7000miles"

I think he's a bit out of date there - they used to be 7.5k miles on the classic shape one but they've since been extended to 10 or 12k mile I think on all but the WR1 which is 5k miles. Don't see how that makes it unreliable though

Chris

I thought the first rule of good salesmanship is not to slate other cars

thought scoobies were ultra reliable? in fact a friend of mine owned a UK Turbo 'X' plate and never had the thing serviced, 120k miles on the same oil! Only problem he had was a fooked maf sensor caused by a K&N filter.

Just git in form the local VW dealer where I had a test drive in a 5 door GTi Golf.

The car I drove had the 6 speed manual box and it was a joy to use. A nice crisp change coupled to a well weighted clutch made changing gear at low speeds and in traffic a pleasure.

But no matter how good the gear change is' date=' it can in no way eclipse the engine! Being used to a remapped Octavia, the Golf diddnt feel that fast, until you look down at the speedo :eek: Pushing the throttle doesnt create the sudden lunge that I experience in the Octavia but I think this Is partly due to the smooth power delivery and lack of turbo lag.

The way the engine revs is incredible, it keeps on pulling right up to 7500rpm where you simply choose the next cog in the 6 speed box and it happens all over again. Each time the engine sings to you with a glorious noise.

.[/quote']

Some interesting comments. I owned a new GTI for 7 months.

You havent really talked about the handling in your review?

You are comparing a 1.8T to the new FSI type engines. Ive owned 4 cars with the 1.8T engine and it is when you drive the new cars out there you realise how old the 1.8T feels.

I'd always be concerned that the other half liked it after a test drive. The fact that Miss Daisy could enjoy driving it is also a problem. I would let me wife drive the GTI, because its so easy.

I got shot of mine because

1. It didnt feel fast

2. You had to drive too fast for it to be fun

3. There are better engines out there - the Golf has Zero character

There are more fun cars out there.

Jonathan