Just taken delivery of our new Golf GTi turbo diesel 150 bhp 236 lb/ft and had my first drive of it today. Drove for about 80+ miles carting the folks around the country side. I directly compared it to the Gti 1.8T petrol version that my dad used to have as we delivered that back today.
Its a nice silver colour - unfortunately its 4-doors as its a company car. The turbo whistle is really noisey which is kinda cool, and the dump valve is also prominent. chhhhh chhhhh tssssss chhh, you get the picture.
It has 6 gears and an ESP button to stop you wheel spinning - still managed to get a 2nd gear chirp as i slotted it in quite enthusiastically.
It feels a little heavier than the old one, but the suspension seems quite sufficient to deal with, but no way would i want to throw it around as much as i do the Clio.
It really pulls hard from 2000 rpm up till about 4 (havent gone above yet - dont really need to) in pretty much any gear, and when i drove it on my own, I selected 2nd gear doing a brisk acceleration test it through me back in my seat which impressed me! Its a nice car, and although its quite boaty, its got loads of torque, but i think id have to learn how to drive it more to its capabilities before i challenged someone to a race for example. Your gear changes must be quick to make the most of the torque/spooled up turbo etc.
Itd be interesting to race it against mine, just to compare and ill get back to you all to see how it went.
id recommend the car to anyone thinking of a nice torquey fuel efficient(?) tourer. Group 14 insurance.
