Claire and myself have been to Brundle VW in King's Lynn this afternoon for a test drive of the new MK5 GTI, after hearing all the motoring press and media rave about it, thought it about time we went along to see what the fuss is all about. Brundle's demo was a 5 dr in red with the regular 6 speed 'box , leather trim and the standard 17" monza alloys. Inside, apart from a few splashings of brushed aluminium (plastic?) there's not that much in there to shout *GTI* except of course a nicely sized 3 spoke steering wheel, seating position was ok, with adjustable steering column for rake and reach and a height adjustable drivers seat. The 2zone climate control is handy for those who want a different temperature in either side of the cabin (all these gadgets are a far cry from my old mk2 bless it) Claire drove the car at first and even sitting in the passenger seat it felt like the 200bhp 4 cylinder turbo unit had good initial torque, the engine note sadly sounded a bit harsh and not that sporty IMO, But then, not many things do compared to her R32 with the Miltek Once out on the open road Claire got her foot down and *cough* speeds were soon reached, as I say though, the car was really quiet and sounded pretty unassuming and in the upper rev range 5k+ the car felt pretty breathless for a 16v unit, but reading the specs afterwards it's peak power is at 5100rpm so that's all you can expect from it isn't it? My turn to drive, around the Queen's estate at Sandringham there's a nice little network of roads with a few twisties and short straights, ideal GTI territory. From a standing start, the little traction control light was blinking away and the first suprise was the weight of the gearchange, which has been improved from the mk4 which I've always said is notchy and clonky, that's one good point to the mk5 then.... Into second and ok, you can feel the torque of the turbo'ed motor initially but after that the power delivery is pretty linear and you think "Oh,is that it?" Just as I had felt from the passenger seat the upper end of the rev range is lifeless and the car sounds just like the 1600 FSI I hired a few months ago, goes ok though as you have to remember it's a heavy car for 'only' 200bhp. Steering, again has been improved over the mk4, a lot more weight in the straight ahead position and unlike the mk4 you don't feel as though you've put in too much steering input for the severity of the corner, another plus point for the mk5 there then. Brakes were good, nice pedal feel and quite powerful and with the new dodgem style floor hinged throttle pedal, heel and toe downchanges were a doddle.. brumm Not so sure I was impressed by the car as others have been and if I'm honest was expecting it to be better than it was after the TV and magazine reviews. Steering Gearchange Performance Overall, if I had an R32 I wouldn't be swapping the keys for a new GTI.
Going to test drive one next monday, having driven my mates MK4 GTi Turbo, and i liked it, but it felt gutless after my 2.0 8v MK2, (which kicked its arse on the road too), so do you reckon its better than the MK4?
You want a car for different things. I still say the GTI is a much better car for everyday use. However, on the track etc, the R32 is second to none As for getting a new GTI... watch this space
Ok, here's my part of the review. Seeing the car close up on the forecourt I thought it looked quite sexy , although it had 2 doors too many .... It had a sporty stance to it but could be improved on by having 18" wheels or by lowering it a tad (or both!). The wheels weren't to my taste but of course you can do something about that... Peering through the window it didn't look that much different to other Mk 5's I've been in (1.6FSI & 1.9TDI) except for the aluminium dial surrounds, sporty 3 spoke steering wheel and aluminium TT-style pedals. The seats didn't look that sporty although the leather seemed better quality than what's in my R32. I've always said the dash looks cheap and plasticky in the Mk 5 and it wasn't really much different in the GTI. For a top of the range car I think it looked a bit cheap. Having said that, it may look slightly better if it was black. After the salesman had gone over all the controls with us he handed over the keys and said "see you in a bit". The car is certainly very torquey at the bottom end, fairly torquey mid-range but a bit asthmatic at the top end. Pulling away from the dealers I thought that it felt quicker than my R32 due to the turbo but as my speed started to increase I started to change my mind and although it pulled well it wasn't quite as responsive to what I've been used to. We did a mix of urban and rural driving with a bit of cruising and at the end of the 40 minute drive we only managed 24.9mpg. Looking at the MFA the average the car had done over it's 1100 mile lifetime was only 26.5 which is only marginally more than mine. Either everyone that's driven it has thrashed it or it has really poor fuel economy. I tend to think it's the former as the brochure states a combined mpg of 34.9 What I was impressed with though is the amount of headroom in it and the leg room on the passengers side was enough for me to stretch my legs out completely and still have a bit of extra room! I wasn't too impressed with the width, it just seemed a bit cramped to me and the arm rest seemed to get in my way. Handling was pretty good, although I let Gary test that out We managed to get the traction control light flashing a couple of times and Gary managed to unintentionally wheel spin it. Roads were fairly busy with bank holiday drivers so we couldn't really test it out to it's potential. Comparing it to other cars in it's class with the same spec/engine capacity I'd say that it's a very capable car, especially as it only had a 2.0l engine. It just looks too "new" though and lacks the sporty feel on the inside and looks too similar to other cars in it's class and the other models of Mk 5. There wasn't really anything on the interior that stood out as being extra special, except maybe the inset dials with aluminium trim, but then lots of new cars these days have aluminium bits. The steering wheel and gearstick did have a sporty and easy to grip style to them though Overall, my impressions are mixed. I must remember that I can't compare it to the R32 but must look at it in comparison to a Mk 4 GTI which I've not had much experience of. I'm certainly not going to hand over my R32 as a deposit towards one but if I was replacing a GTI then I would certainly go back for a second drive and look at it in closer detail. VW seemed to have listened and realised that the GTI has lost it's reputation in recent years. Fair play to them for trying to bring it back though. I still fail to see the comparison to the Mk 1 due to so many advances and laws over the years. It would be interesting to read a true Mk 1 GTI driver's review of the Mk 5 though. It was only a small dealer that we went to but they've had 12 orders for the car already, so VW are obviously doing something right. I commented to the salesman that it was an improvement on the Mk 4 GTI and he just laughed and agreed with me. Edited by: Golfgirl
Didn't Claire say that in her review? I'm only comparing the two cars as I drive the R32 quite a bit, not driven a mk4 GTI much (only a few mins)- Can't really compare the older GTIs to these new cars either as they're worlds apart.
yeah, bit too pricey for track use. whats the price on it? over 20k ain't it? thats a lot of money for a golf at the end of the day.
19,995 for manual 3 door (20,495 for 5 door) 21,320 for DSG 3 door (21,820 for 5 door) Plus any options you may want. Edited by: G_V_K
ok, heres a q for you as you've driven one.... if you had 20k to buy a car, would it be the mkV gti, the audi s3, or a scooby?
Without driving or even looking at the other two I couldn't possibly comment. The A3 does look nicer but it's not the looks that matter really is it....
well im looking forward to giving the local dealers car a good hiding on thurs... will try get some footage 2 i think theirs is dsg though....
Hi Folks.. Interesting to read all the reviews on this forum. I am just changing from a Scooby to something more civilised and thought I would test drive the Golf. Its main competition for my money was a Civic Type R.... The car took a while to make an impression on me and while the power delivery is good, with hefty low down power I think the most impressive thing was the cars cornering ability - show it a bend and it is on rails with no fuss or drama and no hint of torque steer or tramlining that the Civic seems to suffer from. The Turbo delivery is smooth and constant with power available in all gears, less manic than the revvy Vtec in the Honda. Having owned a Civic Type R before it was not an easy choice to make but the Golfs quality, fit and finish shone through. Needless to say I have now joined the queue at my local VW dealer!
If i had 20k to buy a car i wouldn't buy a new car for starts. Then i would be tempted by the Mazda RX8.
two vacancies at top gear...... might consider one as a loan car through work later this year, just depends what the options and prices are.
