The Mega Mk7 Golf GTI/GTD/R thread

MidMan25

Try 550km, 60+ euro , tank filled to top every single week

ianobrien

ianobrien wrote: »

For me, a manual handbrake in a GTi is a plus point, not a negative. GTi's are supposed to be fun cars and having an electronic handbrake just tells so much about the fun you can have in the car (zero).

Auto handbrake with hill hold is a must for me after getting used to it. I go between a mk7 tdi and a mk5 GTi and the manual handbrake in the GTi is a real chore when you are used to the auto one, it would be a must on any car for me in future. I was going to say the lack of cruise is also a big thing but its not just cruise its ACC. I had a rental a few weeks ago and found that normal cruise felt almost pointless when you get used to ACC as you are constantly having to take over from it.

Aside from the excellent benefits of the auto handbrake when driving it looks much better and takes up much less space leaving a nicer and less cluttered area around the armrest/gear stick etc.

I have absolutely no idea why a manual handbrake would make a car more fun unless you are 17 and found of stretching handbrake cables trying to do handbrake turns.

Zubeneschamali

Lance Tall Beagle wrote: »

I have absolutely no idea why a manual handbrake would make a car more fun unless you are 17 and found of stretching handbrake cables trying to do handbrake turns.

Auto handbrake, ACC -I look forward to the self driving car, where if you want fun you play Angry Birds on your phone.

dar83

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Auto handbrake, ACC -I look forward to the self driving car, where if you want fun you play Angry Birds on your phone.

Convenience features that help make the boring functional driving (motorways etc...) and driving in traffic/starting on an incline, easier on the user are not really to be confused with making a car less fun to drive.

Having both does not make taking the GTI any less fun on a back road or through some twisties, or even on a track if that's your thing. In fact the only thing not having a manual handbrake does is remove the ability to do Ken Block impressions, which unless you're 18 is more than slightly pointless anyway. The GTI never really had the image for that anyway either.

DaveyDave

If you can't have fun in a car because it has an electronic handbrake then there's something seriously wrong with your driving.

Launch control, tight corners, flowing twisty roads etc. Those are fun.

ACC is merely a convenience feature. You can use it all you want or not at all. It won't stop you using your manual handbrake.

I'd really like to hear some examples of where you need a manual handbrake? If you said manual gearbox, then I'd understand.

drunkmonkey

Life is more fun sideways.

tossy

I'd say most people here talking about the lack of manual handbrakes would loose their life if one was pulled up at speed. In everyday life in the real world handbrakes are for parking on hills. I'd consider my car a lot of fun to drive and if i drive with the handbrake up it beeps at me to remind me that handbrakes are for parking on hills.

DaveyDave

Car booked in tomorrow for the headlight washer replacement. Hopefully that's the last visit until my service next October. It's a bumper off job, considering my luck with them I'm expecting Front Asisst or the parking sensors to stop working when I get it back :P

Zubeneschamali

tossy wrote: »

In everyday life in the real world handbrakes are for parking on hills.

In everyday life, no-one needs a GTI.

Hebegeebee

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

In everyday life, no-one needs a GTI.

You’re in the wrong thread so - and it seems so are the rest of us!

dar83

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Life is more fun sideways.

That's why buying a FWD hot hatch is probably not comparable to your desires.

Lift-off oversteer aside, you're not going to find a GTI/R drifting very much at all, manual handbrake or not...


As someone else has said, I think you guys are in the wrong topic, or else trolling mildly successfully. :P

dar83

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

In everyday life, no-one needs a GTI.

I use my GTI quite nicely in my everyday life. Back roads on the way home from work is where it was made for and I use it every chance I get.

Zubeneschamali

dar83 wrote: »

I use my GTI quite nicely in my everyday life.

I am not against GTIs or manual handbrakes, I am against arguments that things are not "needed in everyday life".

If that was it, we'd all be in a CVT Auris or something horrible like that.

bazz26

The advantages of a hot hatch is that it can be fun/spirited when the driver wants it to be while still being a normal everyday car when you need it to be. Cruise control by it's literal definition is for cruising which a hot hatch will happily do when your not driving it spiritedly.

drunkmonkey

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Life is more fun sideways.

Sideways is fun but a Gti isn’t really the car for going sideways, pulling a handbrake turn is a fairly momentum killing and slow maneuver if you want fun sideways you need RWD or maybe 4wd.

Trust me I had a mustang rented in the states last month and it saw plenty of sideways action but power oversteer is far more fun than yanking up a handbrake.

bazz26 wrote: »

The advantages of a hot hatch is that it can be fun/spirited when the driver wants it to be while still being a normal everyday car when you need it to be. Cruise control by it's literal definition is for cruising which a hot hatch will happily do when your not driving it spiritedly.

Exactly. I do a long return drive every week of around 480km mostly motorway and aside from the drastic difference in fuel costs I almost always take the mk7 1.6tdi for the ACC as you just sit back, relax and listen to the radio/podcast etc and cruise along. It’s not the type of drive you have any “fun” on as such so having all the comforts are what’s needed while if you have them all on a gti/gtd/R you can have both the fun and the sensible stuff in one.

DaveyDave

I also drove a Mustang. Didn't use the handbrake once while driving and had plenty of fun. Got the back end out a few times doing some u-turns. Driving with the top down at 95mph on the highway was fun too.

TheAnalyst_

I can't take anyone seriously that would prefer a manual handbrake over an auto electronic one for their daily driver. Are you really going to be getting sideways with handbrake turns on a public road?
They're ugly, take up space and a pain to use.

JoeA3

tossy wrote: »

I'd say most people here talking about the lack of manual handbrakes would loose their life if one was pulled up at speed. In everyday life in the real world handbrakes are for parking on hills. I'd consider my car a lot of fun to drive and if i drive with the handbrake up it beeps at me to remind me that handbrakes are for parking on hills.

You mean you don't do a J-turn as you pull out of your driveway every morning? :pac:

I am back to a handbrake in the BM. Hate the damn thing tbh, don't use it other than for parking up at night... and even then, its probably not necessary.

hooch-85

The auto hold in the MK7 is a great job when you get used to it alright.

Mickiemcfist

I've never done a handbrake turn in my life, however I like the manual handbrake. It's starting to feel like the last mechanical thing left in cars these days.

Neilw

Mickiemcfist wrote: »

I like the manual handbrake. It's starting to feel like the last mechanical thing left in cars these days.

Which is made redundant after you drive a car with an electronic hand brake and auto hold. It just works perfectly.

Muppet Man

might be time for a brake on this one...

Mickiemcfist

Neilw wrote: »

Which is made redundant after you drive a car with an electronic hand brake and auto hold. It just works perfectly.

So will automated cars, but I won't want one of those either. I've driven plenty of cars with autohold, but I must be one of the few people who actually enjoys the satisfaction of a good hillstart.

ShadowHearth

Lads, out of curiosity. Would golf R ( 15'-17' ) be expensive to run? Just from my own experience having petrol, turbo and 4wd in a car makes petrol bills very damn high.

hooch-85

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Lads, out of curiosity. Would golf R ( 15'-17' ) be expensive to run? Just from my own experience having petrol, turbo and 4wd in a car makes petrol bills very damn high.

Do you do much mileage? You'll average about 30mpg if your lucky. I do approx 30kms a year.

I did a comparison on just fuel costings between a R/GTi and GTD on the assumption that each did 30/35 and 48 mpg respectively.

The fuel cost for the R were €4,256, €3,648 GTi and €2,483 GTD.

So the difference in fuel from the GTD to the R was €34 a week and €22 to the GTi. I would be spending €82 a week in an R which would get tiresome pretty quickly.

Tax is always around €400 more on the R.

In the end I bought a GTD but I really wanted the R! Its also costing me around €20 a week less than my Fiesta ST was.

ShadowHearth

hooch-85 wrote: »

Do you do much mileage? You'll average about 30mpg if your lucky. I do approx 30kms a year.

I did a comparison on just fuel costings between a R/GTi and GTD on the assumption that each did 30/35 and 48 mpg respectively.

The fuel cost for the R were €4,256, €3,648 GTi and €2,483 GTD.

So the difference in fuel from the GTD to the R was €36 a week and €34 to the GTi. I would be spending €82 a week in an R which would get tiresome pretty quickly.

Tax is always around €400 more on the R.

In the end I bought a GTD but I really wanted the R! Its also costing me around €20 a week less than my Fiesta ST was.

Thats actually very informative post, thank you.
I am doing 25k km a year. I dont know how much it is in old money, but I can do a 6.7l per 100km without full on granny mode with my baby cupra.
When pcp is up I plan on going 2ish year old leon cupra, but with when we talking about that age cars, there is not much price difference between cupra, gti and R. So doing my homework early.
Gtd would be out of the question. Owned only one diesel car in my life and it was my last one. Its just not my cup of tea.

Muppet Man

For me in my 162 DSG Golf R, I average about 27-28 MPG, or around 10.5l/100km. Fairly consistently measured brim to brim and consistent with trip computer too. Mix of Motorway and local suburban dublin driving. It is not a good (economical) motorway cruiser and needs a 7th gear. I'm not a slow driver, but far from mad aggressive either. Best I ever got was about 32 MPG on a slow motorway cruise with the wife in the passenger seat (8.8l/100km). If I remember correctly, that was about 570km on a tank of fuel (55litres)... but it was painful driving

edit to say I do about 19k km/year.

HTH

JoeA3

Very similar experience for me. My R averaged 27-28mpg in my ownership. The computer was always bang on too. I very rarely saw much over 30mpg. The odd very slow Sunday drive maybe. Even on the motorway, it was 32-33mpg at best.

Which is fine if you're doing <= 15-16k a year. Any more kms than that and I think it would get irritating fast.

I think the GTI is the better all rounder tbh. You definitely feel the extra sting in cost of ownership with the R.

ShadowHearth

Thanks a lot lads. Unfortunately such running costs wont be sustainable for me with my millage. R does look very mean, but GTI would be a nice golden spot.

Unfortunately when you add 4wd to a petrol turbo engine mpg goes to ****. I learned that with scooby wrx.

maddness

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Lads, out of curiosity. Would golf R ( 15'-17' ) be expensive to run? Just from my own experience having petrol, turbo and 4wd in a car makes petrol bills very damn high.

I’ve just put 30,000 Kms on mine in the last six months and I’ve averaged 25mpg. Lots of motorway driving and a good amount of backroad stuff too. They are thirsty cars when driven as intended. Fast thirsty fun though.