Good morning fellow Golf fans!
I picked up my Golf a month ago, and I though before I just write back and say, "I love this motherf$@king car", I'd live with it a bit and give people a more informed review.
So I'm at about 4,000 miles now, and (should you not be arsed to read on) my verdit is.. I love this mother... Well I like this car very much indeed. But I don't love it. It's a very good car, and a lot of car for the money compared to rivals. But I'm left wishing I went for the GTI.
So I'll try and breakdown some stuffs and give you my opinion;
The Cabin & Car
Fantastic. Attention to detail and the erganomics and pretty much everything about being inside the car is excellent from a drivers perspective. All the tech is to hand, and it all works as it should, like someone has thought about it! The only thing about the inside that does get me a bit is that finger marks are easily left and less than easily removed from the glossy plastic parts. Carbon paint looks fantastic sat next to my bosses black version. KESSY.. well it just works, apart from when it doesn't (see below). The boot system and all the cubby holes mean that my car & boot is free from clutter to the unsuspecting person.
The Driving
The ACC system is (althoguh not perfect) a god send for someone like me who munches up the miles. Althoguh the steering is a bit numb, its accurate and responsive. The cabin noise is low compared to other cars I've recently owned, and the standard media system (MIBII) is mostly brilliant. I've munched through 3 audio books so far off the memory car and the car always remembers where I am! The couple of things that grind my gears (pun intended) is how easy is goes into reverse, and when you're panicked and having gone into reverese at the lights how many times it takes to find 1st again! and also the crappy way the sat nav is set up for entering postcodes. I do wish there was more than 1 configurable driving mode also.
The Ride & Handling
I've spec'ed the DCC, and the difference between the settings is night and day only because I'm either in Comfort or Sport. I don't see a need for normal if I'm honest. In comfort the car is slightly more docile, and rides bumpy roads very well, whilst still being sporty when pushed. The sport is more focussed and even though it's stiffer, I would not go and say it's 'crashy'. However there is a little too much body roll in the front end for my liking, alot in Comfort and a bit less in Sport. I might invest in a front strut to fix that... The chassis is very capable and I've had this (with the aid of the XDS) going around corners at some silly speeds which should have resulted in death. I've only managed to get it to understeer in the dry once, and that was a full on 180deg corner.
The Engine
67mpg my arse.... I can barely break 55mpg if I keep it in ECO and let the ACC take control most of the way, but if I drive like a normal person I get 45-47mpg. If I'm not touching a motorway then 38-40mpg is more likely and a little less in Sport. If I leave it in Sport down the motorway and tram on then its never above 44mpg. The engine is very capable, and I'm glad for the mapping, it feels less like a torquesplosion than the VAG TD engines I've had in the past. It's linear and well delivered. Although I've been left lacking a touch more power recently and I wish I'd got a GTI instead.
The Options
DCC - Excellent, worth the money to whack it in Comfort and glide along when you're not racing about.
KESSY - It works, and now I don't want a car without it.
Carbon metallic - The BEST colour, IMO.
Leather Interior - It adds to the interior experience, and makes the car look a little more special, but it's not worth the asking price.
S & S Pack - LOVE it. Even when I'm in ECO engine mode I have the synthetic sound purring away. It just makes driving a deisel a bit more tollerable.
The Modifications
I've only put on some badge skins so far, I've changed some stuffs with VAGCOM and I've put on my ECS wheel spacer flush kit (not pictured)
The Issues
I've only had a few.... Since I got the car I could not work out why I was locked out of certain menus in the infotainment system. Some of the options would just say 'function not available'. I could see a 'missing messages' fault code with VAGCOM but when cleared it just came back and at 1200 miles there was a large bang (resulting electrical failure) in passenger door which took out some control & comms wires as well as the KESSY antenna. The car started doing some crazy assed shit and failing to respond to commands in the infotainment system, and of course the KESSY stopped working. FYI the error message to this effect that bings up on the dash every 5 minutes is not annoying at all.... Booked it in to VW Wakefield and they had it 4 days (originally no clue how to fix the infotainment part) but I got it back all sorted no issues. They were very patient and communicated everyday, I was very happy with their service.
Sorry I don't have a better picture yet, being a photographer I really should have sorted this out by now!
I picked up my Golf a month ago, and I though before I just write back and say, "I love this motherf$@king car", I'd live with it a bit and give people a more informed review.
So I'm at about 4,000 miles now, and (should you not be arsed to read on) my verdit is.. I love this mother... Well I like this car very much indeed. But I don't love it. It's a very good car, and a lot of car for the money compared to rivals. But I'm left wishing I went for the GTI.
So I'll try and breakdown some stuffs and give you my opinion;
The Cabin & Car
Fantastic. Attention to detail and the erganomics and pretty much everything about being inside the car is excellent from a drivers perspective. All the tech is to hand, and it all works as it should, like someone has thought about it! The only thing about the inside that does get me a bit is that finger marks are easily left and less than easily removed from the glossy plastic parts. Carbon paint looks fantastic sat next to my bosses black version. KESSY.. well it just works, apart from when it doesn't (see below). The boot system and all the cubby holes mean that my car & boot is free from clutter to the unsuspecting person.
The Driving
The ACC system is (althoguh not perfect) a god send for someone like me who munches up the miles. Althoguh the steering is a bit numb, its accurate and responsive. The cabin noise is low compared to other cars I've recently owned, and the standard media system (MIBII) is mostly brilliant. I've munched through 3 audio books so far off the memory car and the car always remembers where I am! The couple of things that grind my gears (pun intended) is how easy is goes into reverse, and when you're panicked and having gone into reverese at the lights how many times it takes to find 1st again! and also the crappy way the sat nav is set up for entering postcodes. I do wish there was more than 1 configurable driving mode also.
The Ride & Handling
I've spec'ed the DCC, and the difference between the settings is night and day only because I'm either in Comfort or Sport. I don't see a need for normal if I'm honest. In comfort the car is slightly more docile, and rides bumpy roads very well, whilst still being sporty when pushed. The sport is more focussed and even though it's stiffer, I would not go and say it's 'crashy'. However there is a little too much body roll in the front end for my liking, alot in Comfort and a bit less in Sport. I might invest in a front strut to fix that... The chassis is very capable and I've had this (with the aid of the XDS) going around corners at some silly speeds which should have resulted in death. I've only managed to get it to understeer in the dry once, and that was a full on 180deg corner.
The Engine
67mpg my arse.... I can barely break 55mpg if I keep it in ECO and let the ACC take control most of the way, but if I drive like a normal person I get 45-47mpg. If I'm not touching a motorway then 38-40mpg is more likely and a little less in Sport. If I leave it in Sport down the motorway and tram on then its never above 44mpg. The engine is very capable, and I'm glad for the mapping, it feels less like a torquesplosion than the VAG TD engines I've had in the past. It's linear and well delivered. Although I've been left lacking a touch more power recently and I wish I'd got a GTI instead.
The Options
DCC - Excellent, worth the money to whack it in Comfort and glide along when you're not racing about.
KESSY - It works, and now I don't want a car without it.
Carbon metallic - The BEST colour, IMO.
Leather Interior - It adds to the interior experience, and makes the car look a little more special, but it's not worth the asking price.
S & S Pack - LOVE it. Even when I'm in ECO engine mode I have the synthetic sound purring away. It just makes driving a deisel a bit more tollerable.
The Modifications
I've only put on some badge skins so far, I've changed some stuffs with VAGCOM and I've put on my ECS wheel spacer flush kit (not pictured)
The Issues
I've only had a few.... Since I got the car I could not work out why I was locked out of certain menus in the infotainment system. Some of the options would just say 'function not available'. I could see a 'missing messages' fault code with VAGCOM but when cleared it just came back and at 1200 miles there was a large bang (resulting electrical failure) in passenger door which took out some control & comms wires as well as the KESSY antenna. The car started doing some crazy assed shit and failing to respond to commands in the infotainment system, and of course the KESSY stopped working. FYI the error message to this effect that bings up on the dash every 5 minutes is not annoying at all.... Booked it in to VW Wakefield and they had it 4 days (originally no clue how to fix the infotainment part) but I got it back all sorted no issues. They were very patient and communicated everyday, I was very happy with their service.
Sorry I don't have a better picture yet, being a photographer I really should have sorted this out by now!
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