GTI-7-Performance
Ready to race!
- Location
- Switzerland
When she was clean...
I have now had 5 weeks and 1700kms of mixed driving in my GTi 7 Performance and thought I'd air my thoughts so far.
BACKGROUND
I have previously owned both a Golf 3 and Golf 4. The Mk 4 for 9 years and it gave sterling service. Between was a Polo 1.4 16v which covered 70,000 kms. The only problem was the DSG's Metatronics box which was replaced free under warranty.
Before the 2 Golfs were 3 Audis (2 x 100 and 1 x 80), 2 Porsches (914 & 944), Toyota Celica Supra, Capri 2000 GT, endless Ford Cortinas, Escorts and fading towards the dawn of time, a couple of Austin Marinas. Before them all a Triumph Herald. So a fairly wide, long and diverse history. I have also drven extensively, at one period clocking up 20,000 miles a year, in the UK, Continent, the USA coast to coast, Australia and Africa.
My wife and I are both in our 60s now and living in out the country we need a car, but did not want the expense of two cars. Thus we wanted something that would be a Jack of all trades. For the Missus: the ability to make the trip to the supermarket and park easily, yet provide me with some fun when required. The ability to carry 5 people when needed and belt across Europe a couple of times a year. Comfort and safety being a prime concerns too. Plus we did not want anything flashy - certainly not a snorting 'boy racer', nor even a 'pensioner racer'. Hence the choice of a 4-door GTi with DSG. I am currently running on 17" winter wheels with Conti Winter Contacts on. The summer will see 18" Austins.
Jeremy Clarkson writing in the Sunday Times said he loved the GTi because it was anonymous and didn't attract the attention of his groupies. Before buying, I seriously considered ordering the car without badges, such was my desire to keep a low profile on the road. To this end the Mk7 GTi was immediately attractive as it didn't stand out from the crowd - unless you know what you are looking for. I also looked at the Audi A3 and the BMW series 1 and 3. On a performance/price ratio the GTi won. For a cool conservative image, the Golf won.
THE GOOD
...and there's plenty!
Quality. So solid from the dull thud of the doors closing to the stitching on the steering wheel and seats. The solid sound-proofed cabin. The Mk7 exudes quality especially for this market segment. There are lots of nice little touches, like the overhead sunglasses holder, the adjustable arm rest and the red LED flashes on the inside of the doors at night.
Keyless entry is such a boon. I love the electric parking brake and hill hold.
Adaptive cruise control is very close a work of genius. But it is let down by a few flaws:
- while it is undoubtedly excellent in slowing the car down, when the car in front does the same, it is far too slow resuming speed again and needs the accelerator.
- It gets confused by cars leaving the Autobahn and slows down for them even though they are on the slip of lane.
- The indicator overrides the slowing down effect, but if this is done in heavy traffic when another vehicly has just passed it tries to resume the set speed when it is unsafe to do so and needs to be braked.
Heater and heated seats warm up in record time even at -5°C. And the fan is quiet.
...and the performance. Better still, it's handleable performance.
I love Park Assist. How long it remains a gimmick remains to be seen. The wife would love too it only she could remember how to get it going.
Rear view camera: will I never have to look over my shoulder again?
DAB+ radio (sorry UK) is a big step forward over DAB, which I had for 4 years in my previous Polo. I resolves all my gripes about DAB: DAB+ starts and tunes in quickly, switches to FM and back in tunnels seamlessly and doesn't suffer from bubbling when the signal is weak. Plus the quality is better: I found in the past that FM was often better than DAB. It would seem that DAB+ also downloads station icons automatically, because mine are all there.
The Discover Pro Juke Box is a neat idea, though it took 3/4 of an hour to load the 8.5Gb of 1500 tunes from my iPod on to it. My wife has her own iPod and music selection on her iPod which connects neatly and is tucked away in front of the gear stick. Music by Blue Tooth, from iPhones at least, is excellent too.
Economy is a great selling point of the GTi. A 230HP 5 seater that returns 44MPG (6.4l/100km) is a dream - and remarkably I've achieved it! In fact I got 46mpg on a 140km autobahn run in quite heavy traffic with an average speed of 97kph. There are woeful tales of owners getting no more than 22MPG. For the total first 1700kms overall I have got 8.1 litres/100km (35mpg). What is clear if you drive carefully, but not necessarily like you are carrying a coffin, then you may get near VW's claimed figures. But drive a GTi like a GTi and expect sub-30MPG figures. That crackle when the DSG shifts up under power is addictive.
In round figures I'm getting about 9 litres/100km (31mpg) around town and 6.5 litres (43mpg) on a run.
I recently did the run from Zurich to Geneva and back. That's 600km, 99% Autobahn, which took me just under 3 hours each way, average speed around 100kph (62mph) with ACC set to 125kph (77.6mph), the highest speed that doesn't set the radar cameras off. Going I used Eco mode exclusively and got 6.7 litres per 100km (42mpg) on my return I used Comfort and got 6.5l/100km (43mpg). Geneva is about 200 metres lower that where I started from, if that makes much difference.
Fingers crossed, so far I have not experienced any of the faults and niggles reported on forums - the wipers are even good.
THE BAD
This is short. Very little. The car actually passed my expectations. But see 'Improvements' below.
Perhaps it is the body shape or the colour, mine is white, but the Mk7 collects dirt like it's going out of fashion. Even the short drive back from the car wash on a wet winter's day and the tailgate and back bumper were already dirty again.
THE UGLY
OK, I admit it: I over spec'ed it! But you're only young once. In fact you need to be young as this car bristles with technology - and there's the rub.
To illustrate this, there is a sad thread over on the German VW forum (http://www.motor-talk.de/forum/golf-7-voellige-fehlkonzeptionen-fuer-senioren-t4764622.html). The gist is the poster's parents, both in their 70s, could simply not handle the techy side of the the Mk7. Frankly, if you do not own a tablet or use a computer regularly, you are going to find the MK7 hard going. I venture to suggest that all reading this on a forum will have little problem. But those who think a forum is what the Romans built with a funny thing happening on the way there, and a tablet is an Aspirin, will be in big trouble. The myriad of high-tech features on the Mk7 will be a closed door - possibly quite literally.
Most poignantly for me was in that German thread is that this elderly couple needed a torch to enter the car in the dark as they could not fathom the 420+ page handbook or the on-board computer to increase the cabin brightness.
Little gems like automatic door locking when the car starts off, which I like the Missus to have when driving alone, are great but are hidden away deep in the layers of menus.
I have Lane Assist, which I think is not available in the UK. After showing off by letting the car steer itself for a few seconds before the alarm tells you to get your mits back on the wheel, there's not a lot going for it. But who knows, perhaps I'll get used to having the wheel tugged left and right as I drive.
The biggest disappointment is Dynaudio. It may well be that pumping up the volume makes it a worthwhile investment, but I can't hear the benefit. For me I prefer to hold on to my hearing and thus my music is too quiet to benefit from the 400 odd watts of power.
Many of the fore mentioned electronic marvelry requires a good deal of faith. My tip is don't worry about the gadgets. Set them up while parked in your drive and leave them alone. I even started driving in my reading glasses as I was spending more time reading the output of the screens than watching the road.
IMPROVEMENTS
Everything is in the right place and works as and when it is supposed to, but dare I make a few suggestions for improvement?
Voice control*: it's a bit daft to have hands-free system to control some of the Infotainment system that needs a button on the Infotainment to be pressed to start it. A small 'voice' button on the steering wheel would make it really hands-free.
* CORRECTION. I have now found the voice control button on the right side of the steering wheel. I needed my reading glasses to find it.
Keyless entry: with a 4-door (obviously) it would be more convenient if the car could be opened with all doors. I often like to drop my bag or a coat on the back seat and need to open a front to door first to then open a rear door.
Add a lower floor in the boot, although this may make the sub-woofer even less effective. Without the second floor, putting items under the boot floor exposed the sub-woofer to damage. Also with the floor in the lower position, what's that slope all about? It restricts the usable space and smacks of a design bodge to me.
Light assist is scarily awesome as it does better than just dip full beams and can shut out light from oncoming vehicles. They will even look round corners and switch themsleves on and off for tunnels and when it gets dark. But the whole lighting system falls flat on its face in daytime fog. This requires the headlights and rear lights to be put on manually. I can see fog, why can't my Golf?
I am surprised that MK7s have only a 50 litre fuel tank. My last Polo had the same size but would use 5 l/100km (56MPG) and thus had a far greater range. Presumably VW do it to save weight and return better fuel usage figures. Gone are the fondly remembered days of my old Audi 100 with 80 litre (21 Imp gallon) tank that could get owners from Aberdeen to to the tip of Sicily sipping on one tankful of 4 star. A bigger fuel tank would get my vote.
Why oh why can't the designer the nice VW leatherette holder that houses the handbook talk to the designer of the under-seat drawers? The glove box is so small it's half full with handbook in it, and the handbook holder won't fit in the under-seat drawer.
All in all I am more than delighted. It was not a cheap purchase, but looks like in the fun to function ratio is perfect.
The evidence:
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