Gti or Gt ?

[boycey19690]

I am changing my car and ive alaway been a Gti fan and am looking to buy another ,my limit is £16,000 but have been put off buying a Gti for two reasons.One is i have been told that the new Gti drinks petrol like its going out of fashion and two i am finding i can get a much newer Gt with less milage for my money.
Can anyone give me any advice on buying one or the other because my mind is changing from one day to the next.
Cheers

[bw10030]

Have a look at some brokers (e.g. Motorpoint.co.uk), you might find they have a new GT or GTI for about your budget. . . .

Personally I'm sold on the GT TDI, probably just as quick in the real world, and impressive fuel consumption. Even if one of these is just over budget, the halving of fuel bills might swing the balance?

OK it's diesel, and doesn't have the spirit of a petrol, but with the price of fuel it's the sensible choice. They hold their value pretty well too!

[Ben]

all the reviews i've read say that the golf gti isn't all its cracked up to be. The true GTi is the GT TDI. I've got one and would recommend it.:D

[prolfe]

You can get a really low mileage GT TDI 140 facelift for about 16k from VW - I guess these will mostly be ex-demo's which are normally spec'd up a bit.

You will save money on the TDI in: Fuel, Insurance, Tyres, and someone correct me if i'm wrong: servicing

If your looking on vw's used car advanced search then choose nationally, as your local dealer can source it

Interestingly drivethedeal.co.uk quote £17968 for a new GT TDI 170 5Dr, which with a £500 deposit is only £328 a month over 48 months with an option to buy or to walk away based on 15k a year. VW should be able to match this.

For the 140 TDI it would be: £16975 and on the same terms £500 deposit, £307 a month based on 15000 a year.

The A3 Sportback Sport TDI 140 would be £18743, £500 deposit and £314 a month, again 15k a year

So although the A3 is £1800 more, the residuals are stronger and therefore the monthly payment is only £7 more.

And Audi will match these prices as I've done it myself.

or to throw a curve ball at you:

golf 1.4 tfsi £17100, £500 dep, 15k/year, 48 months, £310/month

maybe the 1.4 could be the best of both worlds, gti performance, petrol revs, turbo overtaking, plus free supercharger, oh and the road tax should be cheap

[bora(ing) nick]

I know your after a GT or GTI, but as stated above.... diesel is the way forward....

You wont find much difference in performance, take the GT TDI 170bhp for a drive and you wont even notice your driving a diesel.

Good luck and happy car hunting

Nick

[boycey19690]

Thanks for the info.I will keep looking, i cant see me going for the gt only because to look at i like the gti much more.And although the Gt is probaly more economical and better value i just cant shake of the Gti bug.
Thanks

[Teflon]

I pretty much agreee with Profle about the 1.4 TSI.

I drove the GTI, the GT TSI (170) and the GT TDI. I was massively impressed with the TSI for the price, but in the end bought the GTI because after much searching & haggling I found a dealer who could hit my price requirements.

Whoever said the TDI is the new GTI is trying to tell himself that near enough is good enough. The TDI is fine, okay, frugal, mildly interesting, blah, blah, and seems quite acceptable with the windows closed and the radio turned up. But if you are a full-blown GTI addict it doesn't quite cut the mustard. I'm not anti-diesel - my other car is V6 oil-burner, but the TDI is just a close substitute if you have to clock up big, cheap miles to work and back.

Fuel economy? I'm looking at over 30mpg on a motorway run and mid-20's when crawling around town. If you can't swallow that, an oil-burner is the way to go.

Unfortunately, your budget isn't going to stretch to a brand new GTI so it's either the leasing route, second hand GTI or something more modest. The used diesels seemed a bit expensive to me, but at least there is less chance of buying one that has been thrashed to death than with a GTI.

My advice is to be very careful about going the car supermaket route - lots of the cars available are imports (some from Dubai) so make sure you know what you are buying, whether it is new or scond-hand. Nothing wrong with imports, just make sure you've done your sums.

[Eshrules]

I pretty much agreee with Profle about the 1.4 TSI.

I drove the GTI, the GT TSI (170) and the GT TDI. I was massively impressed with the TSI for the price, but in the end bought the GTI because after much searching & haggling I found a dealer who could hit my price requirements.

Whoever said the TDI is the new GTI is trying to tell himself that near enough is good enough. The TDI is fine, okay, frugal, mildly interesting, blah, blah, and seems quite acceptable with the windows closed and the radio turned up. But if you are a full-blown GTI addict it doesn't quite cut the mustard. I'm not anti-diesel - my other car is V6 oil-burner, but the TDI is just a close substitute if you have to clock up big, cheap miles to work and back.

Fuel economy? I'm looking at over 30mpg on a motorway run and mid-20's when crawling around town. If you can't swallow that, an oil-burner is the way to go.

Unfortunately, your budget isn't going to stretch to a brand new GTI so it's either the leasing route, second hand GTI or something more modest. The used diesels seemed a bit expensive to me, but at least there is less chance of buying one that has been thrashed to death than with a GTI.

My advice is to be very careful about going the car supermaket route - lots of the cars available are imports (some from Dubai) so make sure you know what you are buying, whether it is new or scond-hand. Nothing wrong with imports, just make sure you've done your sums.

for sheer adrenalin and petrol head madness, you cant beat the petrol GTI, you never will do. the sheer noise a petrol GTI generates is addictive, BUT you'll find that a TDI will always have more power potential than a petrol. the diesel engines are more forgiving, a much stronger engine and they have that thing we all love, torque and bags of it ;)

its not a matter of 'whats good enough' its a matter of horses for courses, different people have different needs. budget is a major factor with everyone.

i'd disagree with your point about the TDI sounding noisy though, i suppose it depends on your preference, but the VAG tdi's are one of the sweetest sounding TDIs on the road, aside from the beautiful Merc diesels of course ;)

in regards to car supermarkets, i've not heard of imports being commonplace? i also know that such things have to be declared, a dealer can't sell an import without declaring as much. car supermarkets aren't actually a bad source for nearly new and used cars, so long as you do your homework and you've got a good bantering skill.

remember, if going to a dealer, dont feel guilty about knocking them down on price, although Golfs do hold their money well, so additional extras are often the way to go, rather than price discounts ;)

[boycey19690]

Thanks again for the feedback.Can anyone tell me why imports should be avoided.I have found that i could pickup a brand new import from"Motorprovider" for about 17,500, which when you compare that against some of the secondhand Gti's at the VW dealers it seems very enticing.I dont really want to spend over £16,000 but i am tempted to stretch my budget a bit for the thought of having a brand new one.
Cheers

[Eshrules]

Thanks again for the feedback.Can anyone tell me why imports should be avoided.I have found that i could pickup a brand new import from"Motorprovider" for about 17,500, which when you compare that against some of the secondhand Gti's at the VW dealers it seems very enticing.I dont really want to spend over £16,000 but i am tempted to stretch my budget a bit for the thought of having a brand new one.
Cheers

insurance companies tend not to like them and history with imports can be less than secure i suppose. as long as all the relevant paperwork is there and from a reputable dealer AND you can get insurance, you can make some substantial savings. remember though, imports depreciate heavily, so dont buy one if you intend it to hold value.:Blush2:

[prolfe]

Or how about a r32 on a 53 plate? for 15.5k with 26k on clock

[Teflon]

Oh dear, oh dear, I'd have thought that with all those thousands of posts someone would have a bit more perspective. Why do some of the diesel junkies get so tetchy??

For the record, I've been driving diesel since many of the people on this site were still in short trousers. I still have one. I know all about torque and pulling power. I can do 550 miles without a refill. Wahay!

But PLEASE! don't give me all the stuff about a sweet sounding engine that is solid and reliable when what you really have is something cheap to run that makes your hands stink of oil when you go to fill up. It's near enough, don't be embarrassed about it.

Yes, the TDI can take more power. The 200 horses in the GTI are quite enough for me thanks, but I know I can get enough extra power to blow up the DSG gearbox if I really want it.


On the subject of imports, I can't comment from experience of buying a car, only having rejected the option after much research. In principle, there is nothing wrong with an import - it came out of the same factory that the dealer wants you to wait 3 months to knock up a new VW from. Some people have wonderful experiences. However, there is plenty of discussion about them on this site: http://uk-mkivs.net/

Beware the following:
maximum 2 year warranty from VW (if everything is spot on).
Sometimes no warranty, if the first record at a dealer was elsewhere (e.g. Dubai)
Cars made a year or more ago, that have stood about while evertyhing dries out and stores up long term problems.
Warranty problems that need sorting (I would now ALWAYS buy from a dealer because of my experiences)
Lower long term resale values

Finally, a word about buying. For most of my working life, I've been paid to buy stuff. Big stuff, with lots of 000's in the price. I'm good at it. Here's my advice.....
1. Everyone knows that you've got a chance of a decent deal on a TDI or a "common" model, but dealers like to stick to list price on GTI's because they get a limited allocation. Ignore this.
2. If the salesman can't do something decent, ask to see the boss. If that doesn't work, try another dealer. I phoned and faxed about thirty, but in the end got a stonking great discount from a dealer I'll happily use again. I could have done better, but wouldn't take the risk with one slimeball I had on the other end of the phone.
3. Whatever you are offered, isn't good enough, ask for more. They can always say no.
4. If you are confident to do so, get rid of your old car privately. This stops it all getting tangled up with trade-ins.
5. Be prepared, decide what you want and remember that all the salesman wants is a sale, he's not really your friend.

[engineermk]

Thanks for the info.I will keep looking, i cant see me going for the gt only because to look at i like the gti much more.And although the Gt is probaly more economical and better value i just cant shake of the Gti bug.
Thanks

Its hard; i've had several GTI's aone after the other (MK1, MK2, MK3, 2x MK4) but i ducked out this time and got an A3 quattro. Its possible to break the GTi habbit and you will survive if you do.

[prolfe]

My car has a list price of £600 more than the GTi and a target price of about £40 less than the GTi so I considered it.

The insurance and fuel consumption were the two main reasons for discounting it.

They both retain 51% of their value after three years and the Audi's Servicing cost is only £40 more.

The Audi has 3 years breakdown cover against the GTi's 1 year.

if it was my heart then the GTi would now be mine, because the equivalent Audi would of been £2500 extra.

Would I of chosen the GTi over the GT, nope in short, £2220 is a lot of extras. This is the list price difference between the GTi and 170 GT, which would probably be £2600 based on the target price.

Maybe the Leon in either TDI or TFSI FR guise (8.2 and 7.2 0-60) or even the crazy Cupra at 6.4 to 60. It certainly would show the GTi a thing or two.

The TDI Leon is £3800 cheaper, the TFSI Leon is £4300 cheaper and the Cupra is £800 cheaper.

The leon FR's and the Cupra all look the part as well, inside and out. Lots for your money me thinks.