Two days in a Golf GTI

[Swallowtail]

Thanks to Austral here in Brisbane, I have a Mark VI Golf GTI to drive around in for a couple of days...

It's a Carbon Steel Metallic DSG 5 dr - options fitted are sunroof and leather.



I'll post up some pics and impressions over the next couple of days, but for now it's off to have some more fun...

[h100vw]

That's nice looking Simon, when are they getting it back?

Gavin

[arbour]

Hi nice looking car. How did you go about hooking this up.Did you buy your r36 through them?

[tinto]

Great colour - one of those shades you don't realise is black until you see a black car next to it!

[Swallowtail]

That's nice looking Simon, when are they getting it back?

Gavin

Monday morning...

Hi nice looking car. How did you go about hooking this up.Did you buy your r36 through them?

Yes I did, but it is mainly because they are trying to make effort to show willing to work on relationships with our VWW community.

Great colour - one of those shades you don't realise is black until you see a black car next to it!

That's cos it's not black... it's dark grey.

More pics later today.

[Swallowtail]

[Swallowtail]

Took it for a punt up Nebo / Glorious this morning with Shaneth in the passenger seat...

It sounds good, great exhaust note and blip on gearchange. Little bit drony in 5th at low revs, I assume that may improve as the exhaust beds in. Not a bad drone though. Overall note is good. Tiny bit of torque steer, but minimal and easily controllable. Didn't notice understeer at all, it just turns in nicely and pulls out well (although I do miss awd LOL). Very well balanced chassis, feels great to drive, very engaging and invites you to play hard. Steering feels nicely ratio'ed, and only the tightest corners need a hand shuffle. Brakes feel good, bite hard and pull the car up strongly, although not the best I've ever pushed on. Seats are comfortable, the leather isn't a problem in cornering.

Engine feels torquey, but without a huge surge of power - a bit more would be good, it stops shy of being real grunt, but in terms of balance with the chassis and the control that you have in and out of corners it is brilliant. A couple of corners it all came together beautifully, and the result is a very well poised car that you can control nicely using the throttle. Higher speed corners it feels very planted, very safe, and it handles bumps very well. I reckon the bump handling is better than my Passat.

As a hot hatch this thing rocks. It's not as in your face as an MPS3, not the grunt or wild child, but easier to drive hard as a result. Pottering around town it feels well setup, not too firm, comfortable, well put together, although some aspects of the interior do betray cost-cutting. Noise levels are good, NVH is excellent for the type of car that it is.

This is without doubt one of the best cars at its price. I drove a stock WRX recently, and whilst this doesn't have the power or grip of a WRX, it is a far classier car that is very engaging and enjoyable to drive - to me it's a better compromise than a WRX. Will attract a lot less attention too LOL.

Thanks again to Michael, Mark and Vassi at Austral Volkswagen in Brisbane for the loan of the car.

Now I gotta go clean the Jim Beam off the front where some moron threw a can from a car coming the other way... fortunately it hit the road in front of us and not the car. idiots...

I should say too that this car only has 400km or so on the clock, so it is still very tight. Yet it still pulled hard. With 7,000 - 10,000 under its belt I reckon it'll feel a lot quicker. Launch Control still worked well though...

[MurphyTheElf]

Launch Control still worked well though...

Nice feedback - I'd give my options, but with my level of experience it wouldn't be worth much. So you tried the launch control.... I've been a little cautious to do so thus far, and I wasn't even sure if mine had it. Do all DSG's have it?

Was it simple enough to use and was wheelspin apparent, or is it quite unobtrusive? Is it possible to engage launch control from stop without others noticing?

[tinto]

That's cos it's not black... it's dark grey.

I phrased that badly, meant to say 'isn't black'
I was standing next to one at the Perth launch and thought it was black pearl until I saw a black one across the showroom.
It is a subtle hue that works well with the red accents.


And Murphy, unless it is significantly different in the mk6, there's nothing subtle about an aggressive launch control takeoff

[arbour]

thanks for the write up and photos. How many times have you done the nebo glorious drive. I did it in my cc after reading this article on Australian Car Advice
awesome drive went all the way up to somerset dam, really scenic drive.

here is that article its worth a read

http://www.caradvice.com.au/20067/mitsubishi-evolution-x-king-of-the-mountain/

[Swallowtail]

Nice feedback - I'd give my options, but with my level of experience it wouldn't be worth much. So you tried the launch control.... I've been a little cautious to do so thus far, and I wasn't even sure if mine had it. Do all DSG's have it?

Was it simple enough to use and was wheelspin apparent, or is it quite unobtrusive? Is it possible to engage launch control from stop without others noticing?

Not all DSGs have it, no. Sport mode, ESP off, left foot brake, right foot throttle, it goes to 3000 and won't go any higher. Take left foot off brake and hold on. wheelspin, but not too much. Loud though LOL... it's not unobtrusive...

I phrased that badly, meant to say 'isn't black'
I was standing next to one at the Perth launch and thought it was black pearl until I saw a black one across the showroom.
It is a subtle hue that works well with the red accents.


And Murphy, unless it is significantly different in the mk6, there's nothing subtle about an aggressive launch control takeoff

It's a good colour, I like it. You are right about working well with the red accents.

thanks for the write up and photos. How many times have you done the nebo glorious drive. I did it in my cc after reading this article on Australian Car Advice
awesome drive went all the way up to somerset dam, really scenic drive.

here is that article its worth a read

http://www.caradvice.com.au/20067/mi...-the-mountain/

I live at the bottom of Nebo... Today we went up to Glorious and then right and back down through Samford. Coming down Glorious on the new bitumen we pushed it quite hard - lots and lots of fun...

[MurphyTheElf]

And Murphy, unless it is significantly different in the mk6, there's nothing subtle about an aggressive launch control takeoff

Yeah it seems like a silly question, but I thought there might have been rev range in which it was effective, negating the "pause" at launch. But I guess the only objective of launch control is to maximise acceleration - to hell with noise, traction, etc.

[maca]

Took it for a punt up Nebo / Glorious this morning with Shaneth in the passenger seat...

Surprised we didn't see you Simon, was up there with 2 other Mk5s today

thanks for the write up and photos. How many times have you done the nebo glorious drive. I did it in my cc after reading this article on Australian Car Advice
awesome drive went all the way up to somerset dam, really scenic drive.

here is that article its worth a read

http://www.caradvice.com.au/20067/mi...-the-mountain/

That article is wrong! We got stuck behind an old V70 today

[Swallowtail]

I was pleasantly surprised how good the car felt through the twisties. It just felt planted. No understeer to speak of, minimal torque steer (and that only coming hard out of very slow corners). It just felt 'safe', if you know what I mean. And we weren't going slow either.

We had some traffic going up Nebo, but it cleared by the time we hit Glorious.

Took the GTI back today... I could get used to being in a car that size again. Might have to look at a Golf R next time...

[johng]

GTI Interior

Any thoughts on the changes such as bluetooth, usb connectivity and sound system that are new to the mk 6?

Any other threads on these issues?