Is the Golf R a practical family car?

[Corey_R]

I would be looking at a 5 door golf if I went for one. The convenience of the 2 extra doors would be a must for me. Interesting what you said about the seats in the Golf Coreying, the base of the 135 seats do not move forward, the back rest part simply flips forward when you pull a lever, so getting in and out, or trying to work through that space with a child would be a nightmare.

Yeah - the easiest way into the rear of a 2/3 door Golf is to literally just walk straight in or out "forwards" (leaning forward obviously.... the door isn't 6ft tall!). Unless you're considerably wider than my average frame, there is no need to strain or twist. Even my Polo GTI is the same situation of pulling the seat forward then just walking straight in. It's amusing seeing people who have previously only experienced restrictive seats (like many Japanese cars or the 135 like you mention) unnecessarily doing the "twist shuffle" trying to get in or out

Yeah the big problem isn't so much the kids themselves I believe, but the gear associated with them. I have a young niece it might be a good idea to borrow the pram one day and have a look at how that fits in a golf. I guess the trade off here is trying to get as practical a car as possible while still keeping it as small as possible!

The boot of the Golf R when looking at the Litres figures is quite considerably smaller than the rest of the Golf series - 275L vs 350L. However, the boot "floor area" is identical. The difference is that the floor of the R is ~10cm higher to allow for the AWD system as compared to the rest of the Golf series.
So whilst I urge you to "test" things for yourself (borrow a pram from a friend, take it along with some bags etc to the dealership with you etc), as long as the pram still fits in from a height point of view, there shouldn't be too much of a difference between the R and the GTI.

I had a look at the Tiguan, the only model available in NZ is a 103kW diesel, so I don't think that will push my performance buttons. The styling is really my thing either (somewhat against owning a SUV even if it's a small one), although team_v it looks like you have done great things with yours! Cool car!

The petrol Tiguan's actually BOTH have the same motor as the GTI does - they're just tuned differently. What this means is that APR flash for the GTI is also applicable to the Tiguan. AWD and 200kw seems pretty sporty to me
Until you hit a corner that is. Without getting into any arguments about it here (please everyone else!), the various Tiguan owners who have done the APR Stage 1 or 2 on a Tiguan and then lowered it and upgraded suspension and other components have reported being very happy with its performance.

[blanch0b]

maybe DCD should have a look at a tiguan 147 and APR-ing the hell out of it 200kw+ awd suv is just awesome.... that will be one fully sick ride,

or just get a GTI or R now, stick a few baby seats in there, wait till theyve stopped vomiting on everything, then upgrade again in 3-5 years time to a brand new vomit-less Tig.....

[Corey_R]

Well, you don't need to get the Tiguan 147. The Tiguan 125 has the exact same engine and potential.
But neither of those sounds like an option since DCD mentioned that the Tiguan 103TDI appears to be the only Tiguan available in New Zealand.

[DCD]

The upside to not having much space is of course your mother-in-law has to travel in a separate car and you don't have to cart other people's kids around.

HA nice I hadn't thought of that!

Hmm it sounds like a lot of people are managing with a Golf and children. I might have to go down and test out the boot for myself this weekend.

Ah I see I didn't realise that the R had a shallower boot than the Gti. Still it should be too bad, I think? When i looked in the back on one the other week it looked pretty large. Something to take notice of though, I'll be sure to take a closer look at the boot of a Gti when I'm there this weekend.

Mmm a petrol Tiguan sounds like it certainly could be made into a pretty quick car. Like I said though, not really into SUV's even though it is a small one. Don't want to step on the toes of anyone who owns one, but I just feel like that are unnecessary in the city where I will be doing 90% of my driving. I certainly won't be off roading or anything like that. I've always been a proponent of handling prowess in a car. I saw in another thread on this board that a Tiguan handles extremely well for a small SUV, one of the best in class as a matter of fact. However to me a SUV is a SUV, I'd rather go a stationwagon.

[team_v]

Mmm a petrol Tiguan sounds like it certainly could be made into a pretty quick car. Like I said though, not really into SUV's even though it is a small one. Don't want to step on the toes of anyone who owns one, but I just feel like that are unnecessary in the city where I will be doing 90% of my driving. I certainly won't be off roading or anything like that. I've always been a proponent of handling prowess in a car. I saw in another thread on this board that a Tiguan handles extremely well for a small SUV, one of the best in class as a matter of fact. However to me a SUV is a SUV, I'd rather go a stationwagon.

I would have a look at the Octavia VRS then.
Same engine as the GTI i believe but the wagon is quite large and they are quite a good car for the money (also comes with satnav as standard i believe now in Aus)

But as said before, take some usual family day out stuff and see if you can fit it all in the car with people comfortably.
That will be the true test.

[AdamD]

I would have a look at the Octavia VRS then.
Same engine as the GTI i believe but the wagon is quite large and they are quite a good car for the money (also comes with satnav as standard i believe now in Aus)

The Octavia RS does use the EA888 as fitted to the GTI, but with a 147kw tune.

The satnav (rabadged RNS-510) is still an option. It comes standard with a 6-disc system (possibly the equivalent of the RCD-510).

Definitely a great car - I've driven one at length. It doesn't have the dynamic edge of the GTI or the R, however, and the DSG doesn't pop or blurt on shifts.

[GTI mk6]

I'm looking at the golf because I want to get into a bigger car. I currently drive a 135i and I love it! However small boot and 2 door inconvenience don't make for a good family car. Looking forward to getting married in the near future and starting a family and thus I need something with 4 doors and a real boot! How well does a Golf suit for carting a kid and all the junk thats associated with them around? Would it handle 2 young ones?

Hi there,
no first hand experience on this one......but my boss owns a Beemer M3 convertable and a GTI V Pirelli 5 door.
They have just had their first little one a couple of months back and are now reluctantly selling the GTI.
I asked him why and he said because they have a baby capsule that faces towards the back, the passenger seat has to be
moved forward and they both feel like they are too close to the front dash now, he said the beemer is almost worse.
BTW they are not overly tall, both average heights. They are now looking at an R36 wagon as one option.
Ahh keep it in the VW family hehe

[pologti18t]

I reckon a Superb Wagon would be the ideal sprog-mobile

[swalee]

These are all great points.

We have two kids, a dog and a cat ...oh and my wife. We have two cars, the R and my wifes ML Merc 320cdi ( which is a overpriced waste of metal ).
The Golf is great ( funnily enough ) for round town with the kids and packing LIGHT. But when we have to go up the coast the ML is used. The kids love the golf as they can see out of the window, and also Mummy doesn't come in the car so that makes it more enjoyable. If we only had one vehicle we would have brought a Skoda superb V6 or Passat R36, they are great family cars and you get vomit free protection. But get the R anyway I did.

[hooba]

The same thing with a 2/3 door car vs 4/5 door car. When you place a baby in their rocker chair at home, how many people stand 50cm to the side of it, lean down and stretch out to place them in the seat? How many people lean down directly in front of the seat and place them in it that way? So why when it comes to cars do people take the difficult option of leaning across from the side? In my experience, people who are not obese or not exccessively tall should have no issue putting a child into their baby capsual in the rear of a 2/3 door Golf due to the "easy access" seats which slide and lean forward, and then return to their original position - all with simple lift of a lever.

You've never had kids have you? The best way to get some lower back problems is by having to install kids into a 2 door car.



The Golf R's problem is the reduced boot space which rules it out as a family car IMHO (try fitting a week's shopping, a pram, and a box of nappies in the boot). A GTI would be a better bet provided that you can accept that sometimes the boot will be full and gear will need to go into the passenger compartment, and you that don't need a very large pram (which you don't).


Do a search of the Mark 5 forum on "ISO", there are quite a few good threads on fitting baby seats with pictures.

[ConR]

The best way to get some lower back problems is by having to install kids into a 2 door car.

?? How do you install a kid?

[hooba]

?? How do you install a kid?

Another virgin hey?

Well if they're in a capsule, carefully if they are asleep whilst making sure you don't get you finger caught on the damn clip.

If they in the booster seat whilst having a tantrum, by holding them in place with one hand whilst clipping them up with the other.

[mfl]

As the kids are now teenagers, I have no problem fitting them into back of the GTI, but as mentioned before, baby capsules take up a lot of space, and the booster seats also push the kids further forward towards the front seats (nothing like being kicked in the back while driving).

With the capsules and boosters, I had Commodores to fit the kids in, anything smaller was too small. So I would trying out an r36 , for size. But the Golf would be too small, but once the kids are out of the boosters seats, no worry.

[Corey_R]

You've never had kids have you? The best way to get some lower back problems is by having to install kids into a 2 door car.

Lol.... yeah, doesn't sound like you have either by that wording....

As for the boot space... again, the GTI and R have the same "floor area". How many people here are stacking shopping bags multiple levels high?

[cameronp]

With the capsules and boosters, I had Commodores to fit the kids in, anything smaller was too small. So I would trying out an r36 , for size. But the Golf would be too small, but once the kids are out of the boosters seats, no worry.

Have child seats got a lot bigger recently? From when I was born until I was school-aged, my folks had two kids and a Holden Gemini, which I believe is even smaller than a Golf.