My thoughts after 3 days with the GTI

[JohnA]

I have now owned the GTI for 3 days and have clocked up 250km.

Having come off 2 previous WRX's, a my 00 and a my03 i was interested to see how i would enjoy this car.

First up the most obvious.
Built quality.
The vW has it all over the WRX. Fit and finish, equipment levels, everything about it is just so much better.

Power. The WRX wins in outright power, however i think on a track it won't be a huge difference and the GTI could find the endge. Stock for stock of course.

Transmission, cannot compare as the WRX was manual and the GTI is DSG

Daily driver. The GTI wins out again. The wrx had nothing bellow 3000 rpm. If you got caught in the wrong gear, it was useless. Turbo lag was annoying, and to get a good launch off the lights, you had to punish it.

Grip and handling. I feel the GTI has better handling. Steering is more precise, however the WRX i feel has it on grip levels. Would be interesting to compare the new R20 though.

If i was after another boy racer, i may have opted for a second hand STI, however, as a complete package, i feel the golf wins hands down.

I am now glad i went down this path, and think i will stick with these for a while longer.

A couple of annoying little things though that i have found so far.

1: Wipers.
of course not just with the golf, but the rain sensing feature i do not like. Just goes on for no apparent reason. Even changing sensitivity to minimum still activates them at times.

The other thing i do not like about the wipers, is that you have to put them in service mode to lift them off the windscreen.
Too easy to forget, and try to lift. Ir if you take it to a normal mechanic, who knows nothing about the feature can be a recipe for disaster.

2: Paddle shifters too damn small and wiper and blinkers close to them. With big fingers there is not much room there.

Also not sure i like that they turn with the steering wheel. I think i would prefer them at the constant 9 and 3 position

do not think i have discovered every feature as yet though, but having fun finding new things.

[nicandlance]

I didn't know about service mode... what is that and does it apply to the whole range of Mark 6?

[Brendan_A]

All MK5 and MK6 have it. It is where the wipers face the roof so you can change the wiper blades.

[Corey_R]

No only change the wiper blades, but easily lift them off the screen so you can clean them and the screen

[Stump]

Interesting thoughts John....

I say interesting, because I have also just stepped out of a WRX. Had my new baby for 2 and a half weeks.

So far, I have it ahead of my WRX on all counts....performance included. (rex was stock too)
Fuel consumption is streets ahead, that may change once it's broken in and I start driving it.....
I have a manual, and find it too, to be superior to the Subie. Sure, the clutch does feel light, but I find I'm changing gears smoother than the WRX..Much easier to get off the line..I guess the apparent lack of lag helps too..

I've ticked up just over 1000 ks in this time, still finding new, interesting things.. and still yet to finish reading my manual.

I plan on keeping her for a good, long time.......and am so pleased I made the choice.

[gerhard]

A couple of annoying little things though that i have found so far.

The other thing i do not like about the wipers, is that you have to put them in service mode to lift them off the windscreen.
Too easy to forget, and try to lift. Ir if you take it to a normal mechanic, who knows nothing about the feature can be a recipe for disaster.

Not quite sure why you would ever consider taking the car to a "normal mechanic", for wiper blades or anything else.

Please don't consider taking this car to such a place

[JohnA]

Not quite sure why you would ever consider taking the car to a "normal mechanic", for wiper blades or anything else.

Please don't consider taking this car to such a place

I wouldn't, but i m sure there are people who might. Besides that fact, if people do not read the manual and just try to lift the wiper arms to wash the car, i can see them damaging the paint work

[JohnA]

Interesting thoughts John....

I say interesting, because I have also just stepped out of a WRX. Had my new baby for 2 and a half weeks.

So far, I have it ahead of my WRX on all counts....performance included. (rex was stock too)
Fuel consumption is streets ahead, that may change once it's broken in and I start driving it.....
I have a manual, and find it too, to be superior to the Subie. Sure, the clutch does feel light, but I find I'm changing gears smoother than the WRX..Much easier to get off the line..I guess the apparent lack of lag helps too..

I've ticked up just over 1000 ks in this time, still finding new, interesting things.. and still yet to finish reading my manual.

I plan on keeping her for a good, long time.......and am so pleased I made the choice.

I have not pushed the golf to its extremes as yet, however it still feels to me the the WRX has the edge. Maybe its because of the kick in the pants when the turbo kicks in compared to the more even power flow of the golf.

[Axis]

I didn't know about service mode... what is that and does it apply to the whole range of Mark 6?

Keep in mind that its not a "Service Mode" for the whole car. It just relates to the windscreen wipers. I use it to lift the wipers off the windscreen when washing the car.

With the Ignition on just tap the wiper wand down a notch and let go. The wipers will go vertical and allow you to then lift them up off the windscreen and they'll "lock" into place (like normal wipers do from the horizontal position).

Only slightly annoying thing is to remember to keep the chamois handy when you've finished the rest of the car. As soon as the wipers move back down to the horizontal position there's a good chance you'll leave a water streak on the windscreen so you'll need to deal with that

A bit more on topic, I've personally found the auto-wipers to be quite good. Its a bit of a shock in functionality compared to the intermittent I was used to. They do seem sporadic, sometimes going flatout and other times with big breaks... but it matches the water on the windscreen pretty well. I'm amazed they work so well at night time!

PS - I don't have a MKVI... just got a MKV Pirelli - I can't help but read this forum too tho!

[JohnA]

One other thing i noticed last night.

I thought i was going mad, but i am not

i like the headrest (leather seats) all the way down, but have noticed after a few drives it has risen?

At first i thought i am just imagining it, never put it all the way down. So did it again yesterday, and last night after driving to work and parking the car, yep, sure enough, it has popped up again.

Anyone else found this?