I drive, film and review the facelift 2017 Golf GTI and R!

[JoeMarano]

Thanks to Bury St Edmunds Volkswagen for allowing these videos to be possible.

I hope you all enjoy the videos. They should be pretty relevant as im a current 6C GTI owner.

Golf R Review: https://youtu.be/SSslEab1PJk
Golf GTI Review: https://youtu.be/f7QAkmk4w4o

[Bigtam]

Great reviews, I agree with what you say why buy a GTI when you can get the R for not much more

[JoeMarano]

Thanks mate! It's rare I receive anything but hate from the Polo community. I think all the facebook group leaders think I'm some sort of threat to them or something! I mean they are welcome to spend £4000 of their hard earned on video gear, spend hours filming in the rain or heat and then sit at a desk editing for hours!

To then sit their and watch a completely free video that they haven't contributed towards or supported. Almost made me quit a while back but for every negative comment I am determined to focus even harder!

[TBjork]

Yes I also agree. The R seems to be very nice!

My ordered Polo Gti 6C should arrive in 3 weeks. Very exited! For my budget this is enough. But perhaps there will be an Golf R in my garage sometime...

[JoeMarano]

I'd like to say the same but as much as I'd love the R I would hate to fuel, tax, insure, pay for its tyres and servicing and so on.

Polo GTI is definately at that sweet spot of being fast enough to be thrilling but at an affordable price

[SRGTD]

Nice reviews Joe. I may be wrong, but I kind of got the impression from your speechless pauses that you quite liked the R?

I hope that when the new 2018 Polo has been launched, Bury St Edmunds VW will do the decent thing and lend you a GTI model to review.

[Bigtam]

I'd like to say the same but as much as I'd love the R I would hate to fuel, tax, insure, pay for its tyres and servicing and so on.

Polo GTI is definately at that sweet spot of being fast enough to be thrilling but at an affordable price

Yeah but when you can afford £30.000+ for a car fuel tax insurance tyres should not be an issue

[Willni]

I'd like to say the same but as much as I'd love the R I would hate to fuel, tax, insure, pay for its tyres and servicing and so on.

Polo GTI is definately at that sweet spot of being fast enough to be thrilling but at an affordable price

Yeah but when you can afford £30.000+ for a car fuel tax insurance tyres should not be an issue

Lol at £190 for a years tax for it that's very affordable consider my 1.4 is £120, a R32 07 golf is £500 a year and an 07 gti is £230 a year, plus insurance is low on them as well due to their little break sensor and the rest is dependant on the driver so really not that bad all in all.

(I know the early mk5 r32's are £250 tax a year but the later were £500 a year)

[JoeMarano]

Nice reviews Joe. I may be wrong, but I kind of got the impression from your speechless pauses that you quite liked the R?

I hope that when the new 2018 Polo has been launched, Bury St Edmunds VW will do the decent thing and lend you a GTI model to review.

Even better mate I'm off to Wolfsburg next friday!!!!

[JoeMarano]

I'd like to say the same but as much as I'd love the R I would hate to fuel, tax, insure, pay for its tyres and servicing and so on.

Polo GTI is definately at that sweet spot of being fast enough to be thrilling but at an affordable price

Yeah but when you can afford £30.000+ for a car fuel tax insurance tyres should not be an issue

I can afford an R outright but I couldn't justify it at all. Specially for what I use it for it wouldn't make sense financially at all.

[SRGTD]

Nice reviews Joe. I may be wrong, but I kind of got the impression from your speechless pauses that you quite liked the R?

I hope that when the new 2018 Polo has been launched, Bury St Edmunds VW will do the decent thing and lend you a GTI model to review.

Even better mate I'm off to Wolfsburg next friday!!!!

I'm not envious in the slightest ; well maybe just a little - actually, quite a lot! Enjoy your trip.

I can afford an R outright but I couldn't justify it at all. Specially for what I use it for it wouldn't make sense financially at all.

Me too, but my Polo GTI does all I want from a car and I'm more than happy with it.

[JoeMarano]

It's going to be good fun! I am paying for it myself though so I'm not quite living the dream just yet lol

Will hopefully have some great videos from it all. Only wish I had a camera stabiliser/gimbal now as that would help a lot!

[skipster]

Brilliant reviews Joe, I really enjoyed watching them, very professionally presented!

[JoeMarano]

I'm actually finding it pretty crazy the compliments I've been getting! Like genuine no BS I'm real happy with the responses I've been getting of late. I guess that's in part down to me actually never being happy with what I've done. It's a bit of a conundrum because it obviously means I'm always moving forward because I'm always trying to improve upon what I'm doing bit I guess in some ways it's also sad that I never personally feel happy with what I do lol

Have so many ideas for the future. I'm particularly wanting to try blending cars and reviews with advanced video graph like hyperlapsing and flow motion techniques which will be a first for any car channel that I've seen.

I guess I'm in the fortunate position of it being a hobby and not a job so I can do it fun without the worry of it not being successful.

[JohnNW]

Good reviews Joe and also thanks for getting some decent footage of an Issac Blue Gti, as I have a performance pack on order in that colour and accurate images that show the true shade seem short on the ground.

With regard to the debate about GTi vs R, my own view was that yes the R is very good, but they are very common and given feedback from owners, they seem to be heavy on fuel (mid 20's seems to be the norm, whereas GTi owners seem to be on about mid 30's), probably not surprising given the performance available and the ease with which it is delivered. I don't do mega miles, but that would have had an impact

I went for a GTi Performance and added some extras rather than opt for the R. The cost of my car ended up roughly £250 less than a DSG 5dr R with met paint and no other options, whereas I have dynamic chassis control, keyless entry, 19" wheels, Dynaudio and a rear camera (it's also a 5dr DSG).
Also had I wanted an R I would probably have ended up with an S3 as I prefer them (particularly the saloon), but would then have got sucked in to the options list and ended up with an expensive car on the wrong side of the £40K car tax threshold (easily done with an Audi).

I have to wait to 1st September to find out if the GTi PP is the sweet spot in the range that I hope it is or rue the day that I didn't opt for the R