The Polo with the badge under the VW badge

[Andy Beats]

Drove our daughter's 'United' yesterday, seems quite a bit different from the 2018 Beats and 2020 GTI I had.
it's a 2021 with the Polo badge under the VW one on the tailgate.
Generally feesl a lot more solid than my two were, a completely different 'thunk' to the door that feels more premium.
And a much nicer gearchange, the throw is a lot shorter than my 95tsi was.
Was it a pretty major update?

[SRGTD]

Drove our daughter's 'United' yesterday, seems quite a bit different from the 2018 Beats and 2020 GTI I had.
it's a 2021 with the Polo badge under the VW one on the tailgate.
Generally feesl a lot more solid than my two were, a completely different 'thunk' to the door that feels more premium.
And a much nicer gearchange, the throw is a lot shorter than my 95tsi was.
Was it a pretty major update?

No, AFAIK just the usual type of minor model year change ‘tweaks’ for 2021 model year cars. The ‘major’ changes were reserved for the facelift model which is the 2022 model year car.

http://www.polodriver.com/polo-2017/mod ... olo-range/

[Andy Beats]

No, AFAIK just the usual type of minor model year change ‘tweaks’ for 2021 model year cars. The ‘major’ changes were reserved for the facelift model which is the 2022 model year car.

http://www.polodriver.com/polo-2017/mod ... olo-range/

I guess the noticeably shorter gearchange throw is part of the 'other changes to be announced later' they mention.
It's a very nice motor, feels appreciably more premium than my Beats did.
And, of course, the spec blows the GTi into the weeds (which isn't hard to be fair ).

[monkeyhanger]

No, AFAIK just the usual type of minor model year change ‘tweaks’ for 2021 model year cars. The ‘major’ changes were reserved for the facelift model which is the 2022 model year car.

http://www.polodriver.com/polo-2017/mod ... olo-range/

I guess the noticeably shorter gearchange throw is part of the 'other changes to be announced later' they mention.
It's a very nice motor, feels appreciably more premium than my Beats did.
And, of course, the spec blows the GTi into the weeds (which isn't hard to be fair).

Is the daughter's a 5 or 6 speed box? The 6 speed manual box most of my performance Golfs and Sciroccos had was a great box, except my Golf R - I'm convinced the linkage wasn't set up right on that, as there were occasions when it wouldn't slot into first at a standstill after a stop, unless I slotted it into 3rd and then 1st. Local dealers wouldn't touch it under warranty, refused to acknowledge the fault, even though the throw felt gritty.

[Andy Beats]

Is the daughter's a 5 or 6 speed box? The 6 speed manual box most of my performance Golfs and Sciroccos had was a great box, except my Golf R - I'm convinced the linkage wasn't set up right on that, as there were occasions when it wouldn't slot into first at a standstill after a stop, unless I slotted it into 3rd and then 1st. Local dealers wouldn't touch it under warranty, refused to acknowledge the fault, even though the throw felt gritty.

5-speed, I don't think the 6th gear happens until the 115PS engine.

[OomStu_ZA]

And, of course, the spec blows the GTi into the weeds (which isn't hard to be fair ).

From the statement above, I assume you mean in terms perceived build quality because the GTI has a 147KW engine compared to the entry level engine in the range ( around 70KW). The spec level of the GTI is also way higher than an entry level model.

Maybe I'm just content with what I have and have no reason to change any time soon.

[monkeyhanger]

And, of course, the spec blows the GTi into the weeds (which isn't hard to be fair ).

From the statement above, I assume you mean in terms perceived build quality because the GTI has a 147KW engine compared to the entry level engine in the range ( around 70KW). The spec level of the GTI is also way higher than an entry level model.

Maybe I'm just content with what I have and have no reason to change any time soon.

Andy has/had a Polo GTI, not a Polo GTI+. The GTI (non plus) for the UK Market is very poorly equipped, and as a result, almost everyone buys a GTI+ instead as there is about £2900 worth of additional equipment for about £1700 difference in list price.

[Andy Beats]

From the statement above, I assume you mean in terms perceived build quality because the GTI has a 147KW engine compared to the entry level engine in the range ( around 70KW). The spec level of the GTI is also way higher than an entry level model.

Maybe I'm just content with what I have and have no reason to change any time soon.

The 'United' has a fair bit the normal GTi (not the Gti+) doesn't.
Or her one does, anyway!

Heated seats
Satnav
Cruise control
Electronic rear mirror

Not that the extra toys of the GTi+ would have made me keep the car.
The issues I had with the GTi weren't down to toys, far more fundamental problems with it.

[monkeyhanger]

The issues I had with the GTi weren't down to toys, far more fundamental problems with it.

Fundamentally it wasn't an EV.

[OomStu_ZA]

Message received I understand thank you for explaining.

Here in South Africa we only have one model of the GTI with the other trims starting with Trendline, Comfortline, and lastly Highline. The base model really has no extras with very limited options available. The other two, Comfortline and Highline, have all the options available, same as the GTI.
At launch in 2017 we had the Beats option as well but doubt it was very popular since it is no longer available on the VW configurator.

[monkeyhanger]

Message received I understand thank you for explaining.

Here in South Africa we only have one model of the GTI with the other trims starting with Trendline, Comfortline, and lastly Highline. The base model really has no extras with very limited options available. The other two, Comfortline and Highline, have all the options available, same as the GTI.
At launch in 2017 we had the Beats option as well but doubt it was very popular since it is no longer available on the VW configurator.

Think of the UK GTI as a Trend line GTI and the UK GTI+ as a Highline GTI.

[Andy Beats]

Fundamentally it wasn't an EV.

You're right, but the overwhelming desire I had to get rid of that car was down to more than that.
If it had been a nicer car to drive, I'd have probably just held onto it longer and not even investigated early sale/return.
The funny thing is I'm driving the Leaf faster than the GTi, just because it's so much easier and nicer.
Proper hooligan cars, these EVs.

BTW you need to change your sig cars.

[monkeyhanger]

High performance engines are generally noisy, they're designed to be that way - not many people who buy a GTI want it to be hushed under load. I suppose that being an irritant leads to it not being the EV you really wanted. My mate has just got an RS3 - no way I'd want to hush that engine note!

[Andy Beats]

My mate has just got an RS3 - no way I'd want to hush that engine note!

Engine notes do nothing for may any more, I even find motorbike noise irritating these days.
I suppose it's down to the fact I can see that it just doesn't have to be this way any more, you can hoon around without disturbing people.
I'd rather have a Tesla than an RS3 any day.

[monkeyhanger]

My mate has just got an RS3 - no way I'd want to hush that engine note!

Engine notes do nothing for may any more, I even find motorbike noise irritating these days.
I suppose it's down to the fact I can see that it just doesn't have to be this way any more, you can hoon around without disturbing people.
I'd rather have a Tesla than an RS3 any day.

He had a Tesla as a company car - gave it back after its 4th replaced door handle, a very creaky drivers seat and lots of wind noise from leaky door seals/poorly hung/aligned doors that seemingly no one could resolve. Great performance, crap build quality.