jbGTI wrote:Hi Guys,
I have recently picked my my New Polo GTI, albeit im in South Africa, thought Id give you my feedback none the less.
Spec of my car is as follows : Colour White, LED Lights, 18 Brescias, Sunroof, Blind Spot Assist, Auto Fold Mirrors, Parking Sensors, Park Assist and Climatronic option.
A nice touch that the Sales person did for me was put on the Golf GTI Silver bottom key tip to the key fob, as well as load the icons for the radio stations before I picked up the car.
Overall, the GTI is a brilliant car, has certain small issues but overall very much pleased with the car so far.
Coming from a Polo 6R 1.4, there is a huge step up in overall quality and general niceness of the cabin. The media screen has really nice functionality with various screens for different information and Apple Car Play works brilliantly. I have not got Android Auto to work so far with several android phones tried. The general space inside of the cabin just feels so much more bigger, its quite a step up in space over the previous gen Polo. The sound system is generally quite good. The Alcantara / Leather seats are good without being brilliant. (PS. I have seen a GTI with full leather seats and to me that looks really really nice, will post a pic on the Seats thread).
Power is instantaneous, no matter which gear your in, just feels like there is always power on tap. Launch control works brilliantly (left a A45 AMG dead at the robots
), even with the Bridgestone Turanza's spinning like crazy. Top Speed I have achieved so far is 242 km/h. I feel this car can easily do 250 km/h. Interesting that the official spec says top speed of 236 km/h. I have a few mates with Polo 6 R/C GTI's and this new GTI is certainly a tab bit faster that the previous gen. I did not feel much of a difference after 1000 kms, but did not really drive the car hard enough to really pick up any differences. Also, when picking up the car, the sales person mentioned to me that try not use the Launch control alot as VW will check how often you use it at a service interval and this could potentially lead to my warranty being voided.
The DSG gearbox works quite well for me, shifts are very quick and overall gear ratios are pleasant. The handbrake release or pull up is notchy and not smooth for me.
Fuel Consumption for me is good enough, overall long term consumption is 7.3 l/km or 39 mpg, driving hard its about 8.5 l/km or 33 mpg and completely cruising I have achieved 4.5 l/km or 63 mpg.
The handling of the car is good enough, although this car could could be lowered a further 20mm to be about perfect. The GTI does handle pretty well, the car certainly feels like it could easily handle way more power. My old polo had a massive drop and was lowered about 60mm, so that car practically stuck to the road like glue. So in this regard I might be abit biased. The Bridgestone Turanzas just suck, anywhere approaching half throttle in first gear will cause traction control to kick in. I will definitely be changing to a different set in the future. Interestingly I have been told to increase my tire size width to 225 from the standard 215 as 225 width tires are considerably cheaper and there is a much bigger variety available at that size. The overall ride of the car is quite firm without being harsh. In my opinion, what contributes to this is that the front tires have a spec to be pumped up to 280 bar, which in my opinion is alot. I have dropped the pressure to 240 bar and the ride was better but noticed abit of the sidewall of the tire getting dirty so reverted back to 280 bar for a firm sidewall.
The different modes to drive the car in : eco, normal, sport and individual, is certainly interesting to me and each mode completely changes the dynamic of the car. Eco mode is very very subtle power with a lot of the gearbox coasting in neutral as soon as you let go of the accelerator. Normal mode is brilliant for everyday driving enough power without being bat sh*t crazy, which leads to Sport Mode, which is very very fun to drive in, exhaust and sound aktor goes louder, much more pops and bangs from the exhaust, throttle is more responsive, and the gearbox also changes quite a lot, love the downshift when slowing down.
To the chaps who would want to modify this car, I have seen a company called CPI Tuning here in South Africa, do a Stage 1 (Software, downpipe, exhaust) upgrade on the GTI, and achieved 205kw and 497nm on the dyno.
Overall I am very happy, although there are a few small issues that I have found with the car,
My main issue is receiving the car with the Bridgestone Turanza's, why put a GT or middle of the range on effectively a performance car. I would be so so much happier if I had stickier tires on this car.
I also have a few rattles in the interior of the car which seem to come and go or move around the cabin. One day I will hear a tiny rattle in the A pillar and the next day nothing in the A pillar but a rattle in the handbrake section. My previous 6R after 5 years had not a single rattle.
The handbrake release or pull up is notchy and not smooth for me.
When reversing, and using the brake mostly to control the speed, there is a awful howling noise emanating from the brakes but only when reversing.
The media screen is an absolute fingerprint magnet. I generally have to clean the screen every morning when jumping in the car using my small cloth that comes with my sunglasses to clean them.
The automatic brake assist is truly deathly terrifying. Thankfully I have not had this system kick in at a low or even moderate speed, its only kicked in when I have been parking, but the sudden jolt and locking of the brakes sounds and feels exactly like you have hit something to bring you to a complete stop, I have actually jumped out the car on a few occasions to check around the car to see if I have hit something.
These are my thoughts and opinions, I hope it is informative and helpful to anyone.
Should anyone have any questions about anything particular, I would be more than willing to assist.
Just a quick question, does anyone the code name for this new Polo range? Like the previous gen Polo was the 6R and facelift being 6C, or like BMW's 3 series being E90, F30 etc.
