Der neue GTI
This isn't supposed to be a car review blog, but what the hell? This is probably one of the best cars I've driven in a while, so I suppose it gets an entry of its own. For anyone who doesn't know what kind of car I'm talking about, I'm talking about the new MkV (say "mark five") Volkswagen GTI. Here's a pic:
I have a soft spot for German hatches. I test drove the Audi A3 about a year back, which is based on the same platform as the GTI. I thought that the two cars would be very similar, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The A3 is more elongated and quite a bit "softer" than the GTI, with the GTI having a more aggressive presence. I don't have enough time behind the wheel of either car to really comment further on suspension, etc.
Since my bud Brendan sells Volkswagens up in the Bay Area, he was able to get me a test drive in a Black Magic Package-0 with a 6-speed manual transmission. This thing was pretty basic, but hey, I drive a car with the word "value" in its official title. I'm not allowed to talk. For what the car is though, it's priced very well. That seems to be a long-standing plus of the GTI line: affordability. The car MSRP'd somewhere just above $22,000, but the expected dealer markup brought that up over $27,000. I can't say that I blame them though. This car just came stateside. It's right off the boat, so to speak. And yes, it is a proper German car. It's built in Wolfsburg, Germany, and not in Bratislava or Puebla, Mexico (yes, Bratislava really exists).
When I first sat in it, I knew where every button and switch was. How? It's almost identical to my Jetta on the inside. Granted, the Package 1 and 2 cars will have upgraded components, but the Package-0 seems to share a good deal of interior components with its boaty hubcapped cousin.
There are plenty of differences though. The gauges are upgraded, and the steering wheel is, well, weird. It's got bulky segments, and has a flat bottom section. It feels strange when you're parked, but just as a Mooney suddenly fits like a glove right after takeoff, it feels great when you're actually moving.
When we got going, Brendan drove it off the lot and gave me a little bit of a preview of what the car would do when we got out of eyesight (and earshot) of the dealership. We parked at a random fast food restaurant down the road a bit, and I swapped into the driver's seat.
The first thing I noticed was that the clutch caught VERY low. I almost stalled the damn thing the first launch, but I quickly found that it was very easy to get going at 800-1000 RPM without much effort. This was definitely much better than the A3, which I stalled 2398092834 times during the course of the drive.
Okay, I have to admit something. I have a bit of a fetish for brake pedals. Brake feel can make or break a car in my opinion, so I was interested to see how the GTI felt. I was a bit disappointed at first to note that it's very sensitive off the top. It definitely wasn't as bad as a 350Z, but it's up there. I was already expecting the worst.
We started off, and I got to mess around in a straight line on the freeway to get an idea of what kind of acceleration the car had. Just like my car, it's got a fairly low sensation of speed. In fact, it's worse than my car. It was very easy to romp on it, grab third, go for fourth, and realize that you were at 90 and climbing hard. I expected the car to push you back in your seat a bit more (the A3 felt faster), but the speedometer tells no lies. This car gets up and goes.
Unfortunately I got stuck behind a trash truck, so I didn't get to play around in the corners too much (which is what I really wanted to do in the first place). I did get to take one corner at a good clip in the thing, but as Brendan will attest, my line was g-a-r-b-a-g-e. Hey, I claim ignorance. I'd never seen that onramp in my life. ;)
I can, however, comment that the overly-sensitive brake pedal somehow becomes perfectly natural when it's time to brake into a corner. I found it very easy to get a heel-toe knocked out and trailbrake into the corner without much difficulty at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the nose shoots in like a champ, and the tail was more than happy to lighten up sufficiently. I did catch the ESP light, but I noticed that unlike the ASR in my car, the programming is very unobtrusive. It didn't kill my corner whatsoever. In fact, it still let me have a good amount of fun. This is a nice change from the ASR programming's "no fun" policy. I make a squeak with my tires, and that damn thing chops my throttle.
Anyway, that is unfortunately all I can say about the car at this point. I wish I could have had a bit more time behind the wheel, but Brendan needed to have the car back and actually get to work. Hopefully I can get some more stick time at some point and be able to report something useful.
Damn, I want one. Machs gut.
I have a soft spot for German hatches. I test drove the Audi A3 about a year back, which is based on the same platform as the GTI. I thought that the two cars would be very similar, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The A3 is more elongated and quite a bit "softer" than the GTI, with the GTI having a more aggressive presence. I don't have enough time behind the wheel of either car to really comment further on suspension, etc.
Since my bud Brendan sells Volkswagens up in the Bay Area, he was able to get me a test drive in a Black Magic Package-0 with a 6-speed manual transmission. This thing was pretty basic, but hey, I drive a car with the word "value" in its official title. I'm not allowed to talk. For what the car is though, it's priced very well. That seems to be a long-standing plus of the GTI line: affordability. The car MSRP'd somewhere just above $22,000, but the expected dealer markup brought that up over $27,000. I can't say that I blame them though. This car just came stateside. It's right off the boat, so to speak. And yes, it is a proper German car. It's built in Wolfsburg, Germany, and not in Bratislava or Puebla, Mexico (yes, Bratislava really exists).
When I first sat in it, I knew where every button and switch was. How? It's almost identical to my Jetta on the inside. Granted, the Package 1 and 2 cars will have upgraded components, but the Package-0 seems to share a good deal of interior components with its boaty hubcapped cousin.
There are plenty of differences though. The gauges are upgraded, and the steering wheel is, well, weird. It's got bulky segments, and has a flat bottom section. It feels strange when you're parked, but just as a Mooney suddenly fits like a glove right after takeoff, it feels great when you're actually moving.
When we got going, Brendan drove it off the lot and gave me a little bit of a preview of what the car would do when we got out of eyesight (and earshot) of the dealership. We parked at a random fast food restaurant down the road a bit, and I swapped into the driver's seat.
The first thing I noticed was that the clutch caught VERY low. I almost stalled the damn thing the first launch, but I quickly found that it was very easy to get going at 800-1000 RPM without much effort. This was definitely much better than the A3, which I stalled 2398092834 times during the course of the drive.
Okay, I have to admit something. I have a bit of a fetish for brake pedals. Brake feel can make or break a car in my opinion, so I was interested to see how the GTI felt. I was a bit disappointed at first to note that it's very sensitive off the top. It definitely wasn't as bad as a 350Z, but it's up there. I was already expecting the worst.
We started off, and I got to mess around in a straight line on the freeway to get an idea of what kind of acceleration the car had. Just like my car, it's got a fairly low sensation of speed. In fact, it's worse than my car. It was very easy to romp on it, grab third, go for fourth, and realize that you were at 90 and climbing hard. I expected the car to push you back in your seat a bit more (the A3 felt faster), but the speedometer tells no lies. This car gets up and goes.
Unfortunately I got stuck behind a trash truck, so I didn't get to play around in the corners too much (which is what I really wanted to do in the first place). I did get to take one corner at a good clip in the thing, but as Brendan will attest, my line was g-a-r-b-a-g-e. Hey, I claim ignorance. I'd never seen that onramp in my life. ;)
I can, however, comment that the overly-sensitive brake pedal somehow becomes perfectly natural when it's time to brake into a corner. I found it very easy to get a heel-toe knocked out and trailbrake into the corner without much difficulty at all. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the nose shoots in like a champ, and the tail was more than happy to lighten up sufficiently. I did catch the ESP light, but I noticed that unlike the ASR in my car, the programming is very unobtrusive. It didn't kill my corner whatsoever. In fact, it still let me have a good amount of fun. This is a nice change from the ASR programming's "no fun" policy. I make a squeak with my tires, and that damn thing chops my throttle.
Anyway, that is unfortunately all I can say about the car at this point. I wish I could have had a bit more time behind the wheel, but Brendan needed to have the car back and actually get to work. Hopefully I can get some more stick time at some point and be able to report something useful.
Damn, I want one. Machs gut.
posted by Brent at 10:49 PM
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