GTI Upgrade!

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Here's my annual stats and summary for 2017. I calculate my cost per mile including road tax, insurance, depreciation, fuel, brake pads, tyres, £513 for a service, now 850 miles overdue, at 45.9 pence per mile. Some of that is guesswork, as with many cars, the two biggest cost factors are fuel and depreciation, I knew this when I decided to buy an expensive car, and I'm happy to afford such an exclusive, fast, useful, fun, vehicle. Not the cheapest car to run by any means, but I think an equivalent hot hatch would cost more, especially where insurance and fuel is concerned. The oil in the car is good for 15000 mile intervals, I've done just under 11k so I'm not too worried about the service just yet. The reason it's so expensive is because the gearbox oil intervals are 12k miles or 2 years due to the limited slip diff, 2 year intervals for the brake fluid, 12 month intervals for the spark plugs etc, I guess I high performance car requires more maintenance.

This car still brings a smile to my face every time I push the start button, the looks, the handling, the comfort, just the combination of elements that make up the driving experience itself. The weight of the tight steering and fast rack, combined with the feel of the polished aluminium gear knob, its very rewarding to drive fast and slow. Its a car that not only suits every need, but every mood too. Most of the time ill be enjoying the quiet refinement whilst pottering around. Come the weekend, sport mode will be used to further enhance the throttle response and weight the steering up, the car morphs from family hatchback to snarly backfiring turbo spooling rebel. Quite easy to forget the pick up when you drive slow most of the time. You plan an overtake and assume the approaching gap is long enough to take a car or two down, and before you know it, you've just annihilated an entire queue of slow moving traffic. Its a beast, but a subtle one, I've yet to be pulled over by the police.

The economy is much like most cars, great on long steady journeys, but pretty poor on short urban routes. Messing around with the computer, which I know can be inaccurate, I've seen low 20's whilst spending ten to fifteen minutes defrosting the car only to drive a minute to work. Yet on a regular 140 mile route I do to take my dad to hospital, I can easily average 47.8 MPG. Overall I'm very happy, I had assumed low 30's maybe even 27-28 MPG average, and I'm getting way better than that. Flaws? The window switches are set quite far back, you have to angle your arm to do them up and down. There's only one cup holder in the front, kind of annoying. Rear legroom could be better, but most of the time its just me and one passenger, the larger boot is way more useful as a trade off.


The GTi handled our recent snow flurry surprisingly well. I had assumed a fast car with lightweight construction and wide tyres would be a terrible combination for the white stuff, but it coped pretty well on the recent Uniroyal rainsports. Perhaps there is some truth to the marketed "sharkskin texture" or maybe the traction control combined with a limited slip diff helped, who knows. The rainsports are a good alternative to the Michelins, a softer tyre wall gives a fraction more bodyroll in the corners, but wet grip seems on par with the Michelins to be fair. Zero mechanical or electrical faults, or any kind of faults in year one. The only damage to the car in the last year is a couple of marks from fitting tyres, the odd stone chip at the front, and sadly a door ding from some clumsy fool being careless when opening their door. I intend to have it removed.

No plans to change the car just yet, can't think of anything better or faster in this price bracket that can offer so much. If I saw the recently updated facelifted version at a good price, id probably consider it, but its not worth spending upwards of 7k for what is essentially a front bumper and better graphics on the infotainment system, nothing else has changed, it doesn't need to. Anyway, belated happy new year, drive safe but have fun too! Pics below, click to enlarge.

[JockoT]

Some nice images there. Like the use of HDR.

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Couple of recent shots I couldn't resist, shining in the beautiful spring sunshine after a quick wash.

[LDB]

It looks sharp and that house is really cool too.

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Yea thanks that's my mum's house, soon to be on the market. Built in the Welsh gold rush initially so we've been told, in 1889. Was then a Palace for an Indian Princess, a girls boarding school and has been run as a guesthouse by my parents for the past 20 years or so.

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Minor update. Decided my rear tyres were more or less done after just over 21000 miles, so put the fronts, Uniroyal rainsports probably half way through, at the back, and put some fresh Yokohamas on the front. They are slightly more expensive than the rainsports, and have a more conventional tread pattern, but on the plus side, they are a lot quieter (67 decibels V's 72) and are rated C for fuel economy rather than E as per the Uniroyals. So long as grip and tyre roll isn't too different, I should be happy.

[LDB]

I want the magic tires for mine, the ones that are A, A, and maybe 50dB.

[JockoT]

I just fitted Yokohamas to the front of mine and I am happy with them. The experts say you should always fit the best tyres on the rear (even on a FWD), but I prefer the best tyres on the front.

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Originally Posted by LDB

I want the magic tires for mine, the ones that are A, A, and maybe 50dB.

If such a thing exists haha

Originally Posted by JockoT

I just fitted Yokohamas to the front of mine and I am happy with them. The experts say you should always fit the best tyres on the rear (even on a FWD), but I prefer the best tyres on the front.

I'm with you on that one, they probably suggest that because oversteer is a harder manoeuvre to deal with than understeer, but I always prefer max traction on the drive wheels, especially on a quick car with a diff.

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Winter update.

Didn't realise I hadn't replied for this length of time (two years). Anyhow, the GTi just turned 5 years old, and to celebrate, threw its first fault. The drivers side window decided to fail. It was quickly and cheaply resolved by removing the door card, and replacing the regulator with a used part from a well known auction site. Parts and labour came to £100, considering that's the first fault in five years, I am willing to forgive it. What wasn't as pain free was finally replacing the huge 15" brakes. After a quote from Peugeot of over £2000, I decided to go the aftermarket route and sourced some Tarox discs and pads through a friend in the Motorsport business. Tarox are well respected in the Motorsport industry, and whilst I would have loved to have fitted the factory Alcon brakes again, the Tarox set was almost half the price at around £1200. They have a painted black hub as opposed to an aluminium one, and a different swirl grooved pattern (see pic) and they look good and perform just as well. With around 28,000 miles on the clock, this does push my cost per mile up significantly, but you have to remember this is a performance focused car, not an urban runabout. Unfortunately due to lack of use, the calipers had started to seize, which would explain the slight premature wear, and perhaps drop in fuel economy as they were slightly binding and constantly rubbing.

With just a single fault in half a decade, I'm more than happy to keep the car, although it's reaching that age where certain components are beginning to wear and tear, so I'll perhaps reconsider my options if I have to start investing in replacement parts on a regular basis. I still have £400+ damage to the front bumper, with a small spoiler part missing thanks to a careless driver who damaged it whilst parked and left without leaving details. The dent in the passenger door was removed, only for my brother's partner to replace it with one in the rear arch, but this is all cosmetic, I get less fussy with appearance as the car ages.

Fuel economy has been poor this year, not helped by the partially seizing calipers, but because we're on our third lockdown, one of which limited journeys to just 25 miles, so the car has been used for little more than short journeys here and there. This is not healthy for any car. Anyway, hope everyone is safe, here's a few pics fresh from today no less.