GTI Upgrade!

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That's still a pretty car.

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Hmmm...looks like I used all my free 3rd party hosting, shame you can't see the pics anymore. So here's the new revised GTi, not much different, but more distinguished front bumpers so it's stands out more against the regular GT diesel and petrol models. Really like the mean looking black grille.







Also, Car magazine did a 3 way comparison between this, the new Golf GTI and the Mini John Cooper Works. To say they preferred the Peugeot is quite a statement, as the Golf GTI has been considered Hot hatch royalty for decades. Appraisal doesn't come much higher does it?

VW Golf GTI vs Peugeot 308 GTI vs Mini JCW triple test review (2017) by CAR Magazine

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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.