VW Golf - The most hated car on boards

Biro

Theboinkmaster wrote:

A3 ambition is a gorgeous looking car. People complain about the premium you pay but by god once you sit inside an audi you see the difference. IMHO no other car manufacturer builds better interiors.

Rolls Royce, Bently, Mercedes and BMW owners might argue otherwise.
Fair enough, if you think €10,000 is a fair price to pay for a better interior, then thats your choice.
Why do you think the Golf is the best in it's class when the Leon and Octavia are similar cars for less money? Surely you meant "Among the best in its class"... I happen to think the Mazda 3 or Honda Civic are better with better interiors, the Civic more so. Fantastic inside for the class its in.

Stephen

I love my Civic's interior

johnplayerblue

I like watching the road and whats ahead of me..

colm_mcm

I like salt and chilli king prawn, where is this going?

Theboinkmaster

Biro wrote:

Rolls Royce, Bently, Mercedes and BMW owners might argue otherwise.
Fair enough, if you think €10,000 is a fair price to pay for a better interior, then thats your choice.
Why do you think the Golf is the best in it's class when the Leon and Octavia are similar cars for less money? Surely you meant "Among the best in its class"... I happen to think the Mazda 3 or Honda Civic are better with better interiors, the Civic more so. Fantastic inside for the class its in.

Never been in a rolls or bently but i can certainly say IMHO the audi interiors are superior to bmw and mercedes (when comparing like with like 07 models).

And where on earth did you get €10k extra? Is a 1.4 golf sportline €10k more than a comparable focus or civic?! Don't think so, maybe €5k or so, not sure...

And I didn't pay more for the golf soley on the interior I happen to think it pisses all over the leon and octavia in terms of looks, style, finish etc

Think we'll just have to agree to disagree sure as long as you drive your mazda/civic or whatever and im in my golf and we're both happy and believe we both picked the best car for ourselves then happy days :cool:

Stephen

I think he meant 10k more for the Audi.

JoeA3

Theboinkmaster wrote:

A3 ambition is a gorgeous looking car. People complain about the premium you pay but by god once you sit inside an audi you see the difference. IMHO no other car manufacturer builds better interiors.

Wrong. I had one for 2 years, rattled like a tin of peas from day 1. Replaced it with a MKV GTI, and it feels far better put together.

Biro

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Never been in a rolls or bently but i can certainly say IMHO the audi interiors are superior to bmw and mercedes (when comparing like with like 07 models).

And where on earth did you get €10k extra? Is a 1.4 golf sportline €10k more than a comparable focus or civic?! Don't think so, maybe €5k or so, not sure...

And I didn't pay more for the golf soley on the interior I happen to think it pisses all over the leon and octavia in terms of looks, style, finish etc

Think we'll just have to agree to disagree sure as long as you drive your mazda/civic or whatever and im in my golf and we're both happy and believe we both picked the best car for ourselves then happy days :cool:

The thread is getting pointless, but I feel the need to pull you on one thing... if you prefer the look and style of the golf over the octavia and leon, then fine. Personally I prefer the new Golf over the new Octavia, and the new Leon over them both. But that's me. However, to say the Golf pisses all over the Leon and Octavia for finish is just plain wrong. It's not opinion, finish is fact. It's the same level of finish in all three. Many would argue that the finish is better in the Skoda because they don't go wrong as much as the Golf, but that's beside the point. You're making arguments for the Golf that don't exist, and that's what's bugging me.
Fair arguments are fine, false ones are silly.

Joe A3 seems to follow up with my theory that the Mk 5 Gti is the best Golf in a long time!

MarkN

Audi are at the very least on the same level as BMW and Mercedes when it comes to interiors. See below for the proof!




Golfs faultless though - not so true. My first MKV GTI had a steering rack replaced (VW took aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages to admit this fault in the MKV) and the second one I also had needed a new rack but MSL Pottery Rd made such a mess of it that I just put up with the fault.

I think there's two types of Golf owners - the ones that think they own a bullet proof car that happens to also be a 911 and then there's the people that own a Golf as they just like them or think the GTI is a great car - not fair to assume they're all the same.

Theboinkmaster

JoeA3 wrote:

Wrong. I had one for 2 years, rattled like a tin of peas from day 1. Replaced it with a MKV GTI, and it feels far better put together.

Wrong. Your one experience does not mean that audi interiors are not superior to VW, seat, skoda, ford etc - you just had a faulty dash or whatever.

My sportline is the exact same interior as your GTI (other than some minor differences) and IMHO there's no way it's as good as an audi a3 ambition

Theboinkmaster

Biro wrote:

The thread is getting pointless, but I feel the need to pull you on one thing... if you prefer the look and style of the golf over the octavia and leon, then fine. Personally I prefer the new Golf over the new Octavia, and the new Leon over them both. But that's me. However, to say the Golf pisses all over the Leon and Octavia for finish is just plain wrong. It's not opinion, finish is fact. It's the same level of finish in all three. Many would argue that the finish is better in the Skoda because they don't go wrong as much as the Golf, but that's beside the point. You're making arguments for the Golf that don't exist, and that's what's bugging me.
Fair arguments are fine, false ones are silly.

Joe A3 seems to follow up with my theory that the Mk 5 Gti is the best Golf in a long time!

Same level of finish in a skoda/leon/vw?! Have you sat in them?! I know there all based on the same design and share many components but the VW has a much better finish than a skoda or leon - that's just crazy talk man! Whenever ive been inside a skoda (usually a taxi) ive found the interior to be very cheap and the seats terrible

And i too would agree the mark V gti is a savage car

maidhc

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Same level of finish in a skoda/leon/vw?! Have you sat in them?! I know there all based on the same design and share many components but the VW has a much better finish than a skoda or leon - that's just crazy talk man! Whenever ive been inside a skoda (usually a taxi) ive found the interior to be very cheap and the seats terrible

Well,

the interior of the new Passat is a-bloody-disaster. It rattles, the plastic in it is crap, and the faux wood looks like it came from an Austin. The small oddment trays at either side of the hazard warning light look particularly nasty.

I also find the seats uncomforable over long distances.

(and I'm talking about the Comfortline spec one!)

MarkN

Theboinkmaster wrote:

My sportline is the exact same interior as your GTI (other than some minor differences) and IMHO there's no way it's as good as an audi a3 ambition

Eh, dials, driver display, pedals, gear stick, steering wheel, seats, roof lining (?), come on Boink, you can't compare any of the Golf range and say they're almost the same as the GTI and yours is no exception.

I went from an A3 Ambition to a GTI and yeh, the plastics used are not as fancy looking but the drive more than made up for it - the S3 is the only A3 you could drive or be in that is nicer than the GTI when it all comes down to it.

JoeA3

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Wrong. Your one experience does not mean that audi interiors are not superior to VW, seat, skoda, ford etc - you just had a faulty dash or whatever.

My sportline is the exact same interior as your GTI (other than some minor differences) and IMHO there's no way it's as good as an audi a3 ambition

I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. How many Audi's have you owned?! Sure, the A3 had an attractive looking dash, soft-touch plastics, etc, but my experience taught me that they're no better put together than average. The dash was actually OK - it was rattly windows, parcel shelfs, creaking seats in my one!


The Ambition spec is a good looking car, but I often felt a little short-changed by it. Mine was an expensive car for what it was (1.6FSI), not that much cheaper than the GTI new, and the GTI blows it out of the water in every department. And the interior in the GTI is a little more than "a few extra touches"...

Theboinkmaster

MarkN wrote:

Eh, dials, driver display, pedals, gear stick, steering wheel, seats, roof lining (?), come on Boink, you can't compare any of the Golf range and say they're almost the same as the GTI and yours is no exception.

I went from an A3 Ambition to a GTI and yeh, the plastics used are not as fancy looking but the drive more than made up for it - the S3 is the only A3 you could drive or be in that is nicer than the GTI when it all comes down to it.

Mark I said there were minor differences and that's true:

Dials - one extra boost dial and maybe some silver?
Driver display - does the gti not have the same trip computer as a sportline?
Pedals - same pedals except the gti ones are silver
Gear stick - again just some additional metal around the knob
Steering wheel - slightly different design to the 2007 sportline one (changed from 2006 one), same size and chunkiness etc
Seats - very very similar to the 2007 sportline ones (again changed from 2006 one) other than patch work and gti logo

I call all of these minor differences and the average driver wouldn't notice many of them. You Mark however may call them significant but what I call a significant difference is say the difference between an S3 and a3 (bog standard)...

Anyway that's besides the point i was making that VW interiors aren't as good as audi IMHO and Mark I believe the a3 ambition interior is nicer than the GTI - but that's just my preference (including all available vw/audi options such as the A3 interior lights option) each to their own

Theboinkmaster

JoeA3 wrote:

I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. How many Audi's have you owned?! Sure, the A3 had an attractive looking dash, soft-touch plastics, etc, but my experience taught me that they're no better put together than average. The dash was actually OK - it was rattly windows, parcel shelfs, creaking seats in my one!
And yeah, the interior in the Sportsline is someway short of that in the GTI!

The Ambition spec is a good looking car, but I often felt a little short-changed by it. Mine was an expensive car for what it was (1.6FSI), not that much cheaper than the GTI new, and the GTI blows it out of the water in every department.

Think we will indeed have to agree to disagree

It's all about what you want from a car - if i had around €38k to spend now I'd go for a well specced A3 rather than a gti even though I know the gti pisses all over the a3 in driving performance but id much rather a nice interior, stereo etc as 99% of the time im stuck in dublin traffic and a gti would be wasted as id never get over 50km/hr!

JoeA3

fair enough... but the GTI is not all about burning at the lights, reving the nuts off it, and racing to 60... I find it a much more rewarding and comfortable car to drive in normal driving condtions than the A3, even when tootling along in the traffic.!

Biro

Theboinkmaster wrote:

Same level of finish in a skoda/leon/vw?! Have you sat in them?! I know there all based on the same design and share many components but the VW has a much better finish than a skoda or leon - that's just crazy talk man! Whenever ive been inside a skoda (usually a taxi) ive found the interior to be very cheap and the seats terrible

And i too would agree the mark V gti is a savage car

Sat in, and drove them all. The Skoda has cheaper plastics, but the fit and finish is just as good. The new Leon has a better finish than the Mark 5, which, in standard form, is pretty cheap looking compared to the mark 4. If you go up in spec, it gets better, but that's VW for you. You pay a premium to get less, then pay more on top to get decent level of trim.
The A4 is nothing special at all inside. The A6 however is very good, as is the new TT. The new S3 is excellent too, but the old one was just OK.
To be honest, I've no respect for your opinion any more, it's obvious you're wearing VW/Audi glasses and you'll never own anything else. Best of luck to you and your narrow mind. I'll revel in owning many different makes and models.

maidhc

Biro wrote:

The new Leon has a better finish than the Mark 5, which, in standard form, is pretty cheap looking compared to the mark 4..

The Mk4 wasn't that good! It was well screwed together, but hardly an inspiring design!

Biro

maidhc wrote:

The Mk4 wasn't that good! It was well screwed together, but hardly an inspiring design!

I agree. Well put together, not bad looking plastics, good seats, but dull. Mark 5 slightly less dull design wise, but the plastics look like they were chosen to save money.

Theboinkmaster

Biro wrote:

Sat in, and drove them all. The Skoda has cheaper plastics, but the fit and finish is just as good. The new Leon has a better finish than the Mark 5, which, in standard form, is pretty cheap looking compared to the mark 4. If you go up in spec, it gets better, but that's VW for you. You pay a premium to get less, then pay more on top to get decent level of trim.
The A4 is nothing special at all inside. The A6 however is very good, as is the new TT. The new S3 is excellent too, but the old one was just OK.
To be honest, I've no respect for your opinion any more, it's obvious you're wearing VW/Audi glasses and you'll never own anything else. Best of luck to you and your narrow mind. I'll revel in owning many different makes and models.

Biro I'm devastated

Volvoboy

Robbo wrote:

• The trials and tribulations of Cormie's van

LOL!!!!!:D



-VB-

Oilrig

Back to the original topic.

We have a 00 tdi, was bought a few years ago on a whim. Needed the guts of a grand to get it through an NCT but has been (touch wood, 30k later) faultless since.

Pro's - reliable, high residuals, decent mpg, solid build
Cons - dire ergonomics (radio below knee level, monkey driving position, dash reflected in the door mirror at night, etc etc) crap handling - feels like 80% of the weight is over the front wheels, under damped. Too low, sump gets scraped on lanes, spoiler chin always in danger. TDI is a rough motor with a narrow powerband - lots of gearchanging.

Overall, no regrets at buying it - just be aware that you're not getting anything special.