Golf TSI 140 & 170BHP, opinions?

Nephew

What's the general opinion on the VW Golf 1.4 TSI 140bhp and the 1.4 GT 170bhp? Does the additional 30bhp justify an extra e4000? Finally, how does the 170 version compare to the 200 bhp GTI?

drdre

Theres a thread in the motors section about this car.
I think the 140 is perfect and then re-mapped.But the 170 does have a nice kick.I test driven both and like the 170bhp.

bazz26

Personally myself I could not justify spending an extra €4k for the 170bhp version. I would rather go the whole hog and splash out on a GTi at that rate. The GT is no subsitute for the GTi.

drdre

bazz26 wrote: »

Personally myself I could not justify spending an extra €4k for the 170bhp version. I would rather go the whole hog and splash out on a GTi at that rate. The GT is no subsitute for the GTi.

Its no subsitute but its alot cheaper to run and maintain, insure,tax etc.

The gt is much better and can be tuned to 220bhp which is faster than the gti for way less than a gti.

bazz26

I'd still put my money on the GTi though. Out of the factory 200bhp from a FWD car would be plently for me. Plus the looks of the GT doesn't do it for me especially that grill.

ciarsd

The only items the GT claims to have in common with the 'bigger' GTi is body panels. No one said a GT is a GTi - 2 very very different cars for 2 very different potential buyers so why bother comparing both?

Bit like comparing a BMW 318Ci with a BMW 330Ci for example.

Henry Ford III

How are these cars post 01/07/08 for VRT and anuual road tax? Will they go up a lot in price? I heard about a few lads who got hammered for insurance on them.

GTI will get a lot more expensive post July 08 too. High emissions.

JoeA3

Henry Ford III wrote: »

GTI will get a lot more expensive post July 08 too. High emissions.

2nd time I've seen you throw this comment out there like its fact, when its plainly not true! Is it any wonder there's confusion over the new system...

The GTI will in fact drop in price by 2%, assuming VW pass on the reduced VRT to the customer. The VRT moves from 30 to 28%. Road tax will be marginally more expensive than a pre-July car (10 euro!). That said, it will obviously be perceived as relatively expensive to run, when compared to a diesel.

E92

Henry Ford III wrote: »

GTI will get a lot more expensive post July 08 too. High emissions.

How will it falling from 30 to 28% VRT make it a "lot more expensive" post July 08?

The GT 170 will be in the 28% band too so that certainly will be a lot dearer(up from 22.5% presently) come 1/7/08.

Henry Ford III

Sorry I was wrong on that.

unkel

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Sorry I was wrong on that.

The Golf GTI competitor, the Focus ST, however has a CO2 rate of 224g/km, only just avoiding the €2,000 annual tax and the highest rate of 36% VRT

Henry Ford III

unkel wrote: »

The Golf GTI competitor, the Focus ST, however has a CO2 rate of 224g/km, only just avoiding the €2,000 annual tax and the highest rate of 36% VRT

Funnily enough the motor tax bill on an ST only goes up by a small amount too.

VRT goes up by 2%.

Nephew

Thanks for the replies guys. At the moment I am half considering buying a new car but I'll try take both models for a spin in the next few weeks. Is there really any noticeable performance difference in the 170bhp version to warrant it over the 140bhp, or would I be best off spending some of the difference on extras? Can anyone who owns one tell me the real world running costs?

Or should I consider something else, the Civic Type S perhaps. It's similarly priced to the Golf but it seems to have less of a poverty stricken spec as standard.

N1977

Newphew - what did you end up getting in the end?