At the time I’d managed to quickly push it to the back of my mind. The sad truth is that the PH Golf GTI was only being lent to us for three months, but at the time, three months ago, it seemed like a long way away. This morning the man from VW came to take LUO away so despite the sun shining outside it feels a little gloomy. The trouble is, at almost dead-on 5,000 miles I felt like I was starting to really get to know the car, but that in a way was a double-edged sword. As much as I liked the Golf after spending a few months with it a few niggles began to surface.
The turbocharged 2.0-litre Golf is not a slow car by any standards (0-60mph in 6.8 seconds) and it has very little lag, but to really get the best of it you need to keep the revs up. Once the turbo is making that pleasing whooshing sound and the revs are building you are treated to plenty of thrust, and that’s just fine. But you can be caught out at the traffic light grand prix unless you dial in a decent amount of revs, as the engine will take a mille-second to realise you’ve pressed the big chrome pedal on the right. I couple of times recently I have been momentarily left by such machinery as a V5 MK4 Golf, but only momentarily, before the turbo kicks in and the Edition 30 regains its self-respect. On B-roads too you have to keep the car over 4,000rpm to make good progress, and in day-to-day driving this can take a bit more concentration than you would like.
Also, I was amazed the other day when I stepped from the PH Hero Integra Type-R into the Golf – it felt like I was driving an MPV. LUO felt massive – high and bulky – but when I took it down the same roads as the Integra it felt just as quick, and almost as much fun. Last weekend it bumped into its older relative, a Mark 2 GTI that is owned by my brother who tells me that in between changing his floorboards, buying a new mountain bike, getting a new flea collar for the cat and keeping his E30 Touring on the road, he will get it back on the road. From the picture it looks like the cars weren’t lined up properly, but in fact they were and the MK5 is that much wider. The wheels on the MK2 are 17s as well and when my bro bought the car they looked huge. The Edition 30 rides on 18” wheels and they look a bit small. The other big thing about the Golf is the price. The basic price of the Edition 30 was £23,045, but then add on the (very good) sat nav, headlight washers, rear side airbags, and a few other bits and you are looking at over £25,000 for a Golf GTI. And that doesn’t include full leather seats.
So would I buy one if I was looking for a car in this price-range? In short, yes. LUO may not be to everyone’s taste but to me it looks fantastic. It is understated, but purposeful, a hot hatch that oozes class – everyone I know likes the look of it. Over here at PH we try not to use the ‘P’ word too much (practicality) but you do appreciate how well the Golf balances being a roomy five-seater that is comfortable and easy to use in town, but with its obvious sporting talents. The interior is decent, the touch screen navigation/radio system works great and sounds excellent. Even though the ride is firm the pay-off is when you take the car to your favourite road, body control is tight and for a big hatch (even more surprising is it’s a Golf, if the last few are anything to go by) steering feel is good and it feels suitably focused. Take the traction control off, which I like to do more and more, and the car is even more satisfying, although things can get a bit wayward, especially in the wet. You still need to keep the revs up if you are going to attack a corner, but get it right and the Golf grips well and carries impressive speed.
Add to this reasonably good depreciation, good quality and, from what I’ve heard, reliability, and you realise that the GTI is a fantastic package and a great ownership proposition.
So it will be strange tonight not to have the Golf, but the good news is that another car is on order. Again a hatchback, but it probably couldn’t be more different to LUO. Should be interesting…