The 'Other' Car . . .

[LongRanger]

. . . found/purchased another car . . .

. . . one I've wanted for a long, long time



'15 Volkswagen Golf TDi, 6-speed . . .

. . . <20k mi
.

Not the prettiest car

Or the fastest --- well . . . sorta

But she's torqueier that anything this side of a pick-up



And the fuel economy is pretty frickin' amazing . . .


. . . which is why I bought her


Let's see how long this one lasts




................................

[Rick Cabell]

Is that a Golf ?

[Chuck Miller]

My 2015 GTI commuter car....

2 door, 6 speed .....
Does almost everything 'better' then the old blue car....
Except you're almost falling asleep while doing it...

Very together, comfortable, relatively spacious, and goes like hell little commuter....
... With turbo lag and very little feel...

cm

[911MRP]

I have l long had a Golf GTI as daily driver and find it does all I need. Nippy but not attention seeker being a discrete grey. Also a colour that doesn’t show dust too much. Black is a bugger to keep clean for a commuter Chuck ! Could get flashier everyday car if course but it’s a sensible practical all rounder. To the surprise of a seller I once fitted a Lista workbench in the back and those who know their benches with wooden tops will appreciate that’s quite a thing to lug around in a hatchback!

Why did I get it… I was invited to chair a large conference at the London Dorchester for c-level executives in the engineering sector and Richard Noble was the guest speaker. We are members of the same club so I invited him to a preevent lunch to get to know him. As the man who once held world land speed record and as director for the current land speed holder of over 700mph he has little to prove. He was great company. I asked him: what does he drive every day ? He said golf GTI becase it is like a pair if blue jeans can go to refuse recycling centre then after after a wash would get valet parked at upmarket Dorchester in Mayfair . Made sense. We lived close so his usage probably similar to mine. Had one as everyday car ever since. My son is mid 20s he has the latest golf R. In reality of constraints of today’s congested policed roads a to b probably not much quicker than my fwd Golf but one of my colleagues had the latter and sets of summer and winter tyres said it which he said in England was pretty accomplished year round quick commuter for trip to Grove mix of dual carriage way and a few muddy leafy twisty lanes of Oxfordshire due to four wheel drive capability and tyres optimised for the colder season. He is an F1 performance engineer I never bothered two sets as winter tyres not required in UK unlike some countries

I replaced the chain tensioners with the later one mainly because I was bored in Covid lockdown — as precaution rather than it was making noise — but inspection of old ones suggests it was timely. Also cleaned out the carbon buildup a known thing on this motor — hopefully it remains as reliable as it has always been. We have other cars in the family But quite attached to the old thing — I’m the only person who has ever driven it from new. Advantage of a car like this is not being precious when using and parking in London and its suburbs . Having said that touch wood I know it’s never been pranged or even much cosmetics. It’s probably the sort of sound no stories straight car Mike Brewer and Edd China would’ve loved to find and attend to small details in their tv programmes heyday.

The best thing was the deal it had been ordered by a ve head office uk manager as his company car but he’d left job before it arrived. It was delivered to VW UK’s HQ not via dealer so I was told they couldn’t sell car official network as had been registered to HQ — dealers didn’t want it on forecourt confusing customers as technically not unregistered new. So VW corporate put it in market quietly at £5k less than retail — new 20 miles on odometer a ie delivery mileage. I snapped it up. Year or two’s depreciation was sorted that way which made it a good purchase. While I might easily pay £5k for some rare bit for old Porsche it was sweet to save that on a new car. I have read Warren Buffet buys hail damaged cars to save a little — this golf was perfect — but I kinda enjoyed finding the deal more than the smallish amount (maybe 25%) I’d saved.
IMG_3389.jpg

[Peanut]

I have a Mk7.5 GTI and love it. Great all around car.

Scott

[911MRP]

I once saw over 50mpg from the GTI on a 100mile trip. Not how I’d normally drive it but was going to an auto-jumble carrying fragile things so was driving very steady and smooth to not throw them around plus I was early and didn’t want to arrive at locked gate so just cruised very peacefully — noticed on arrival average came out at 50.7mpg on the consumption display. I’d filled up at start of journey so had reset the trip. Took photo to wind up my son who suffice to say being boy racer in his twenties doesn’t get that in his Golf R
IMG_3453.jpg
Impressive for a GTI that many folks consider sporting car as it had a fair bit of weight of items in cabin that day. It was after I’d cleaned out the carbon build-up of which there was a lot but don’t know if that had had any effect or if it was all down to the unusual driving style that day. Surprised I didn’t nod off.

[uai]

I have about the opposite dilemma. Having a current cupra (310hp AWD) since last week - ok not yet broken in completely - ~1000 km driven (then - now 1350).
I nearly had to refill on a trip from munich to me - not pushig (yet) just cruise control at 210kph where possible and little traffic it took 15.9 liters per 100km (14.8 MPG) per its info system at an average speed of less than 130

[911MRP]

Not sure what mpg you would have got when you showed me Solitude in one of your other cars Uli but was enjoyable eve.

Steve

NB The imperial gallon on England is 20% larger than the US gallon.

[Cornpanzer]

Here is mine. 2008, Passat 3.6 4-motion wagon. This is my unicorn. They only made them from late 2006 to early 2008. Only a few thousand made it into the US. This was a $40,000 Volkswagen in 2008 when we were going through the recession. They sure didn’t sell many of them.
I found this one in Chicago two years ago. It had 26,000 miles on it, but had gone through a hail storm. I paid too much for it, but really happy that I got it. Leather sport seats, projector lamps, etc. I am in outside sales and you can’t drive too flashy of a car.
It’s a German built car for the German market, so it drives really well. Fellow Midwest, RGruppe Chapter Meister Scott Z got me a set of coil overs. Put some 18 inch cc wheels on it and I’ve been rocking it ever since.
Recently picked up a R 32 DSG gearbox that I’m contemplating swapping in.

[Peanut]

Really nice wagon. Love it.

Scott