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Volkswagen models, news & reviews
4
Handling
Performance
Usability
Feelgood factor
Readers' rating
2.5
By Colin Overland
First Drives
01 July 2009 10:33
There are plenty of reasons for wanting a VW Golf, and they’re the same reasons that generally applied to all five previous generations. It’s a car that distils everything VW knows about providing do-everything motoring in a reasonably compact, affordable-ish package.
If you buy into the Golf idea, and you want it badged VW rather than Skoda, Audi, Seat or any of the non-German rivals, you’re spoilt for choice. On sale since the start of 2009, the Mk6 Golf range includes the usual dizzying variety of body styles, engines, transmission and specification levels.
The badging and the styling say that this is the diesel GTI, which isn’t a lie but it’s not the whole truth. Look at the figures and you’ll see that this should be significantly cheaper to run than the GTI, in terms of fuel consumption, insurance and CO2-based tax. It’s also a few hundred quid cheaper to buy.
VW anticipates that the GDI will far outsell the GTI in the UK – and that most of those GDI sales will be to fleets. So – among other things – it’s a way of companies getting their image-conscious sales reps into credible looking cars, without the financial penalty of putting them in serious hot hatches.
Broadly, yes. More precisely, no. All Golfs have a great deal of shared componentry and shared DNA. Anyone who’s driven any Golf-based VW product in the last decade will recognise the driving position, the indicator stalk action, the air vents and, more importantly, the overall poise and balance of the GDI.
What distinguishes the GTI is that it’s significantly nimbler, sharper and more responsive than the average Golf, with a firmer ride, keener controls and more feedback for the driver. The GDI goes some way along that road, but you wouldn’t mistake it for a car built to compete with the Focus ST, let alone the RS. And for most people, that’s fine. It’s quick enough to overtake most other cars in most circumstances, it enjoys going around corners, it stops quickly and securely, and it looks the part, inside and out.
>> Click 'Next' below to read more of our VW Golf GTD first drive
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ktm99 says
Re: VW Golf GTD (2009) CAR review
Honestly, as a new owner of the VW M6 Golf GTI, am terribly disappointed. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone..ever. My family have been loyal fans of VW till recently. We're all drivers of both the EOS & the VW Golf. I’d recently received my new VW owner, M6 Golf GTI (Jan 2010). I am currently experiencing gear box issues with this car. I had encountered this problem twice this week. What happened was that in the midst of driving, the safe mode kicked in, as a result the gear did not engage causing the speed of the car to remained stagnant. I could not even engage the reverse gear even when the car was stationary. Had to stop at the side of the road, turn off the engine and restart the car. I brought it over to the Service Centre on 27 Feb, for a check up and the mechanic said that their troubleshooting showed that its a sporadic problem hence they cannot escalate the issue to replace the gear box. So i was told to go back and if it happens again bring it back for them to test again. Its extremely dangerous if this happened while i was overtaking another vehicle. Essentially the message I got from VW wearnes is that they will only take it seriously if this problem occurs again, i.e. they can test it as a permanent fault in the system or if I get into an accident in this car due to this issue. Talk about great customer service and absolutely reassuring piece of vehicle. By the way, Id bought this car in Malaysia, and I'd like to highlight that this car is less than 3 months old, just had its first 1000 km service on 10th Feb 2010. Not recommending anyone to buy this car....I honestly thought it was a to-die-for car. Forget it, despite how great the handling is this car is missing the most important & basic thing, a gear box thats suppose to be key to support its performance! Terribly disappointed.
Honestly, as a new owner of the VW M6 Golf GTI, am terribly disappointed. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone..ever. My family have been loyal fans of VW till recently. We're all drivers of both the EOS & the VW Golf.
I’d recently received my new VW owner, M6 Golf GTI (Jan 2010). I am currently experiencing gear box issues with this car. I had encountered this problem twice this week. What happened was that in the midst of driving, the safe mode kicked in, as a result the gear did not engage causing the speed of the car to remained stagnant. I could not even engage the reverse gear even when the car was stationary. Had to stop at the side of the road, turn off the engine and restart the car.
I brought it over to the Service Centre on 27 Feb, for a check up and the mechanic said that their troubleshooting showed that its a sporadic problem hence they cannot escalate the issue to replace the gear box. So i was told to go back and if it happens again bring it back for them to test again. Its extremely dangerous if this happened while i was overtaking another vehicle.
Essentially the message I got from VW wearnes is that they will only take it seriously if this problem occurs again, i.e. they can test it as a permanent fault in the system or if I get into an accident in this car due to this issue.
Talk about great customer service and absolutely reassuring piece of vehicle.
By the way, Id bought this car in Malaysia, and I'd like to highlight that this car is less than 3 months old, just had its first 1000 km service on 10th Feb 2010.
Not recommending anyone to buy this car....I honestly thought it was a to-die-for car. Forget it, despite how great the handling is this car is missing the most important & basic thing, a gear box thats suppose to be key to support its performance!
Terribly disappointed.
28 February 2010 04:35
kkirkou says
RE: VW Golf GTD (2009) CAR review
53.3 mpg with manual gearbox, 50.4 mpg with DSG? Isn't the DSG supposed to actually improve slightly the consumption over the manual, like it is seen in other VAG models?
02 October 2009 17:47
Pepe Gutiérrez says
Its actual name is GTD. VW used this same name to designate a "sporty" version of the Golf Turbodiesel some years ago... but it's only only now, with modern diesel tech and a good amount of bhp that it actuallly deserves the badge.
08 July 2009 08:25
KOLOtweets says
It really should be called the GTDI VAG made a fuss trademaking TDI back in '97 so add the G in front of it, bang GTDI, job done. Or think of it as slipping a D into GTI, I'm not fussed how they arrive at it, just change it VW, it's obvious you got it wrong (that'll be £5 a car in royalities though)
It really should be called the GTDI
VAG made a fuss trademaking TDI back in '97 so add the G in front of it, bang GTDI, job done.
Or think of it as slipping a D into GTI, I'm not fussed how they arrive at it, just change it VW, it's obvious you got it wrong
(that'll be £5 a car in royalities though)
07 July 2009 21:27
a t o m i c says
The author doesn't seem to know.
06 July 2009 10:21
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