R disappointment

[wigit]

been trying to get my mits on a focus rs to see what all the fuss is about, dealers are taking the p#ss, numerous reasons not to buy such a car but the interior is and the driving position in a focus has always been and there is the matter of image, one of best comments i have read is from a mkv owner Ben (Vtec Abuser) who described it as the spiritual successor to the Edition 30 given K04 power and 2wd, he may have a point

[CTRnutter]

At the moment if I am 100% honest the scirocco will be going and when they start delivery on the 59 plate I will be buying the Mk VI GTi unless the scirocco blows me away

[JMcQueen]

Whats the pull towards the Golf over the Scirocco?

[veeedubba]

I owned a Golf V GTI before the scirocco and the only thing that I prefer about the Scirocco is the look
and Ill be test driving the Golf GTI VI too at the first opportunity

[gc76]

I owned a Golf V GTI before the scirocco and the only thing that I prefer about the Scirocco is the look
and Ill be test driving the Golf GTI VI too at the first opportunity

Pretty much the same here but I still own my mkv GTI. I will be test driving the new GTI but I prefer the looks of the scirocco

[tartangti]

I owned a Golf V GTI before the scirocco and the only thing that I prefer about the Scirocco is the look
and Ill be test driving the Golf GTI VI too at the first opportunity

Really? I'd say the opposite if anything

The Scirocco (IMO) has a better engine, better handling and it much better built (no rattles!) and finished than my old MK5 GTi? In standard spec it's also much better equipped (better stereo, larger alloys, multifunction computer/ controls on steering wheel). The only thing which I preferred about my Golf was the seats. The ones in the Scirocco don't seem quite as supportive and the bolsters dont grip quite so well when cornering hard.

Apart from that it's better than the MK5 GTi in every single way!

[CTRnutter]

I owned a Golf V GTI before the scirocco and the only thing that I prefer about the Scirocco is the look
and Ill be test driving the Golf GTI VI too at the first opportunity

Really? I'd say the opposite if anything

The Scirocco (IMO) has a better engine, better handling and it much better built (no rattles!) and finished than my old MK5 GTi? In standard spec it's also much better equipped (better stereo, larger alloys, multifunction computer/ controls on steering wheel). The only thing which I preferred about my Golf was the seats. The ones in the Scirocco don't seem quite as supportive and the bolsters dont grip quite so well when cornering hard.

Apart from that it's better than the MK5 GTi in every single way!

Really? Equipment and quality is subjective! The Mk VI is better than scirocco and scirocco is better than the Mk V (its a newer car). Handling wise the scirocco is fairly good but is by far the worst car for understeer that I have ever owned and the R32 made my scirocco look silly when in counted (in the bends), I wouldnt say the engine was better otherwise why have they reverted back to the MK V GTi engine for the R version

The lack of AWD is a major dissapointment, I have like a few other people on here have seen the new GTi next to the scirocco and I promise you the Scirocco doesnt look that special, the Gti just feels and looks like a more complete package. I was hoping for a lot more from the Scirocco R, I havent completely written it off like some and I will wait so I can get behind th wheel of one before I make my final decision, but I currently have the options list and brochure for the new GTi and Audi S3 sat on my desk. That said I am very tempted to find a nice example of the R32 as I think its probably the last time any of us will see a 3.2 V6 under the bonnet of a VW hatchback also with AWD and the glorious sound its pretty much what I was hoping they would have done to the R version of scirocco but with all these new emission laws I can understand the car would only be attractive to a select few and thats not what makes money!

[tartangti]

At least we both agree that the Scirocco is better than the MK5. I've not seen the MK6 GTi but from the pics it looks nowhere near as good as the Scirocco and seems very poorly spec'd for a £22.5k car. Last time i spec'ed one online to similar levels as my Scirocco it came to over £25k! And for the extra expense all it seems to have above the Scirocco is an extra 10 bhp and an electronic differential which to me seems like a pretty meagre upgrade. Most of the reviews seem to suggest the MK6 GTi is little better than the MK5 GTi so I certainly wouldn';t expect it to be much better if any than the Scirocco?

Gotta agree about the Scirocco R thought (getting back on topic). Could live without the V6 engine but the lack of 4WD really puts me of ever comtemplating buying one. Especially if the price is going to be £25-26k. You can buy an S3 for £27.5k and I'd much prefer one of them for the simple reason of it having 4WD! There's no reason other than cost cutting not to make the Scirocco R 4WD. Audi have already shown with the S3 that it barely has any effect on the emissions or fuel economy.

On a positive note I do think the Scirocco R looks utterly stunning. Especially liking the twin exhaust. Might see if there's a way of fitting this to mine

[maisbitt]

I saw the MK6 GTI in the flesh at the dealership when I picked up the new Scirocco on Friday. Im just going to go off looks here (as I bought a GT TDI - never wanted to go for GTI performance with 30mpg if you're lucky) with my comments.....

I was so underwhelmed with the MK6 GTI in the looks department. Side on, the only thing that says "GTI" is the wheels. From the front, if VW hadn't made the red lining on the grille 4 times thicker than that on the MK5 GTI grille, i'd swear it was a standard GT. The back looks great with the split pipes though (I suppose more people will see that as you pass them).

Interior wise, the Scirocco gets some stick for not being as bold as the outside, but it still looks better than the GTI, and most of the spec is better too. The new steering wheel on the GTI (and soon to be 2010 model Scirocco) is down to taste, I prefer the surround of the multfunction buttons on the new wheel, but overall, the wheel looks a bit cheap to me (not really cheap, but cheaper than the wheel it replaces).

The price-point is totally wrong on the GTI - £22500 on a 210PS car - are they having a laugh? It's trying to convince you it's a Merc, BMW or Audi at that price (Volkswagen does not mean "peoples car" any more). 3 grand dearer than a 240PS Leon Cupra. The Golf looks better than the Leon though, inside and out - it'll be interesting to see what Seat do with their prices when the Leon gets its uplift, and how close it comes to the GTI in terms of looks and equipment.

The bog standard MK6 Golf looks better than the MK5 standard Golf, but the performance models of the MK5 look better than those of the MK6 IMHO. The performance MK6 models do not stand out enough from the standard ones.

VW have done a great job making a Scirocco with 18" wheels feel much more comfortable than a Mk5 GTI with 17" wheels, I suppose the ACC takes a lot of credit there.

GTI gets the new XDS Diff over the Scirocco GT, but loses ACC, has an inferior audio system and has 17" wheels (albeit nice ones) - The Scirocco seems much better value for money, maybe the GTI is £1500 overpriced?

[Bushiee]

VW have been lazy by fitting the MKV TSI in the R IMO, the output is higher on torque and bhp with a simple chip on the new TSI in the Scirocco GT, the car looks good but i think VW are counting on people buying it for its looks over outright performance.

As for the new GTI, its a hatchback which will not be as stable round corners as the roc, a higher c of g and narrower rear axle plus more weight and smaller width tyres will all limit the speed it can carry into a corner.

The roc is so planted that although it has minor understeer it is manageable and is taking the corner at a hell of a rate before you feel anything start to move, it is a coupe through and through whereas as in a hatchback the car is lively through corners a coupe should go round with no fuss as the Roc does.

I personally wouldnt bother with the R, it appears to be a bit of a tarts handbag

[CTRnutter]

It’s heavily based on opinion, I was one of the first people in the UK to own the scirocco and I wouldn’t have it parked outside if I didn’t think it was a good car, I am also very realistic and I know when another car is better than mine and I am happy to admit it!

The interior on scirocco is nice and functional, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we have a dashboard lifted directly out of an EOS, heating controls which are a completely different colour to the rest of the dash, no alloy pedals fitted as standard or door sills, the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat, the cup holders are on display for the world to see, I could go on! It is however an improvement over the Mk 5!

The New golf has a new layout, matching heating controls with the piano finish in place rather than the sprayed silver plastic look we find in our cars, it is also fitted as standard with most of the parts most of us are retro fitting, it has less parts from the parts bin, in fact most of what you see in the Scirocco R is standard on the GTi, as for handling in the scirocco, sorry but I have been polite about it up to this point as I don’t want to tread on anybody’s toes, but there is nothing earth shattering about it in the slightest dare I say it my old Civic Type-R (53 plate) was far more composed when things got tight and twisty.

From what I have read about the R the reason they opted for the original engine from the Mk 5 rather than the Japanese variant we find in ours is that it is capable of higher compression which when running higher boost pressure will help reliability, not forgetting they have uprated the internals too. As Andy GTi rightly pointed out in another thread yes you can whack a decent performance exhaust, air filter and re-map on our cars and they’ll produce circa 250 bhp but you can also do that with the R and be producing in excess of 300bhp with a decent diff to keep that power on the tarmac. I could be wrong and hopefully they have sorted the handling otherwise all its going to be useful for is visiting ditches and going fast in a straight line, as for the golf I can only comment on the R32 at present but that would take a scirocco apart in the bends! But again that was awd and the new GTi isn’t but nor is the scirocco R.

With all the above in mind I am still hanging fire to see what improvements have been made first hand, I love the look of the scirocco and in my honest opinion the MK 6 looks just as good but in a different way I can’t wait to see what the Golf R will look like hopefully they’ll fit awd to that.

And as for cost before all these lovely deals came out most of us paid in excess of 25k for our cars so the price of the GTi doesn’t concern me nore does the R but residuals on the 2.0 GT do lol

[gc76]

The interior on scirocco is nice and functional, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we have a dashboard lifted directly out of an EOS, heating controls which are a completely different colour to the rest of the dash, no alloy pedals fitted as standard or door sills, the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat, the cup holders are on display for the world to see, I could go on! It is however an improvement over the Mk 5!

Thats exactly what I've been saying and thats why I prefer the new aircon dials thats in the R instead of using the same dials that were in the MKV GTI in 2004. I dont really think its an improvement over the mkv as pretty much everything is the same. At least the mkv had a sliding cover that went over the cup holders, it just looks cheap in the scirocco

[CTRnutter]

The interior on scirocco is nice and functional, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we have a dashboard lifted directly out of an EOS, heating controls which are a completely different colour to the rest of the dash, no alloy pedals fitted as standard or door sills, the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat, the cup holders are on display for the world to see, I could go on! It is however an improvement over the Mk 5!

Thats exactly what I've been saying and thats why I prefer the new aircon dials thats in the R instead of using the same dials that were in the MKV GTI in 2004. I dont really think its an improvement over the mkv as pretty much everything is the same. At least the mkv had a sliding cover that went over the cup holders, it just looks cheap in the scirocco

The strange thing is it feels more solid, again I am only comparing it to the R32, I cant put my finger on it and I guess its the same with the new golf, they have upped the stakes again! but on the whole the Mk 6 wins for me, of course lots of people are over the moon with their scirocco and I guess after a year of driving the car you start to notice the faults as the novelty of a new car wears off, this again is only my opinion and its something that we all have to make on the merits of what you want from a car

[Evil Derboy]

the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat

I don't understand this. Where is the cloth? I've got leather and can't see any cloth on the seats.

[iAmbu]

the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat

I don't understand this. Where is the cloth? I've got leather and can't see any cloth on the seats.

I think it is cloth/mesh on the outside of the side bolsters, i.e. look between the central console where the handbrake is and the drivers seat, and it's not leather

[Evil Derboy]

the leather option is actually cloth on the inside of the seat

I don't understand this. Where is the cloth? I've got leather and can't see any cloth on the seats.

I think it is cloth/mesh on the outside of the side bolsters, i.e. look between the central console where the handbrake is and the drivers seat, and it's not leather

Cool. I'll have a look when I get it back.

[Andy-GTI]

I think it is cloth/mesh on the outside of the side bolsters, i.e. look between the central console where the handbrake is and the drivers seat, and it's not leather

Cool. I'll have a look when I get it back.

See if you can identify which panels are actually leather aswell. . . . cos most of the seat isn't, its vinyl!

[jonallen628]

I think it is cloth/mesh on the outside of the side bolsters, i.e. look between the central console where the handbrake is and the drivers seat, and it's not leather

Cool. I'll have a look when I get it back.

See if you can identify which panels are actually leather aswell. . . . cos most of the seat isn't, its vinyl!

That has been the case with VW's for a long time, read the small print in the brochures. Lots of OEM's do it even on cars £50k +.

Also don't forget the MKVI Golf is a facelift, an all new Golf is coming soon!

[bianco]

Mine is leather all around.
If You buy the (combination that only includes) part leather, then dont complain about the cloth part

[Andy-GTI]

Mine is leather all around.
If You buy the (combination that only includes) part leather, then dont complain about the cloth part

No its not, only the seat faces are real leather,, the rest is leather look vinyl!