VW

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VW Golf GTI Performance Pack – Loves Bends, Hates Traffic

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There are certain stretches of road that seem to have been left untouched by the ravages of traffic. We all know one – today I drove via Tewkesbury to Eastnor Castle for the unveiling of the Range Rover Holland & Holland special edition. Yours for £180,000…

The GTI wasn’t the most eye-catching vehicle in the car-park but I can tell you that road from Tewkesbury towards Ledbury just makes you want to buy a set of string-backed leather driving gloves.

It just proved to me what I already knew – that the latest GTI is simply the best handling hot hatch out there. I’m not sure the extra 10bhp on offer from the Performance Pack made that much difference because the Golf just sits beautifully on the tarmac through a sweeping bend.

Until the Focus and Astra, the VW has sporting DNA that just comes with the course of time. The Ford and Vauxhall may be quicker but neither take a bend like a Golf GTI…

 

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VW Golf Performance Pack – Power Isn’t Always Everything (and it’s better than a Vauxhall Astra VXR)

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Women don’t bother – so why do blokes always check the 0-60mph time before they rate a car? The GTI is a modest 6.4 seconds in Performance Pack guise but it’s way slower than the competition.

The Focus ST is 0.2 seconds quicker, while the Astra VXR a full half second – but I think what really matters is the manner in which you get there. The Golf’s sublime DSG six-speed gearbox is so slick, delivering the power in a smooth curve.

Neither of the two rivals mentioned here come anywhere near and, although they cost less to buy, the Ford and Vauxhall depreciate a lot faster too. I might be a badge snob but I also know which car I feel better driving.

If you like shine shoes and personalised number plates, please advance to the nearest Ford and Vauxhall dealerships. The VW is a much classier package all round.

 

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Golf GTI Performance Pack – Has The Best Just Got Better?

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The Volkswagen Golf GTI – a car so good, I drove the delivery driver all the way to his next job. OK, it was only 20 minutes up the road but on a wet Thursday, it would have been much cosier to stay in by the fire.

Instead, me and Mr Delivery Man cooed about the GTI from the moment he slipped the key into my hand. We may be on Mark VI and I can still remember Mark I but this latest version is the best I’ve ever driven.

Within a couple of miles I was in lust with the Golf. It has this uncanny ability to make the driver feel like he has owned the car for years. Everything is exactly where it should be, the handling is terrific and there’s enough performance to make it exciting. Every day.

And so we come to the Performance Pack fitted on this car. Is it worth the £995 extra for 10bhp more under your right foot. £30k for a Golf GTI? Yes, I get the feeling it might be worth every penny…

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VW Scirocco GTS – Fat Bottom, Small Wonder

 

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In an age when we have come to accept the ‘fuller’ figure as a matter of course, the VW Scirocco fits in perfectly with the human demographic. Yes, it seems the svelte 1980s Scirocco has been replaced by a car with a large behind.

Nothing wrong with that, of course. The current version is still a very pretty car, it just appears to have eaten far too many buns when you view it from the rear. Quite why that is, who knows. Maybe to distinguish it even more from the Golf GTI?

We think the GTS is especially pretty, with a sublime interior too. It’s just a shame the GTS has to come with those two, wide stripes plastered over the bonnet and roof. If it was my car, I’d be out there with a hairdryer right now trying to remove the decals.

If you want to stand out from the rest of the Scirocco crowd, the GTS is a great way to do it. It’s just a shame that it costs so much and therefore competes head-on with  the latest GTI itself. A car built on a better platform, that goes even faster and offers more practicality.

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VW Scirocco – The Naughty Button

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I love ‘Sport’ mode on automatic gearboxes. It’s like pressing the naughty button. Let’s face it, we don’t want to be penny-pinching economy misers all the time, do we?

I’ve driven the Scirocco GTS in sensible ‘normal’ mode for 90 per cent of the week, so today I gave the VW what it had been waiting for. The chance to open up on a winding Cotswold road and blow the cobwebs out of those twin exhaust pipes.

The result? A totally different car. The Porsche 911 and Aston Martin Volante both have similar buttons but I didn’t realise how much a performance tweak the Sport button on the Scirocco accounted for. It was quite a different car.

The gearbox sounded very sweet, holding on to the revs much higher up the range and, when changing down, it sounded amazing too. Now, I don’t expect them to start fitting a naughty button to a Polo or Up! but let me tell you, it’s the most fun you can have in a Volkswagen these days…

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VW Scirocco – Inside Out

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If the paintwork on our GTS leaves you cold then the interior is pure, refined and functional. Classic Volkswagen, in fact.

Just look at the picture above – this could be any top spec car from the VW range. Every button, dial and switch is at your fingertip. Jump in for the first time and it feels like you are have been driving the Scirocco for years.

Even the sat nav is simple to use and connecting a phone via Bluetooth is also straightforward. It’s even possible to get the perfect driving position with the help of electric seat adjustment and adjustable steering column.

Faults? Rear visibility is poor through the tiny rear screen and our GTS has a panoramic sunroof, which opens about an inch and seems rather pointless. We put a couple of adults in the back over the weekend and they were comfortable enough, but anybody over 6ft might be struggling.

 

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VW Scirocco GTS – A Zebra In Any Other Language

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Yes, it’s still the fancy paintwork that is proving the main topic of conversation with the GTS. Now know as ‘Two Stripes’, the top spec Scirocco has whizzed us down to Cornwall for the weekend and a trip to a show jumping competition.

The GTS looks totally out of place, parked among the Land Rovers and horse lorries – we have obviously been branded as ‘Londoners’ because the locals are looking down their noses at the bling thing crawling over the field. Oh dear.

Slightly more disturbing for me was the fuel consumption on the journey down here, averaging just 32.3mpg at a steady motorway speed, with no rapid acceleration. After a string of diesel cars returning 40+mpg, it reminds me why, even the best petrol engines lag so far behind derv these days.

Which may explain why I almost ran out of petrol too. It got to the point where the on board computer registered zero miles left in the tank. Perhaps we should have gone for the TDI model instead…

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VW Scirocco GTS – You Can’t See The Colour When You Drive It…

 

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My mother taught me not to stare – so why is everybody looking at the GTS like it’s just landed from another planet? Truth is, I can’t decide whether it’s because the GTS is the ultimate Scirocco, or because this test car is white with two black stripes down the roof and bonnet.

Maybe it’s a combination of both but I’m sure that to afford this car in the first place, you need to be reasonably sound at the bank, probably 30+ and no longer a tyre squealing teenager. I don’t know anybody in that category who would want this paint job.

It’s Saturday and the Cotswolds is awash with some seriously cool cars, classic and new. The VW is turning heads but I think I need to do a vox pop and get the views of a few other people on why. At least they do the GTS in a more sober grey, or there’s plain black.

I once went to buy a Saab convertible and was about to sign on the dotted line when the salesman told me it wasn’t available in the grey colour I wanted. I protested and refused to proceed. In desperation, the salesman looked at me and said: ‘At least you can’t see the colour when you are driving it’. He must be working for a VW dealership somewhere…

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VW Scirocco GTS

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Hmmm, stripes on cars. Discuss. The GTS comes in either white, black, grey or red paint and ALL of versions have the twin stripes slammed over the bodywork.

It may be that I’m now a gentleman of a certain age but to me, this is akin to putting a sun strip on a Bentley windscreen displaying the words ‘Jez and Jess’.

Our ‘Candy white’ model is perhaps the most bling of the lot, not helped by a personalised VW number plate. Oh dear, I think this car was men for the sweaty palmed youngsters at Evo magazine.

It’s a shame the stripes are what most comments pertain to when people first see the car because underneath, the Scirocco is a coupe of some distinction.

The fat bottom styling might put some people off but I, for one, am looking forward to throwing it around some bends and enjoying the standard Adaptive Chassis Control system to the full. Off we go then…

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Thursday – Passat Vs Panda Shock!

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Last day with the VW Alltrack before we swap it for something altogether more rugged – the, ahem, Fiat Panda 4×4… Both are parked outside at the moment and while I pander for the Panda, I’ll miss the no-nonsense functionality of the Passat too.

After a ‘short’ life time of driving a different car every week, I’m starting to appreciate the comforts of a big estate. Especially one that comes with such a classless persona (if you can ignore the hefty price tag!). That’s what happens when you hit 50…

The outdoorsy image of the Alltrack is pretty subtle on the outside, while there’s just the logo splashed on the centre console inside to remind you that this is one Passat that can perform well off-road too.

The chrome roof rails, obligatory black plastic cladding on the wheel arches and bumpers, and the underbody protection panels are less in your face than they might sound.

So, a well-built, more practical alternative to a conventional SUV. The Alltrack is the prefect antidote to those over-sized 4x4s that do more to massage our egos than our actual needs.