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Hartside · 13th October 2007, 12:04

Well, it is nearing the time where I start to look at my next car and I was starting to think a VW Golf TDI GT might fit the bill. I was in Germany for 4 days this week and hired a VW Golf TDI to drive a round trip of about 500km. The car I had was fitted with satnav system, however it was not a colour screen, nor did it have a map. It only had voice directions and text display with arrows.

It was fitted with all the bits and bobs like dual climate, reversing sensors etc. First problem was finding where to change the satnav from German to English. Took me about 15 minutes to work it out (and I speak German!) Then came the next problem - having got it working in English, it then took me a further 15 minutes to get the direction I wanted to go to into the system. The menus were not intuitive at all! That done, I set off. General observations were that the ride quality was better than the Civic, it wasn't as unsettled by poor road surfaces than the Civic is. I thought that the engine noise was very rough at all speeds and you were left in no doubt that it was a diesel car you were driving. Acceleration was decent, but just a bit too punchy at times for my liking. In general though it was a fairly decent drive and returned excellent consumption

What I absolutely did not like though, was the quality of the interior. I know people think the Golf interior is bland/boring but it is something I could live with if the materials were better quality. There are too many hard plastics for my liking and it didn't feel particularly well screwed together. The switches felt decidedly shoddy as did the indicator and light stalks.

Would I buy one now? I don't think so........but maybe the new 2008 Golf will be more attractive and better built when launched next year. For now my troublesome Civic will remain in my garage!

13th October 2007, 12:04	#1 (permalink)
Hartside Supporter Magic Rear Seat Join Date: 4th May 2006 Location: Northumberland Posts: 554 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Damn you VW Well, it is nearing the time where I start to look at my next car and I was starting to think a VW Golf TDI GT might fit the bill. I was in Germany for 4 days this week and hired a VW Golf TDI to drive a round trip of about 500km. The car I had was fitted with satnav system, however it was not a colour screen, nor did it have a map. It only had voice directions and text display with arrows. It was fitted with all the bits and bobs like dual climate, reversing sensors etc. First problem was finding where to change the satnav from German to English. Took me about 15 minutes to work it out (and I speak German!) Then came the next problem - having got it working in English, it then took me a further 15 minutes to get the direction I wanted to go to into the system. The menus were not intuitive at all! That done, I set off. General observations were that the ride quality was better than the Civic, it wasn't as unsettled by poor road surfaces than the Civic is. I thought that the engine noise was very rough at all speeds and you were left in no doubt that it was a diesel car you were driving. Acceleration was decent, but just a bit too punchy at times for my liking. In general though it was a fairly decent drive and returned excellent consumption What I absolutely did not like though, was the quality of the interior. I know people think the Golf interior is bland/boring but it is something I could live with if the materials were better quality. There are too many hard plastics for my liking and it didn't feel particularly well screwed together. The switches felt decidedly shoddy as did the indicator and light stalks. Would I buy one now? I don't think so........but maybe the new 2008 Golf will be more attractive and better built when launched next year. For now my troublesome Civic will remain in my garage!