Polo Gti v Tdi

[roady59]

Well got to drive the Tdi yesterday and was very impressed although my other half was not so when the foot was planted to the floor and after the initial get up and go, there was nothing left to get out of the engine. I however didnt have a problem and the Five doors would be handy, but then the salesman offered me an un beatable price on the Gti!!!! DAMN i hate it when they do that!!!

Still decideing mmmm:confused

[brackie]

very impressed although my other half was not so when the foot was planted to the floor and after the initial get up and go, there was nothing left to get out of the engine.

You need to know how to drive it. Forget everything you know about driving a petrol engined car. Diesels are all about torque and driven with knowledge they can surprise....

[GoLfMan]

yeh brackies correct (of course he is he's been driving them for yeaaarrrsss ;))
you dont need to ring its kneck off just short shift at about 3500rpm and itss stay in its sweet spot...
needless to say there is a 100kw 320nm? upgrade for it you can get :)

[reverb]

yeh brackies correct (of course he is he's been driving them for yeaaarrrsss ;))
you dont need to ring its kneck off just short shift at about 3500rpm and itss stay in its sweet spot...
needless to say there is a 100kw 320nm? upgrade for it you can get :)

Where would I find something like that? Searched but didn't find anything.

[GoLfMan]

Where would I find something like that? Searched but didn't find anything.
oettinger offer it :) find your local retailer!!!
http://www.oettinger.com.au/oau_vwpolo9n_et.html
there you go mate!

[V8quattro]

The GTI has more features and handles better - the TDI suspension is pretty basic, but I'm a fan of the little diesel. Drove one last Christmas and couldn't believe the amount of lazy mid-range torque the thing had, and all with 5L/100km economy. The GTI is thirsty for what it is, I believe, but there really isn't that much in it in terms of cost until you've clocked up about a bazillion kilomteres.
The TDI definitely requires some re-education if you're used to driving petrols, because revving it out is pointless - you need to short shift if you want standing start sprints. Roll-on acceleration is where it's really at, with instant response any gear anytime. VW needs to bring in a 5-door TDI with GTI suspension and a few more frills, I reckon. Or you could just get the TDI, sort the suspension and get an ECU flash.
Only thing I really don't like about the TDI is the price - it just seems a little too high to justify. You wouldn't really buy one for fuel savings, unless you take a really long term view.

[evorobin]

I think the current best price (for GTI) was $27K onroad. With few options it isn't hard to compare prices.

[GoLfMan]

we got our TDi for 25 on the road!
look i dont think you can look at a diesel for a 'premium' or a 'fuel savings' its just another engine choice and for usable punch around town its great.... i dragged a 130i in it believe it or not ;)
with a few suspension tweaks and a flash it would be as good if not better than a stock GTi

[brackie]

In the past VW has produced versions of their diesels with GTI specs in the suspension etc departments. They have also tweaked the injection pumps, fitted larger injector nozzles etc to give a little more "go" and called the models "GTD". Could be the time is right to do this with the Polo and Golf.
Yeah. My dream would be a Golf GTI with a chipped 2.0 16V diesel.

I also agree with the comment about the cost savings in buying a diesel rather than a petrol car, however the issue is a little clouded by the lack of a direct comparison (say between the 2.0 FSI and the 2.0 TDI Golf) as the petrol version is out-performed by the diesel, and the days of diesel fuel being cheaper than petrol are long gone.
In Oz diesels have always been bought by people who are in it "for the long haul" as we don't get the cheaper fuel that is enjoyed by the Europeans.

I buy them because I love them :)

[reverb]

Good thread guys.

It's interesting how many reasons there are for people to buy TDi. For us we wanted something pretty green for running around town. We were looking heavily at the Prius, but in the end its total lack of towing capacity lead us back to diesels. 5.0L/100km is awesome - we got 6.2L around town on our very first tank, which is mind-blowing, considering how many times we wanted to "test" it off the line and 5th gear cruise-control up Mt Ousley, etc.

We have owned and leased two diesels in europe (Peugeot 306 and Citroën C3) and loved them to bits, but buying them here never seemed to make much sense due to our crap diesel (and price premium for fuel).

The change this year made thinking about diesels possible again, and the reviews of the Polo looked pretty awesome for the money. We considered Golf (and Astra, C4, ...) but the vast majority of this things life it's a 1-person commuter car, so lugging around the extra weight always seemed silly.

The only other cheap diesel (ie base price $23k) is the Punto and sorry I don't care what people say, you'll never convince me that resale value and quality of a Fiat will even come close to VW.

The argument for "amount of years to pay off diesel (or hybrid) premium" annoys me because it is totally irrelevant. If you have the money to spend on ANY new car, then one that means the planet might still be livable in 100 years to drive a flying fission-powered VW or whatever is a good thing. If you are that tight then maybe a new car isn't the thing for you.

As for a GTi, well we loved the look of them (and much better interior), but the extra drinking plus only 2 doors meant they never even made our shortlist.

I guess our ideal car would be a polo with the 2.0 TDi from the golf and the styling and interior of a GTi.

Flashing and suspension upgrades sound interesting likely to be void our six year warranty, I would have thought. Any comments on this?

[V8quattro]

The 'green' argument is not quite clear when you're talking small capacity diesels vs hybrid or petrol. CO2 emissions are pretty close, and Nox and particulate nasties have not been completely resolved with diesel, either. It's a long and windy argument for and against, but my point is it is not by any means clear-cut.

The economy argument may be annoying, but not so annoying as buying a diesel and seeing no or little financial benefit despite the better fuel economy.

No probs with your choice of car - it'd be mine, too. I just wish there was not such a big price difference between 1.4 and TDI. If they were a similar price, I'd own a TDI now.

[peter_j_g]

You can build the ultimate polo tdi by going to www.volkswagen.de, selecting polo and clicking on configurator: Polo sportline, 96kw/130hp tdi, 6 speed manual, flash red, sunroof, esp, sports seats, black leather, nice wheels, etc, etc..... and ends up being over 20,000 euro ($34,000) in germany... would be very nice though!

[reverb]

No probs with your choice of car - it'd be mine, too. I just wish there was not such a big price difference between 1.4 and TDI. If they were a similar price, I'd own a TDI now.

Don't forget - the price difference gets you a lot more than just a different engine - gadgets, two extra doors and ABS. More here:

Drive (http://www.drive.com.au/buy/new/keyAdvantages.asp?init=81848320060724&screen=brochure&category=advantages&addvehicle=730343020060724&searchString=)

I too wish the car was a bit better priced, but compared to what else is on the market I still think it's a steal. Maybe the 1.4 is even more so if you're happy with that type of engine, less safety features and less kit. We were upgrading from a rather unsafe car, so safety was high on our list - extra airbag package (6) in ours too.

[Timbo]

In the past VW has produced versions of their diesels with GTI specs in the suspension etc departments. They have also tweaked the injection pumps, fitted larger injector nozzles etc to give a little more "go" and called the models "GTD". Could be the time is right to do this with the Polo and Golf.
I had a Golf IV GTD on lease when living in Europe. 150hp/6sp -- really changed my whole attitude to diesels. I remember remarking to my wife while on our first autobahn run..."so I'm sitting on 160...accelerating and changing into 6th...and this is a diesel...AMAZING!":) AND it consistently delivered sub-7L/100k.

Made sense there, still doesn't (quite) here. Not just the diesel price, but you can't expose the fair sex to the current challenges of our diesel pumps:(

[reverb]

Aaah yes - that one too. Do I just get my diesel at cleaner pumps than everyone else? Sure there are dirty ones here and there, but if you believed the media, you'd think that every single one actively had a separate mechanism to spray the driver while filling up!

Dedicated truck pumps may be worse, but the ones inline with the unleaded ones seem mostly fine.

End the diesel myths!

If only the price difference was a myth... still works out cheaper per km though, plus right now unleaded prices seem to have crept back to diesel prices anyway. Diesel prices much less prone to fluctuation.

[brackie]

And don't forget that most modern cars need premium unleaded these days. The price differential with diesel is negligable. So this boosts the argument for buying a diesel.