Mk7 Golf GTD

howler · 4 Jan 2017 at 11:03

As the amount of miles I'm doing has increased a fair amount I'm going to have to change my M135 for a diesel as it is costing me a fortune in fuel alone each month

I had a Mk5 GTi a couple of years ago and really liked it hence why I'm thinking of a Mk7 GTD

What sort of options should I be looking for on the car and anything in particular to look out for?

A friend in the motor trade said he has an A3 sportback S-Line coming in next week as well, I don't know much about these. Guess they're essentially the same car in a different shell?

Stringy · 4 Jan 2017 at 11:55

howler said:
As the amount of miles I'm doing has increased a fair amount I'm going to have to change my M135 for a diesel as it is costing me a fortune in fuel alone each month

I had a Mk5 GTi a couple of years ago and really liked it hence why I'm thinking of a Mk7 GTD

What sort of options should I be looking for on the car and anything in particular to look out for?

A friend in the motor trade said he has an A3 sportback S-Line coming in next week as well, I don't know much about these. Guess they're essentially the same car in a different shell?

It will likely work out cheaper to get the Octavia VRS or Leon FR diesels if you're going to go down the 'essentially the same car' route. In my opinion the latest models are comparable in quality in terms of kit and build.

How many miles are you going to be doing? If you're buying outright (not leasing/pcp) then if there is a cost to change it will be worth comparing this to the saving you'll make over the mileage you're going to be doing to work out your break even point.

jay1979 · 4 Jan 2017 at 21:54

In terms of the same car different shell I ended up getting the Seat FR 184 back in 2014. Was about 3k cheaper than the Golf GTD at the time and came with LED front lights/tech pack. Leather heated seats, upgraded seat sound aka vw sound, audi sound etc, convenience pack, alloys with better styling only came to an additional 2k (you can also negotiate 3-4K off list). On the flip side the Audi and VW did have more premium extras.. higher quality leather seat options and big name audio. Having said all this when I come to replace in the summer, to do the 25k pa, I will look at the 535D xdrive as I've been partially brain washed since re-finding this forum and for comfort a good used example will be money better spent than a new Seat (well I plan to find out)

Jono8 · 4 Jan 2017 at 23:14

Is a gtd really going to get significantly more mpg to warrant changing?

Spamalot · 5 Jan 2017 at 06:31

I had an M135i and found it to be amazingly economical. I would get high 30s on most runs and even got 41 once without trying.

BurningHorizons · 5 Jan 2017 at 07:27

Keep the M135i. It's pretty efficient and I doubt any savings would be sufficiently offset by the cost to change. And you wouldn't be depressed, longing for your old car back.

Stringy · 5 Jan 2017 at 08:01

Spamalot said:
I had an M135i and found it to be amazingly economical. I would get high 30s on most runs and even got 41 once without trying.

BurningHorizons said:
Keep the M135i. It's pretty efficient and I doubt any savings would be sufficiently offset by the cost to change. And you wouldn't be depressed, longing for your old car back.

It depends on the nature of the change, if this is switching a PCP or Lease then the savings will likely be pretty decent. If he owns the M135i outright then its sale may cover the cost of its replacement, again making the savings real. If, however, it will cost the OP money to switch cars then it should be looked at more closely and is likely not worth it.

[TW]Fox · 5 Jan 2017 at 08:05

jay1979 said:
Having said all this when I come to replace in the summer, to do the 25k pa, I will look at the 535D xdrive as I've been partially brain washed since re-finding this forum and for comfort a good used example will be money better spent than a new Seat (well I plan to find out)

They don't do a 535d XDrive yet - are you thinking of the 335d XDrive?

howler · 5 Jan 2017 at 08:13

Spamalot said:
I had an M135i and found it to be amazingly economical. I would get high 30s on most runs and even got 41 once without trying.

I get about 32MPG at best, more like 28 - 30 on average and I'm not driving it like a tool

I'm looking at getting another 20 or so MPG out of a diesel so that cuts my fuel bill significantly

Stringy · 5 Jan 2017 at 08:17

howler said:
I get about 32MPG at best, more like 28 - 30 on average and I'm not driving it like a tool

I'm looking at getting another 20 or so MPG out of a diesel so that cuts my fuel bill significantly

Can you confirm your annual mileage and how you're going to buy the car (P/EX, PCP, current car value etc etc?) It will help get you genuine advice on what move to make when buying the car, also might be able to give recs for better cars/options for your situation.

If however you'd just like us to say 'the GTD is a lovely car' then yes, the GTD is a lovely car and I hope you enjoy it. Lots of people switch to diesel/newer cars for the MPGzzz without fully considering all of the factors and options so people on the forum will only be looking to help.

SDK^ · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:04

How many miles are you now doing per month?

howler · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:08

800-1000 miles per month - when I bought the car I only had a 4 mile commute to work, life circumstances changed and now my commute is just over 20 miles each way now

M135 is on a PCP and the new car would be as well, I'm basically looking to cut my outgoings where I can, if I can save a decent amount of fuel per month and maybe even drop my finance payment on the car a bit then that will help

RJC · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:12

One thing is I am not sure if you still can order the new GTD as the new model is due next month and weather they will still have the GTD as a model spec, ordered mine beginning of November and got a build date in two weeks.

howler · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:15

I'm not looking for a brand new one

Stringy · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:21

howler said:
I'm not looking for a brand new one

How much are you looking to pay? Will probably be better with a bank loan rather than sinking money into a second hand PCP which generally have terrible interest rates and are not worthwhile.

Also, with that monthly mileage you should definitely consider a petrol (the 1.4 TSIs are outstanding in my opinion if you're looking at VAG) as the potential cheaper cost of car initially may offset the minimal fuel savings while being more pleasant to drive.

howler · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:23

Not sure really, I've had a look around on Autotrader and it seems that they are around 15-17k

I'm not averse to a bank loan, the BMW is on a PCP because my friend in the motortrade got me a good deal on the finance rate

[TW]Fox · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:24

howler said:
I'm not looking for a brand new one

Look at a 125d, the infotainment on the Golf is going to feel very old hat coming from an M135i. It still has a little dot matrix monochrome screen in the instrument panel etc

howler · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:26

My issue with changing to another 1 series is that it just isn't going to be as good as the M135 and I think that might bug me

I'm changing more out of necessity that desire

My M135 is a 2012 so it is the earlier iDrive etc and doesn't have the black panel dash

Stringy · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:32

If you're significantly concerned about fuel cost then buy a much cheaper car and then the saving on the car will offset any fuel cost and you can drive whatever you like for the money. Spending money to save money rarely works; in this case it sounds like there will definitely be a cost to change, yet you'll be in a car that's not as nice as your current car without a significant saving over the period of ownership.

[TW]Fox · 5 Jan 2017 at 09:39

howler said:
My issue with changing to another 1 series is that it just isn't going to be as good as the M135 and I think that might bug me

To be fair neither is a Golf diesel.