I am intersted in perhaps getting one of these cars (either myself or through my companies lease scheme). After visiting a couple of dealers they seem to sell these cars as soon as they have them and dont keep demonstrators.
Has anyone out there driven one (or owns one,) if so what are they like?
Particularly the power and noise from the engine and the experience with VW dealers.
Thanks in advance.
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cracking drivetrain - reasonably swift, only noisy (ish) at idle, and good enconomy, though don't go expecting 50mpg out of it as an average. drive it like a GTI and 40 mpg is more likely, but still very good given the performance.
the worst bit... the shell it's in, and the price for the badge.
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Well the Drivetrain is availible in a wide variety of different bodies and carrying various badges.
My experience is limited to Bora TDI 115 PD, this was very quick and pleasant to drive, MPG averaged 45 over a week of standard business driving and the occasional thrash.
This engine is seriously powerful - great fun, so the 130 & 150 will likely be more of the same !!!
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Road test of TDI PD 130 with sports suspension on this website. TDI PD 150 is probably not necessary, but have only driven this with four wheel drive in a LHD Leon.
HJ
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Driven the 130 A4 , 115 Bora , 110 golf , all give plenty of torque but all are noisey in crawling traffic ok if your mainly on motorways.(till you have to fillup)
The A4 easily gets wheel spin from stand still , controled by the traction control
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I'd just like to re-iterate Keith's second question, as I'm very interested in this myself - has anyone had much experience with the VW dealers? I mean, the dealer service can be as big a part of the car buying as the car itself.
And yes, I do appreciate that two dealers for the same company could be like chalk and cheese, but what's the general consensus?
Ta
-David L
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My wife has a Golf TDi bought new just over 3 years ago and has now done 24k miles. The annual services have been carried out at same VW dealer; there have been a few minor faults under warranty. My feeling of the service is that it is not quite good enough; the big problem is a lack of communication; we asked for things to be looked at and the car came back without any info - I had to call them to discover that they had not done things or could not find (a very obvious) fault. I got the distinct impression that we were being fobbed off and I am glad that we did not face bigger warranty claims. The only way I got the car fixed properly was to book a meeting with the MD and take my wife's car for him to look at. I run a Mercedes and use the Merc dealer - a very different service experience and not much more expensive.
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The experience of Steve is one I have encountered many times with various company Vauxhall cars I have owned when taken for service to a Vauxhall dealer. I have found Ford dealers the same.
Perhaps all main dealers don't take pride or have good customer relations due to their massive overheads and the fact that they can make good money from easy servicing.
Clearly MB have more of an interest in customer services than mainstream makes.
At least the car sounds very good even if the dealers are the usual rubbish.
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I had a company cavalier about 12 years ago and the Vauxhall dealer service was atrocious; the car often came back with grubby oily marks either on the wings, wheel trims or inside.
I would agree that the Golf TDi has been a very good car; sensible sums it up well. Probably the thing to do is take it to a good independent for servicing now it is out of warranty.
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Same here regarding the dealers - especially Vauxhall in my experience (but I'm sure they're not alone); I had been hoping that VW dealers might have been different, as the quality of the cars does seem to be a little up (certainly on the vauxhalls) - IMHO, of course :)
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I took delivery of the Golf GT TDI PD 130 on 1st Dec and so far am very pleased. I specified the sports pack and winter pack and can recommend both. The 16" alloys are the same as the 150 shod with P6000 and the heated front seats are a boon as the car takes up to 6/8 mls to reach full temp on cold days. Overall mpg on mainly shortish trips is 46mpg but live in a hilly area and weather v.cold.
Plenty of power well delivered and v.competant on the road. Slightly noisy at slow speeds but very accomplished when you get going.
I think all main dealers are a problem - just keep an eye on them to make sure all the work is done but as car no hard and fast experience of service so far except that when I asked a few question of the service manager about specific service points he did not have a clue albeit that he had just taken over after having worked at a Vauxhall franchise - previous comments noted re Vauxhall.
Hope this helps with your decision. Its a good car well screwed together and made in Germany rather than at other VW plants elsewere.
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I'd agree with Nipsy. I recently bought a Golf SE PD 130 Estate with alloys. It's a great car to drive - despite being an estate it handles like a hatchback. The engine is superb - it knocks the spots of the 2.0 litre petrol. Heartily recommend the car though I hear they are currently very difficult to get hold of. As for VW servicing I've had the car taken back recently for a leaking rear washer hose which short circuited the tailgate sensor causing the alarm to trigger. The service was very good despite the short notice.
Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong.
Hope this is useful.
Mark
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