VW GTI or Golf R?
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0:00 Intro

BAD:

0:28 - The tech

If you watch other videos about the GTI people will tell you how bad the new VW infotainment system is, and it’s true it’s not great, but it’s not as bad as they’d lead you to believe..unless you’re in the ID4

The issue is really around the climate controls

You have these touch-sensitive sliders rather than buttons or dials
And btw they don’t light up at night…wtf
temp sliders are so you don’t need to go into clima, but they’re harder to use
tap slider w/ 2 fingers - turns on heated seats
has cooled seats, need to go into clima

Then there’s the finger sensing proximity thing where the screen isn’t showing you everything UNTIL you’re about to put your fingers on something
why do I need to take my hands off the wheel to see all the information available?!

But other than that the graphics are fine, the speed is fine, and you get a nice customizable digital cockpit like you do with Audis

Ultimately It just feels like they’ve tried to stuff too much into a screen this size


3:01 - Quality

This is something that, if you’ve gotten into VWs in the past 5-8 years you’re probably not too bothered by or maybe you don’t even notice

However, it used to be that VW has the interiors that Mazda does today
They were super solid and well built, the materials were better than things you were finding in Hondas
And it just felt like that half step between economy and premium

Today the interior feels much more like Hyundai and Honda level than BMW or Audi

You’ve got more hard plastics, less aluminum, and a lot of times the rear seats get worse materials and the passenger seat doesn’t even get power controls


3:56 - The Sliders

We touched on this with the first point, but VW has chosen to go with this new slider control thing and they must be really excited about it because it’s everywhere

The climate and temp controls
The volume on the center console
Btw neither of those light up at night which is a pain
The volume on the steering wheel
And the sunroof controls

4:45 - The Colors

There are like 3 or 4 colors you can get your GTI in for 2023, adn this crazy green yellow is only available on the 40th anniversary trim

Where’s the personality gone?!

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GOOD:

5:21 - The drive

Under the hood thumps away the EA888 2.0T making more power than ever
The steering is tight and has a sense of feel to it
The front end on this car surprises me at how good it is
You’ve got an LSD with FWD of course
You’ve got great damping
This new GTI is actually 30 lbs lighter than the last one - insane for a new car
And of course this car has the 6 speed 3 pedal manual
The clutch is great, the pedal box is perfect, and you’ve got the dimpled shifter

6:51 - The engine

Under the hood is the Ea888 engine we’ve come to know and love over the last several generations of GTI

Here it’s dialed up to 240 hp and 275lbft

And if you match that to the DSG then you’ll get to 60 in the low 5 second range


7:21 - Transmissions

Which then leads us to transmissions ans you get a choice of 2 very good transmissions

The one we have here in this car is the 6 speed manual trans
And simply put, it’s great

The other trans option is the DSG which is also very good - not quite as snappy and dramatic as the N cars’ DCT, but still a very good gearbox


8:04 - Looks

10:29 - Interior accents

First is the steering wheel - it looks cool, it’s stitched, got loads of buttons
There’s ambient light with a bunch of different colors
The seats look cool and interesting
You’ve got a touch pad on the left of the cluster which makes me feel very iron man for some reason
You get a sunroof which is nice even though it’s not truly pano
And of course your golf ball shifter if you go for the manual car

11:36 - Rear seats

The seats themselves are cool and interesting
You’ve got dedicated climate zone and climate vents
You’ve got heated rear seats, didnt get that in the Tiguan
You’ve got crazy pockets, charges, and cupholders

12:29 - The trunk

There’s not a whole lot to this point, but the trunk is a good size
It has a ski passthrough
And the seats fold 60/40

13:15 - Price/demand

The Golf R is just about 44k which makes it almost exactly the same price as the Type R and more than a Core GR Corolla

But if you want an AWD spicy hatch something else that might be worth checking out before it’s gone is the MINI Clubman JCW, that thing is a little riot

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13:54 - Outro