About to place my order

[Quicksilver]

I am about to place an order for a Gti and I have read on one review that the centre armrest gets in the way when changing gear. If that is the case, I am surprised that it has not been mentioned on other reviews. Has anyone experienced this problem?

I wonder if silk blue and jacara cloth might look wrong. Has anyone seen a car in this combination?

Thanks
Graham

[RUM4MO]

Unfortunately, while the armrest might be a good idea, while you are driving, it needs to be rotated into the upright position, otherwise, using the handbrake can get a bit tricky.

Edit:- Sorry I missed the other half of the question, it is my thoughts only, but I think that VW has missed a trick by limiting their colour pallet, there is definitely a place for the striking blue that Seat provides. When we first looked at a Polo for my wife, the blue in the catalogue looked perfect, just a pity that in the flesh it is just "blue" though quite a bold blue, that colour should have been boosted by being a pearl paint as it looks like that in the adverts. So that left Silk Blue - wife just thought that it looked a bit muddy or something, though I might have accepted it, so once again she has a silver car and for the second time with a Polo, not out of choice but because VW's colour pallet is so limited when compared with other marques, now if they had that red that Mazda and Renault are currently using, then she would have picked that. When I talked to the salesman about that he did not seem to take it in, so how do VW think that they will forward if their sales people cannot even listen and pass on customer comments - no spaces for that sort of thing in the hand-over "questionnaire"!

[rsmagee]

It's very subjective I think. I love my armrest and leave it down at all times.

As for the colour I really like the GTi in black or white but as long as you like it you should stick with Blue

[duffman]

I am about to place an order for a Gti and I have read on one review that the centre armrest gets in the way when changing gear. If that is the case, I am surprised that it has not been mentioned on other reviews. Has anyone experienced this problem?

I wonder if silk blue and jacara cloth might look wrong. Has anyone seen a car in this combination?

Thanks
Graham

The armrest is an optional extra, so maybe some review models didnt have it specced so couldnt comment on it?

I'd agree on the colour being a personal preference, I think of the available colours for the GTI the best are black/white, although the silver does look OK. Haven't seen pics of the blue in fairness though. I don't really think the interior and the exterior particularly need to "go" together, so I'd say if you like the blue then go for it. The optional interior, which is more neutral, is nearly £1000 so wouldnt even be a consideration for me but might be something to think about?

[Quicksilver]

Thanks for your comments. I agree that VW do not provide enough colour choices, especially for the Polo. There is an interesting post on a well known Golf Gti forum where the poster describes with pictures the way he prepared his wife's new blue silk Polo GT. Also, one of my neighbours has a visitor who drives a blue silk Polo. The colour looks really good.

I think that the jacara seats will be okay and at £1,000 the alcantara option is too expensive but it is interesting to hear other peoples views before I place the order.

[RUM4MO]

I think that the alcantara in the SEL is even more, now I wonder how many people specify that, personally I like alcantara as I had it in my B8 Passat 2.8 V6 4Motion and now in my B8 S4 - I thought about it for wife's new Polo 1.2TSI SEL, but it made no sense cost wise, which is a pity! I'm thinking that VW-UK, who are owned by VW-AG, are having a laugh, I'd like to see what VW-NL are charging for that and I'm guessing it will be less than we are getting charged. I think that it should be a no cost option or standard fit for the Polo GTI.

[TheFrog]

I have no problems with the armrest and keep it down all the time. Changing gear is no problem, though applying and releasing the handbrake is a wee bit fiddly. However, IMHO, it is not a big enough deal to ever raise it.

[RUM4MO]

I did notice that anytime I had my old B5 Passat in the garage, ie for cambelts and MOTs, it did come back with the armrest fully rotated up!

That is the only plus with electric handbrakes, having an armrest and it being down all the time is quite okay.

[Quicksilver]

Thanks for all the advice. Based on your comments I will spec. the armrest and will probably stick with the silk blue / jacara colours.

My most important decision criteria is the seat because I have a back problem. I need to sit in one but I did not realise how rare the GTi is. I live in Benfleet, Essex and cannot find one either new or secondhand in any local dealers. I spoke to VW UK this morning and they have found one in Finchley so I am off the London next week.

[vc-10]

if they had that red that Mazda and Renault are currently using, then she would have picked that.

What about Carmen Red? I think it looks gorgeous.

[Quicksilver]

Carmen Red is gorgeous but not included in the very sparse colour pallet available for the GTi