Pre-Facelift GTI

[LeebzP]

Hi Guys.

I am currently driving a 2019 1.0 TSI R-Line Polo with 160k km’s as my daily.
I intend on getting a weekend performance car such as an RS3 or Lexus RCF V8 in about 2 years time.
I just test drove the GTI Pre-Facelift for the first time and I am at a crossroads.
GTI owners, Is it worth trading my daily for it as a daily?
I intend on getting one with between 60k and 80k km’s and an extended warranty and service. But I’m looking for one that’s in mint condition and well maintained.

Thanks in advance.

[lancslad1985]

Having owned a gti plus (pre facelift) as well as the facelift gti and my wife had the 2016 gti as well, they’re a lot of fun. I drove my gti 60 miles a day to Manchester and back from Preston daily. Whilst it’s doable it did wear me down, the road noise, tyre noise, the wind noise and the ride as it’s really a city car were all grating. My wife had a standard polo whilst I had my Gtis and hers were much better than the gti for the motorway but still it was loud.

If your commute doesn’t involve long motorway sections it’s probably fine, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it for a decent commute like mine. Personal opinion and I’m sure others find it fine, but the polo is great for fun and short journeys you want a golf for longer journeys. Just has better sound insulation and ride.

[SRGTD]

I owned my 2020 pre-facelift Polo GTI+ for four years from new and didn’t find it particularly noisy. Most of my journeys were probably around 50 - 60 mile round trips and it was fine. Doing the occasional longer journey of 100 miles or longer I found it was OK too. Fuel consumption was very good for a performance car; my long term average mpg was around 44mpg, although that was achieved primarily on congested roads and not driving a GTI as it should be driven.

The biggest issue for me was seat comfort - or lack of comfort; I could never find that ‘perfect’ seating position whatever adjustments I made to the seat (fore/aft, height, lumbar, head restraint), steering wheel rake/reach or the B pillar seatbelt height adjuster. It’s something I’ve not experienced in any other car I’ve owned in well over 45 years of driving in the many different cars I’ve owned.

The seats look as if they’ll be very comfortable but the driver’s seat in my specific car always left me with pain in the left side lower back and thigh region - even on short journeys. I’ve read of quite a few instances of mk7 Golf GTI owners having similar issues (the seats in the mk7 Golf GTI look to be the same / very similar design to those in the pre-facelift Polo GTI).

@LeebzP; if your test drive was a relatively short one, I’d recommend trying to get an extended test drive covering different types of roads, different driving conditions and speeds as you’re more likely to discover any shortcomings, niggles or annoyances on a longer, varied drive than you would on a short drive.