UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hi everyone,

I have been browsing the forum over the past weekend but haven’t found an answer to my particular situation.

I have a 2022 AW GTI fitted with the 18” Faro wheels, and 215/40R18 Continental ContiSportContact5 tyres. I hit a pothole on new years day (great way to start the year) and it sliced the sidewall on the inside. My local tyre shop repaired the damage but only as a temporary fix while I try to source a replacement tyre which turns out to be nearly impossible at the moment - I am based in South Africa, I have called a bunch of tyre resellers and most expecting stock by the end of February at the earliest.

I have seen people mentioning fitting 225/40’s without any issues and I have decided to go down this route as well, to mitigate any future struggles of sourcing tyres.

My question is whether I’d be able to run Conti5 225/40’s at the front and the current 215/40’s at the rear temporarily while I save up some cash to buy a pair of 225’s for the rear?

I am planning on selling the 215’s as used as I’ve done less than 2,000 miles on them, hence why I’m looking to put them on the rears.

I know this is not an ideal solution but its most probably safer than running the repaired tyre for the next month.

Hello boet and welcome to the forum.

Cant say I wouldn’t consider doing the same if stuck with your predicament. Since its only for a short while (relatively) I am sure it will be fine, so long as you're not pulling any hand break turns or driving too enthusiastically perhaps.

On the tyres, I replaced the factory Bridgstone's (18") with Michelin PS4 (PS5 now avaiilable) 225x40x18 and must say, road noise is a thing of the past. How do the Conti's compare wrt road noise?

Pricing is also a factor since the current set (on 3rd already) set me back on avg. R13K for a set of 4. I'm not looking forward to the new prices since:
https://businesstech.co.za/news/motorin ... rica-hard/

Lekker boet!

The Conti’s aren’t too bad, although my only basis of comparison would be to the Bridgestone Turanza’s, which the Conti’s absolutely blow out of the water. On the smoother N roads the road noise is minimal, some R roads it does get a bit loud especially on the coarser tar, but the sound system can drown out most of the noise. I also run the tyres .2-.3 bar lower than the recommended pressure which also helps to lower the road noise.

What kind of mileage do you get on the Michelin’s, I’ve only hear good things about them.

As with our lovely country, they’re legit trying to squeeze every last cent out of us with all the increases (interest rates, electricity, taxes)… scary to imagine where we’ll be this time next year.

Usually around 35000KM's, not much I know. Gone are the days my previous tyres used to get 80000KM's

As for tyre pressure I initially followed book (2.8 front 2.6 Rear) but since switching to PS4's I run them at 2.6bar square. Fuel usage for my vehicle avgs. 6.7L/100KM and get around 620 - 650 KM on a tank. When the car had Bridgestone's it avg. 8.2L/100KM but then I was also hoofing it a lot more .

Ordered 2x 225/40 Conti’s this morning. Unsurprisingly there was stock unlike the 215’s, so should be sorted in this week.

That’s some good fuel consumption, the best I’ve managed so far was 6.8l/100km on a 400km trip. I’m mostly doing town driving at the moment, this car drinks like a fish

I do miss the little 1.0 TSI I had before this, 880km on 3/4 tank driving from CT to JHB and back again - filled up in Kimberley on the way up, and Three Sisters on the way back. Average speed around 110km/h over 1300km.

But we don’t buy GTI’s to get good fuel consumption figures

itsmeash16493 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:39 am Ordered 2x 225/40 Conti’s this morning. Unsurprisingly there was stock unlike the 215’s, so should be sorted in this week.

That’s some good fuel consumption, the best I’ve managed so far was 6.8l/100km on a 400km trip. I’m mostly doing town driving at the moment, this car drinks like a fish

I do miss the little 1.0 TSI I had before this, 880km on 3/4 tank driving from CT to JHB and back again - filled up in Kimberley on the way up, and Three Sisters on the way back. Average speed around 110km/h over 1300km.

But we don’t buy GTI’s to get good fuel consumption figures

225/40 R18 is a very popular tyre size and is the standard fitment on many makes and models of new car from the factory, whereas relatively speaking, not many models of car have 225/40 R18’s. That probably explains why the 225/40’s were in stock but the 215/40’s weren’t. 225/40’s are also significantly cheaper than 225/40’s.

itsmeash16493 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:39 am Ordered 2x 225/40 Conti’s this morning. Unsurprisingly there was stock unlike the 215’s, so should be sorted in this week.

That’s some good fuel consumption, the best I’ve managed so far was 6.8l/100km on a 400km trip. I’m mostly doing town driving at the moment, this car drinks like a fish

I do miss the little 1.0 TSI I had before this, 880km on 3/4 tank driving from CT to JHB and back again - filled up in Kimberley on the way up, and Three Sisters on the way back. Average speed around 110km/h over 1300km.

But we don’t buy GTI’s to get good fuel consumption figures

Ja, fuel consuption relies on driving syle for sure. When I first got my car in 2019 every traffic light was a challenge When being a real ASBO the economy drops to like 12 - 15L/100KM. I also live i CPT and use my car as a daily with some N1 and town driving thrown in. I considered trading mine in for the new model but am not a fan of the rear light cluster and (lack of) interior switch gear, ie no buttons. I do like the new rims though. Also, this is food for thought, the price difference was crazy. I paid R398K for my car and had R80K of options fitted which would now cost me a cool R150K extra for the same car. Pass. As a result I extended my motor plan to 150000KM (currently 86K on the clock).

OomStu_ZA wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:00 pm I considered trading mine in for the new model but am not a fan of the rear light cluster and (lack of) interior switch gear, ie no buttons. I do like the new rims though. Also, this is food for thought, the price difference was crazy. I paid R398K for my car and had R80K of options fitted which would now cost me a cool R150K extra for the same car. Pass. As a result I extended my motor plan to 150000KM (currently 86K on the clock).

New car prices are crazy IMHO. The list price of an equivalent spec new Polo GTI in the UK is over 40% more than I paid for my GTI+ back in 2020 when it was new. Depreciation on my car has also been exceptionally low; less than 10% of what I paid for it in just over 28 months. With my car having only covered 10,000 miles, I couldn’t justify changing it. It’s better for the environment too for me to keep my current car than to replace it with a new one.

There are also aspects of the facelift GTI that I’m not a fan of; namely lack of physical interior controls and potential software glitches (to be fair, they’re more common on the Golf than on the Polo). It would be nice to have IQ Matrix LED headlamps though , but that’s something I can live without.

I will be buying an extended warranty though when the 3 year factory warranty expires in September to (hopefully) cover any unforeseen expenses if there are any once the car’s three years old.

Apologies for going off topic .

SRGTD wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 2:04 pm

OomStu_ZA wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:00 pm I considered trading mine in for the new model but am not a fan of the rear light cluster and (lack of) interior switch gear, ie no buttons. I do like the new rims though. Also, this is food for thought, the price difference was crazy. I paid R398K for my car and had R80K of options fitted which would now cost me a cool R150K extra for the same car. Pass. As a result I extended my motor plan to 150000KM (currently 86K on the clock).

New car prices are crazy IMHO. The list price of an equivalent spec new Polo GTI in the UK is over 40% more than I paid for my GTI+ back in 2020 when it was new. Depreciation on my car has also been exceptionally low; less than 10% of what I paid for it in just over 28 months. With my car having only covered 10,000 miles, I couldn’t justify changing it. It’s better for the environment too for me to keep my current car than to replace it with a new one.

There are also aspects of the facelift GTI that I’m not a fan of; namely lack of physical interior controls and potential software glitches (to be fair, they’re more common on the Golf than on the Polo). It would be nice to have IQ Matrix LED headlamps though , but that’s something I can live without.

I will be buying an extended warranty though when the 3 year factory warranty expires in September to (hopefully) cover any unforeseen expenses if there are any once the car’s three years old.

Apologies for going off topic .

No worries SRGTD, many go off topic which just makes for a more interesting read

Things are bad here too in good old dark South Africa. In 2019 list price for my car less options was ±19200 Pounds and today it costs ±28800 Pounds (33% up). Trow in ± 3850 Pounds for optional extras and thats a cool 32650 Pounds. Then add finance and insurance, 37K easy.

When I met with the VW agents (with whome I've been dealing with for over 15 years) they offered me 15300 Pounds as a trade on the new model while if I sold privately could get as much as 20200 Pounds, but selling privately is tedious and comes with a bit of risk too.

In South Africa the new face lift retains the same engine and gearbox as before while there in your neck of the woods it has a little more power and a 7 speed dsg. With the changes mainly being cosmetic and software based I did not see the need to sell mine with the new model at a premium. It was not long ago the VW Golf GTI cost a mere 15000 Pounds. Eish, those where the days.

I unfortunately had to drop half a bar on my GTI.. 560k to be exact.

But I am planning on keeping it for at least the next 3-4 years. Got to get all the value out of it.