igratton

God - I've already done 3000 miles - that will be a long trip to france and back.

So how am I finding the oil burner - well its actually pretty good

Plus points (no order of preference):

* Nice Leather
* Excellent Climate Control
* Nice Stereo (now I've got my Boston Acoustics speakers in)
* It doesn't rattle
* I can hold a conversation with my wife (is that a good thing )
* Stupid MPG - 48.9mpg over 500 miles on french autoroutes at 100mph(ish)
* Stupid Torque (235lb/ft) and stupidly low revs (1900) gives for mass tire destruction if you switch out the traction control.
* No apparrent black oil burner smoke
* big whistle from dustbin size turbo - noisey waste gate
* Handles 'ok' - with silly lift-off oversteer - feels like its going to snap in half
* Can 'see off' quite a few cars easily - even a MY01 Rex got a shock the other day when he/she was caught off the boil
* I just blend in - complete Q Car
* Saved £700 on insurance
* Already saved £300 on fuel
* Already saved on octane booster
* Mutant Matt gave the car his seal of approval and I quote 'what an amazing engine'

Minus points:
* School children don't stare and point anymore
* Nobody asks to look under the bonnet LOL
* Nobody waves or flashes me
* I no longer have the right set of keys to place on the bar (heheheh)
* It don't sound like my P1
* It don't look like my P1
* It don't drive like my P1
* why does everyone want to race me - never happened in the P1. - Candidates for racing so far - BMW Z3 and 3 series drivers - ummm.
* Some pratt keeps turning the heating up on the drivers seat for a joke (cheers CraigH )

So - am I happy with it ??? - I guess so or it would be for sale. Its saving me huge amounts of money to throw at the XTR2 and you can 'have fun' without going stupidly fast - you could never play with the P1 unless you were traveling at near light speed. Running the Golf and the XTR2 costs less than the P1 - amazing

Suspension could do with replacing, bigger wheels would be nice, and a chip to - but is it really worth it ???? probably not - the XTR will give the bigger buzz.

So - boring rant over.

Just remember opinions are like a$$holes - we've all got one.

Ian.

[Edited by igratton - 7/30/2002 1:57:42 PM]

[Edited by igratton - 7/30/2002 1:58:49 PM]

The_Gza

Interesting stuff Ian - did you buy from abroad or a UK dealer?

igratton

check out http://www.broom-broom.com for very good deals on fully loaded imports. If you don't want leather it seems to be about 17K for a Pd150 GTi.

I went with broom broom as my good friend Simon Prickett works next door to them and they didn't seem like they'd do a runner with my cash. They also swap out the nasty brown plastic bits on the dash for a carbon effect to all the pd's they bring in - the wood is just plain nasty.

Mine is an import - so it has the 2 year VW warranty (by law) and 1 year extended warranty with a third party company (warranty holdings - oh my god !!! )

Ian.

MartinM

<<
* Handles 'ok' - with silly lift-off oversteer - feels like its going to snap in half *
...
* It don't drive like my P1
>>

I won't say I told you so...but I told you so

<<They also swap out the nasty brown plastic bits on the dash..>> Sounds good...mine are certainly a nasty shade of brown

Enjoy...

[Edited by MartinM - 7/30/2002 6:08:25 PM]

igratton

Martin,

Thinking of welding two large metal bars down the length of the floorpan - really worried it will snap soon

I'll get a photograph of the trim they replaced the brown stuff with...don't get too excited - its not that much different

You did say you'd say 'I told you so' - and sure enough you just did

Ian

simon_prickett

I'm not connected with Broom-Broom, we just happen to share an office building, but they do sell a lot of cars, and seem to be very meticulous about how they handle them.

Ian - glad you're happy with it!

Simon.

scoobynutta555

whats XTR2

simon_prickett

this

Simon.

scoobynutta555

a bit different!

ScoobyJawa

My boss has just turned up at work with a new one of these - 3 door import.

Got just under 500 miles on it so he's still taking it easy, but it goes really well, the torque is very impressive as such, not needing gear changes to get it going. Felt pretty quick on the motorway. However throwing it around on roundabouts the front end felt very skittish - light and vague, he commented that it does seem to understeer a bit......

Overall though not a bad motor at all, you wouldn't believe it was a diesel - except for the engine noise

NBW

[Edited by NBW - 8/1/2002 11:36:05 PM]

[Edited by NBW - 8/1/2002 11:42:38 PM]

FreeT

that looks a bit dated now, just as well there is a 2.0 tdi with 180 bhp next year, keep you diesel munchers happy.