Newbie to Mk5 GTis... or Ideas

[stedaley]

Hi guys,

Been buzzing round multiple forums looking for advice on what car to spend my hard earned cash on and this was in the list.

- Needs.
I have to have 4 seats and be decent on the petrol front / 22mpg +
Only commute 15mile round trip a day.
will have to do a 500 mile round trip occasionally.

Which brought me here... as well as many other car forums... (Impreza/Forester/Mazda3MPS/Clio200/Megane r26/IntegraTypeR)

Id be looking at buying the car to modify, with around 6k to spend on the car and 3 on the tuning side so about 9k in total. (Cash and finance)

what are these like to live with day to day? If i could afford it id love a mk7 R (4wd gets me going) but not going to happen before my next car update so mk5 was on the affordable car list.

Any advice at all? Opinions on what to get/What to do?

[AJP]

You're going to get a biased answer mostly here, but you knew that..

Anyway. After nearly 6 months of mk5 GTI ownership, here's what I like:

Easily 35mpg+ on a long steady run.

Very receptive to a remap.

Lots of tuning options, of a good quality, and good mappers on the scene.

Refined, comfortable and practical when you need it. Lots of optional extras and toys, which many of us here retrofit.

A proper hot hatch when you need it. Car of the year 2004 I think, loads of awards, and gave Clarkson a boner. Really nicely balanced quick car in standard spec - and really easy to add more and more power if (when) you get the bug. Edition 30 GTIs come with a slightly larger turbo and map to around 300bhp straight off the bat. Of course you can fit that turbo to a normal GTI, and a whole host of other goodies, to chase power. Loads of cars on here run 350+ reliably.

Looks good, not ott, but has an unmistakable place on the road - the GTI means GTI so much more than the poor mk4.

It does everything. Everything except what a true big bhp rwd sports car can do.

I'd go on about the cheap interiors, pathetic torque, chavvy image and so on, of the other contenders you mentioned, but I don't need to.

[JackL15]

^^ As above! What more do you need to know!

[Motor Mad]

I've had a couple of Mk 5 GTi's (still own an edition 30) and have driven Imprezas/Evo's and owned various Type-R's. The reality is Evo/Impreza STI's, R26 and the Integra (I'm assuming you mean the DC5?) are more focused drivers cars than the GTi. I'm not very fond of the styling of the R26, but they are hugely capable cars and can hassle far more competent machinery on a track. I've not owned a Renaultsport Megane, but I do fancy a 250/265 next.

The DC5 is a great car. The engine and gearbox combination is sublime and it still looks modern 14 years on. They can be modified to 250-260bhp which make them rapid, but it's expensive to modify being an NA engine. Price wise, they've gone up a bit recently and finding a decent example is difficult. You'd probably need to spend at least £8.5k for a decent one. From my experience servicing costs are a fair bit lower on the Honda than VW as they have chain driven engines. Interior wise the Honda isn't as good as the VW, but the Recaro seats, the gear shift and instant throttle response make up for that! Some like to drink oil (which is to be expected), so check any cars you look at.

I can't can't comment on the 3MPS as I've not driven one, but from what I've heard they are very quick, but the chassis isn't the most dynamic.

The Golf is more subtle than the other cars you mention, which was a consideration when buying our Edition 30 as my wife drives it too. It does the boring stuff really well and can still be entertaining when you want to put your foot down.

[stedaley]

well i was hoping for some user advice from the owners of the MkV

Of course its a good car to start with but whats the most popular routes to go down with regard to making it abit quicker... A friend has just got a RS 250 megane and i dont want to be too far behind... and now hes bought that i really need to sort out getting something...

Unfortunately for under 10k i dont have much to play with in regards to the complete package like the megane, but i can get somewhere close!

DC5 - good base car and engine but limited tuning from N/A new civic type r engine transplant would be interesting but too expensive. £8500

Fiesta ST - New shape, Just in budget. No tuning within budget though. 10k

MPS 3 mk2 - New shape, good styling, quite rare, 260hp +, Tuning? 9-10k

mk5 golf GTI - well within budget, Edition 30 tempting. but where to go with it? 4-8k

so thats pretty much the thoughts atm, not good i know!

[stedaley]

Price wise how much would i be looking at a ED 30 Vw?

and which gearbox is preferred?

[beetie]

Edition 30  and a remap.  Job done
If you went for a manual you'd probably then need a new clutch at near 1k. If you went DSG you'd be alright

[Washout]

Yeah just buy an eddy and then remap. Few subtle mods etc bobs ur uncle fannys ur aunt. I can promise you the mk5 is the best all rounder it will do everything. And when you pass the meganne on the hard shoulder in a cloud of steam and engine components ull  know u made the right choice.

[stedaley]

Ive heard mixed things about the DSG boxes, are they just as good as the manual?

there seems to be alot more DSGs out there is all, so if they arent much different i wont need to hunt around.