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[colesey]

I’m not sure why people are getting excited about a 3 year old magazine article with an artist’s impression of what the mk8 could look like.

[horsemeat]

The mk7 is growing on me slowly. As for the mk5 looking dated, my shagged Base gti  is certainly looking it's age but I saw a very well maintained edition with xenons that still looked sharp!

[pudding]

Mk7 may be better built, but its not much of a looker.  End of story

I agree with that.  I will concede the regular GTI with black plastic sills and lower half bumpers are starting to look a little old, but fully coded ED30s/R32s etc still look very nice even today, imo.

If you look over a MK7 carefully, you will see very little has changed mechanically over the MK5, pretty much just the engine.  Obviously the MK5's recipe is hard to improve on.  Noticeable cost cutting in the MK7 too.  Plastic sump    Pressed steel subframes    Monroe dampers.  Cheap crap.  All of the suspension bushes look identical to the MK5s on first glance.

The Gen3 EA888 is an absolute cracker of an engine though, and bolts right into a MK5 

The MK7's exterior is very generic.  It looks like a member of a massive inbred family.  The love child of Uncle Tiguan and cousin Audi A3.

I would describe the MK5 as retro rather than dated.