[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Santosh, where do you fill up?!

Good question! Up until last month I used to enjoy the once a month Sunday morning drive upto Napal's on Residency road. With the bunk being demolished, I had to extend the drive all the way upto HP bunk next to Manipal Hospital on HAL Airport road for Power 99 the last time. It is going to be tough to keep this up unless Nagpal's springs a surprise by stocking Speed 97 at their new bunk on Bellary road. That would be God sent .

If out of town, Reliance petrol + STP Octane boosters helps calm my mind

[autohead666]

Congrats on your purchase, a lovely car indeed . That spare wheel is a joke, seriously what was Volkswagen thinking ? Why can't they provide a full-fledged alloy at this price point?

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by autohead666

Congrats on your purchase,a lovely car indeed . That spare wheel is a joke, seriously what was Volkswagen thinking ? Why can't they provide a full-fledged alloy at this price point?

I dont think it will fit in the wheel well

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

It does, for sure. My work place is pretty close by and a tank full of petrol lasts me about a month. I've tried regular fuel and Speed 97 alternatively a few times and there is a definite difference. In fact I have tried Speed 97 multiple times with the Laura and few times with the GT TSI as well and noticed it made a difference there too. But it's the GTI that relishes high octane fuel the most and improvement in performance is quite noticeable. There is a big difference in engine and exhaust note too. I have been running exclusively on Speed 97/ Power 99 for quite some time now. Don't want to lose out even an iota fun and pleasure that the GTI has to offer

Ok, then let me try. If I have a 200+ BHP stock Polo, I must use all the 200 horses, sure

Originally Posted by autohead666

Congrats on your purchase, a lovely car indeed . That spare wheel is a joke, seriously what was Volkswagen thinking ? Why can't they provide a full-fledged alloy at this price point?

Thank you. Yes, spare wheel is a joke. As the battery is below the spare wheel, they may have faced a challenge to pack a full size spare in there.

[Iyencar]

Superb review! Don't you also own a 330i? That's quite the garage you have! Considering the GT TSI itself is almost 12 lakhs OTR, this baby at 19.9 is a steal.

Paulo Coelho was correct when he said "When you really want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you achieve it"

You misspelt Farah Khan.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Iyencar

Superb review! Don't you also own a 330i? That's quite the garage you have! Considering the GT TSI itself is almost 12 lakhs OTR, this baby at 19.9 is a steal.

You misspelt Farah Khan.

Thank you!
Yes, I recently got the 330i, and honestly it's nice dilemma every morning, which one to take out

Originally Posted by Iyencar

You misspelt Farah Khan.

I quoted the original

[megazoid]

Lovely reading the owners take. I keep looking to Santosh's thread for updates. Now I have your thread to look towards as well. It's a wonderful car for spirited driving. Thanks for putting in the technical pieces too. Very useful.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by megazoid

Lovely reading the owners take. I keep looking to Santosh's thread for updates. Now I have your thread to look towards as well. It's a wonderful car for spirited driving. Thanks for putting in the technical pieces too. Very useful.

Thank you! Even I keep looking for updates on long term ownership threads of fellow members. BTW, you have a Mondeo? How is she doing?

[anandpadhye]

Fellow bhpean bhargavd offered his GT TSI for the Kasarsai drive for the GTI photoshoot. A big thank you to him. Here is a pictorial comparison of the 2 cars:

Face to face:





Tail Lights:





GTI comes with underbody protection for the engine and gearbox:





GT TSI misses out on this. The engine bay and gearbox are exposed to the road:





There are already numerous reviews and ownership threads on GT TSI so I won't repeat those. Here is some aspects that are striking:

- DSG: It's the same box used in both GTI and GT TSI. However, as Sanosh Bhat as pointed out in his thread, it feels different in the 2 cars. In GTI, it's much smoother may be because it's pared with a bigger engine with higher torque. Also, the low speed shudder between D2 and D3 that's felt in GT TSI and became prominent after @14000km in my GT TSI is much less in GTI. Of course, my GTI has only done 11700km, so early days.

- Brakes: GT TSI owning to the rear drums, has weak brakes. I had many heart in mouth situations in that car on NH4 and NH8. GTI brakes are super powerful and car stops really quickly, even from high speeds.

- Headlights: GT TSI high beam was very weak. I had upgraded my 2013 single barrel headlights to the 2015 face-lift's double barrel unit but it didn't make any difference. GTI headlights are decently strong, in fact the high beam is stronger than my 330i.

[megazoid]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, you have a Mondeo? How is she doing?

The mondeo is long gone. Have a red GTI doing duty now and thats a great reason to stay glued to your thread.

[parxd]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

For some reason, they connected the battery tester directly to the terminals on the battery and not to the points in the engine bay (I asked the reason but did not get an answer):

I guess this is because you judge battery health based on its internal resistance, and the connections to the terminals in the engine bay would have some resistance, which can result in a wrong reading!

[jeganatu]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Fuel Efficiency deserves a special mention:

Here are some fuel efficiency figures from one of my many Pune Mumbai Pune trips. Keep in mind that Pune to Mumbai is net downhill and Mumbai to Pune is net uphill across the Sahyadri range.
Pune to Mumbai on a Saturday afternoon (I took 3 snapshots along the route - Washi, Powai and Goregaon):

At Washi:
Attachment 1862474

At Powai:
Attachment 1862473

At Gorgaon (at the end of the journey):
Attachment 1862472

On the way back from Goregaon to Pune on Monday morning:
Attachment 1862471

We were 3 adults and 1 kid with our weekend luggage.
Remember this is a 189BHP turbopetrol automatic, tuned for performance

Looking at your fuel efficiency figures and average speed shown, I have a big question. You have got this car for punchy, fun to drive , mad for speed engine that the car posses. Why would you drive so sedate ? Was it because of traffic or it was deliberately driven slow? If deliberate what's the point buying this machine ?

Hope you would have raced on her on several occasions, what was the top-speed you did?

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by megazoid

The mondeo is long gone. Have a red GTI doing duty now and thats a great reason to stay glued to your thread.

Wow! I think when we met in Goa for the gearheads meet, you had the diesel Laura - DSG, remapped. Why did you sell it? How is the GTI compared to the Laura (I know different segments, etc. but the reason I ask is, I find the turbopetrols super fun - they have the torque of the diesels and top end of petrols )

Originally Posted by parxd

I guess this is because you judge battery health based on its internal resistance, and the connections to the terminals in the engine bay would have some resistance, which can result in a wrong reading!

That's a good point. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by jeganatu

Looking at your fuel efficiency figures and average speed shown, I have a big question. You have got this car for punchy, fun to drive , mad for speed engine that the car posses. Why would you drive so sedate ? Was it because of traffic or it was deliberately driven slow? If deliberate what's the point buying this machine ?

Hope you would have raced on her on several occasions, what was the top-speed you did?

These are family trips

Yes, I do drive her spiritedly, it's wild in S and M modes, when conditions are safe to do so. But it's inappropriate to discuss high speeds on the forum. We can surely discuss when we meet, and go for a ride together in S mode :-)

Also, as I mentioned, other than top speed, this powerful 189BHP, 250NM engine really shines in the hills and there are ample of them around Pune. As they say in the cyclists' world on strava, GTI is truly the KOM (King of the Mountains) and for all ghats around here, this RED GTI is the KOM :-)


Cheers!

[anandpadhye]

13000km done.



Here is a lovely pic clicked by Yash:

[anandpadhye]

Another Ratnagiri trip done in the GTI.

Ghat drives are always super fun in the GTI - punchy engine, fast gearbox and grippy 215/45R16 Bridgestone Turanza's. Uphill corners were taken in manual mode and no tyre squeal or torque steer at all - this time it was raining throughout. This little thing pulls and steers like dream. Brilliant tyres and the front Electronic Locking Differencial put down all the power to the road - nothing gets wasted , and brakes are so powerful that downhill sections of the ghats can be taken with tremendous confidence. I use the lightening fast manual mode of the DSG to downshift for engine braking, but even if I don't, brakes simply take care of it! Spoilt for choices I am in this lovely machine.

Crossed 14000km during the trip. Here is a pic: