I would just say that I am jealous of all those people who are going to purchase this car in India.
BHPian athray9 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
X3M40i owner’s take on the Golf GTI
As someone who’s driven the 430i extensively and owned an X3M40i in the past and owns a G20 320d, I rented a Golf GTI and drove it for 2000kms in 2 weeks and it completely changed my perspective.
Someone who’s driven the 330i or even owns one, knows that it is a fun to drive car, but also luxurious, which means it is setup slightly soft and because of it being heavy and long wheelbase has long overhangs in the rear and that makes a huge difference when driving the car spiritedly and I felt that the sharper steering on the Golf GTI compared to that 330Li, lower weight and stiffer suspension makes a huge difference around corners in the Golf GTI, biggest one being the car’s weight, the Golf is 200kg lighter which could easily be felt if you take the card hard around corners.This makes the front wheel drive/ real wheel drive debate pointless since you have so many other factors going in for more fun, faster around corners. The 330Li definitely feels like a boat in comparison.The Golf GTI also felt so much planed in the autobahn doing speeds north of 250km/h. While the 330Li is purely a luxury car which also turns out to be funthe Golf is a car made just to have fun, which also turns out to be a hatchback
While the X3M40i definitely had more power, the Golf did feel really eager due to the lighter weight and the DCT in golf is really fast along with the exhaust noise pumped in gives a very different feel. I definitely agree that the B58 is no comparison to the 2.0 TSI in Golf, but I can assure that if any B58 owner drives the Golf GTI, they would come mighty impressed.
The 320d in isolation definitely felt agile, light and fast around corners whenever I drive it in India during my trips through the amazing Tamil Nadu highways, but with my experience of driving the Golf in Germany, it felt lighter, more agile around corners and much lesser body roll. This changes your definition, perspective on fun to drive.
As someone who also has an Octavia 2016 in the family, the Golf felt way better than the older generation platform, so comparison to Virtus or Slavia is just pointless here.
Now the price is definitely more than what anyone expected, but I know for a fact that there are people who would put their money in the GTI over then 330Li since there are people who could afford this car as their 2nd car in the house and additionally it is a very niche car that could go under the radar and also the GTI would definitely hold the value more in the longer run due to limited availability and the tag GTI. I know many Polo GTI owners who’ve used their cars and sold it off not at huge losses.
I would just say that I am jealous of all those people who are going to purchase car in India. Sharing some pictures below of the Golf GTI that I had rented here in Germany.
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