I've test driven one of these cars and am very impressed. I do find it hard to get smoothly away from rest without the car leaping off like a startled rabbit as the engine reaches turbo boost somewhere between 1500 and 2000 revs; seems to require a very light touch on the throttle in gears 1 and 2 to avoid this. (In every other respect I find it a very easy car to drive smoothly.) A characteristic of the pd turbo engine? Something one gets used to? my own ham-footedness??
I'd be glad to hear from those who own or have driven the golf pd 130.
Many thanks.
Marcus.
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I have the previous iteration of the Golf GT TDI PD. The car certainly improves with familiarity with the engine and controls, and also improves over time. You just need to remember that the power band is much much lower than in a petrol car, and that a short change into second is helpful.
The question is then where to buy one from: there do seem to be plenty of good deals around.
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Tell me where the deals are Neil! I was persuaded last week to go for one insted of a petrol and am now looking earnestly.
Cheers
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www.carpricecheck.com
www.drivethedeal.co.uk
www.virgincars.com
If you look at TradeSales and Motorpoint prices remember to add on normal OTR costs such as plates and tax. Also, Virgin don't include a warranty in their normal package but this can be added on.
There is also OneSwoop and JamJar.
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try trade-sales at Slough. Advertising GT TDi 130 bhp at £13999, also at Motor Point , Derby. Both ads in Telegraph Motoring every week
Regards
Tony.
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I own one of these vehicles and can't say that I've had too much of a problem with it leaping away from rest. Yes you can get that to happen if you have a heavy right foot - you get loads of torque steer and if you're really unlucky the traction control will kick in....
Like one of the other guys said it just takes a bit of practice to set off smoothly.
I bought my car from Oneswoop and got a rather good deal, they were courteous and the car arrived on time...took a bit of nagging to get an English owners manual though. On the plus side, they sell their cars with a 3year warranty, AA cover and deliver to you door (if you decide to cllect yourself from near Southend then they refund you £85).
Chi
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Method 1 is to put the car on a car rental fleet. That will ensure it gets lots of revs by lots of different drivers and rarely gets laboured during the first 10,000 miles. Method 2 if its your own car is to try to keep the revs down to 4,000 for the first 1,000 miles or so, down to 5,000 for the next 1,000 miles, and after you've passed 2,000 miles let it rip. The reason for the different approach to diesel engines is that most of them spend nearly all their lives between 2,000 and 3,000rpm and they do need to be revved occasionally to free them up.
HJ
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Marcus, I imported a VW GOLF GT TDI pd 115 just under 2 years ago from a guy in Belgium and saved £3,500. I have had a small problem with it recently (see problems last month re 'juddering'). Found the car to be great and economical. Not really had a problem with the Turbo in terms of too much power though.
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Five hundred quid's worth a small problem? Wow.
Chris
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