Traded Up

[arlurt]

I've swapped my January 2009 Scirocco 140 TDi for an October 2009 Scirocco GT 170 TDi. When I bought the 140 I set myself a budget and stuck to it. I wasn't helped by the fact that the salesman I dealt with hadn't seen a non-GT Scirocco, and when asked what the differences were between the GT and Non-GT cars he was vague to say the least. So when my car came I was a little disappointed with the lack of standard equipment to play with. The car lacked quite a few of the things that had been standard on my old Ibiza 130 Sport. So when the 140 came due for service at nearly 20,000 miles, and needed four tyres, I started to see what options were open to me to trade up to a GT.







I'm very pleased with the GT I've got now, it's new price was £8,500 more than I paid for the 140, so it would have been well out of reach for me when I bought the 140. It's an ex-VW demonstrator and has all the bits I wanted, DSG, leather, dual-zone climate, white MFD, dark headlining, parking sensors and winter pack. I've had the DRLs turned off so that the auto lights do what they're supposed to, fitted the smokers pack and covered cup-holder, because I really didn't like the original items, and added cruise control. I've changed the Climate control LEDs from blue to red to match the rest of the dash lighting, and a final impluse purchase was a pair of "R" tinted tail lights.

I'm not sure about the 19" Luganos yet. They look great, but the crashes and bangs you get from the pot-holed roads round here really worry me. Winter was very bad here, the long cold spell breaking up the road surface badly on my forty mile trip to work. I think I'll get a set of winter-wheels for the back end of this year.

I hope to keep this one longer than the thirteen months I managed with the 140.

[ABN1C]

The car looks really great and you've certainly been busy with the mods. I'm in the process of making a similar change, I've got a GT 140 TDI manual just now and have ordered a GT 170 TDI DSG. How are you finding the DSG gearbox and the extra power?

[arlurt]

I bought the DSG because my wife has an "auto-only" license. She's changing her car and the Scirocco will be the only 4-seater we've got, so we both need to be able to drive it.

The DSG works really well on open country roads when you drive it as a manual. Changes are very smooth, and quick. It also works well as an automatic just pootling about in traffic, you can forget about it and just let it do its thing. Where it sometimes doesn't work so well is if you try to drive it at a reasonable pace as an auto. There a several open junctions that you can roll up to here and if all's clear just go. It's got a nasty habit of dropping two gears and setting off like a scalded cat when all you wanted it to do was drop one and use the torque. I think this is made worse because it feels a bit unsure of what you wanted of it, so there's a delay before it changes down, which makes it even more unexpected when it does set off at speed.

It's a bit hesitant for overtaking in auto as well. in traffic at 50mph in 6th, you put your foot down to pass something and it either doesn't change down at all, or drops three gears, loads of revs and makes you look like you're a hooligan. To overtake anything I use the temporary manual override on the paddles, that way you get the gear and revs you want, and again it works well.

I've tried driving it as a manual or the whole route, that's what I did before I had the DSG, so it shouldn't be hard, but it doesn't seem to suit that either. First gear is very low. Pulling out of junctions you need to change up while you've got steering lock on and the paddles are out of reach.

I don't use "sport" as I don't like the way it revs out to the red line. It's a TDI, all it needs to do is change up and drop you back in to all that lovely torque. If "sport" had a way of setting it up so that you could alter the point at which it changed up a gear I would probably use it more.

The niggles are pretty much down to my driving style, and an over-developed sense of mechanical sympathy. I've done 150,000 miles in manual TDI PD cars, and loved the low down pull they had. You could make rapid progress without using lots of revs and making lots of noise about it. I don't like red-lining diesels. It's OK with revvy petrols, all the power at the top of the range, but not a long-stroke high-compression diesel.

On balance, it's the best solution for us when she gets her two-seater, but otherwise I would've prefered to stick with the Manual gearbox.

[ABN1C]

Thanks for the response, sounds like it will take some getting used to in order to get the best out of it. I thought long and hard about whether to go for a DSG and while I've had a shot of one that doesn't compare to driving it for a while. With the choices of auto, sport, tip and paddles I'm sure you'll find the perfect solution for different situations.

How does the power feel moving from 140 to 170?

[bleedsoff]

I've ordered the 140 TDI, whats that like for power?

[arlurt]

The 140 TDi was fine, but I guess it depends on what you're driving now as to how it will feel to you. When I first got the 140 I'd had a SEAT Ibiza 130 TDi Sport for four years and done nearly 80,000 miles in it. The 2.0 140 TDi CR engine is very different in character to the 1.9 130 TDi PD engine. The 140 is much more progressive in the way it delivers the torque and far happier to rev tha the old 1.9. It's difficult to compare their performances because the SEAT is smaller and lighter than the Scirocco, and the VW certainly has a more sophisticated chassis.

I generally found that the Scirocco was actually going faster than you thought it was, and with less drama. It does take some getting used to having a diesel that revs though.

The 170 TDi is more of the same, even more revvy than the 140, and easily noticably quicker. So far it's not as good on fuel as the 140, low 50's on the 140, and high 40's on the 170. And neither of them is as good as the SEAT was, mid 50's most of the time, and more than that on a run. I think this is partly down to the extra weight, and partly due to the DPF, which I would happily have done without.

I look forward to hearing what you think...

[stuaz]

I have Ordered a GT 2.0 140 TDI to replace my 1.8 TDI Ford Focus, so I am hoping for a good difference in performance

I get it on Friday 4th June!

[bleedsoff]

I have got at the moment a 1.4 Tjet Sporting Punto 120bhp so is pretty nippy! prob be the same.

[ukgazman]

So far it's not as good on fuel as the 140, low 50's on the 140, and high 40's on the 170. And neither of them is as good as the SEAT was, mid 50's most of the time, and more than that on a run. I think this is partly down to the extra weight, and partly due to the DPF, which I would happily have done without.

If its any help my mate has the Leon FR 170 and he said his economy was a bit rubbish till the engine has been broken in for a good few k... ill let you know what I think in a few weeks hopefully

[arlurt]

I've had the Scirocco for 31,000 miles now, with no problems at all, other than those I've made for my self. I kerbed both front wheels, one in the snow last January, it seems that 235/45R19 wheels and tyres don't work well in snow and offer very little protection to the rim. And one rushing to turn round in a side street. Both repaired now, but one damaged again by the place that fitted new front tyres.

The paintwork has suffered very badly on the front spoiler and bonnet. My commute to work on A and B roads means that a lot of the time I'm sat in traffic, behind lorrys and busses and the stone thrown up seem to go straight through the paint. The front grill also has a rough finish where stones have hit it. I had the grill replaced under warranty on my previous Scirocco when it was just three months old because the grill was so bad. The paint doesn't seem to be as tough as the solid yellow of the Ibiza. When it comes to sale time I'll look at getting the front end re-sprayed.

Fuel consumption has settled in the mid 40s to the gallon. This is 10mpg short of the excellent fuel consumption of my old Ibiza TDi 130 Sport, and about the same as that of the previous TDi 140 Scirocco. I'm convinced that this shortfall is mainly due to the DPF, as consumption varies greatly day to day on the same journey to work. If I could have had the car without it I would have.

The first service came up due at about 20,000 miles, and it's forecasting the next one at about 40,000. It will go in a bit early because I've gone for the pre-paid service option and believe have have to get all three in the three year period of the agreement.

The car was a demonstrator, I think the salesman said that I get three years warranty from my date of purchase, rather than from date of registration. I don't think there's anything to worry about. The change from 1st to 2nd sometimes comes with a bit of a clunk if you're using plenty of throttle, but doesn't seem to be getting any worse. The DSG box is really the only thing that makes me nervous about keeping the car for the four years and 80,000 miles that I intend. Perhaps the extended warranty might be a good idea?

The interior is wearing very well. I was worried about VW leather, but so far it's been good. I haven't used any sort of leather care product on it, maybe I should to stop it hardening and cracking in later life?

The alarm horn was replaced under warranty at last service, but I wasn't even aware of a problem. It came up as a fault when they plugged the car in.

It still drives very well, quite quick enough when you drive it as a manual, if a bit irratic when you try to push it on as a manual. I don't like the tendancy to drop two gears and rev to red line when overtaking in auto. It's got high torque levels, and one gear really would be enough most of the time. Other than that happy all round.

How are the rest of you getting on with your Sciroccos as they enter middle age?

[Cuprabob]

The first service came up due at about 20,000 miles, and it's forecasting the next one at about 40,000. It will go in a bit early because I've gone for the pre-paid service option and believe have have to get all three in the three year period of the agreement.

When I bought mine I asked them to put it on fixed servicing so that I could get the benefit of the 3 services. The service plan is 3 years or 30k miles therefore effectively on longlife regime you would only get one service around 18k miles with the plan.

[arlurt]

Thanks for that, but I don't recall any mention of a mileage limit when I signed up for the service package. The dealer was aware of the mileage I intended to do and my request for Long Life servicing for that reason. When it went in for the first service there was a problem with the MFD in that the Service options on the menus had been disabled. They reset that at service so that I could access the "Time and Distance to Go" options, but at the same time they also put it on to the "Time and Distance" service regime. I noticed fairly early, and had to take it in again for them to change it back to "Long Life".

I'll be very anoyed and kickin' up a stink if they won't do the second service at 40,000 miles because you're right and there's a mileage limit on the service package. That would mean I'll have paid £600 for just one service. I can't see why there should be a mileage limit, they do the same things at service if it's on Long Life or on Time and Distance. I'll find out in January.

[Cuprabob]

Your service package may be different if you paid £600 for it. The service package I have and was referring to was the £299 one which is offered on new cars and covers the first 3 services.