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Author Topic: Golf MK8  (Read 4537 times)

Offline pudding

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Re: Golf MK8
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2021, 10:28:19 am »
Couldn't agree more.

There is just no engagement with modern cars.  People lease them. People drive them. People hand them back and get another one. The end. It's about as thrilling and rewarding as renting a new washing machine from Currys.

At least with older cars, they need nurturing to keep them going and there's reward in fixing something yourself, or enjoying/hating the modifications you've fitted.  They're a toy, something to enjoy messing with - which builds a relationship with your car.  And it is precisely that relationship that provokes nostalgia about cars we've owned in the past.

Certainly in the affordable price bracket, there is nothing remarkable or game changing about most of the available options now.  They're all 4 cylinder turbo engines.  They're all bog standard McPherson strut suspended. They all have the same sh*tty infotainment garbage. They all have some utterly gash cross-over/SUV/Plus/Max version of themselves.  The only thing slightly interesting is the RS3, and that's just down to it's engine.....and isn't really in the affordable bracket for most people either.

They are like smart phones.  There's a new, slightly improved, one every year and they all look the same. Car manufacturers, and indeed demanding customers, have turned cars into rolling computers and boy have they suffered this year because of chip shortages  :grin:  Good bloody job.  There's nothing like a crisis to force people to take stock and reevaluate what's actually important and desirable.  The sheer volume of e-waste and vehicle waste is not sustainable.

Wind back 10 years and there was more variety and charisma in cars, again, in the affordable bracket - Golf R32, Subaru Impreza, Lancer Evo, Civic Type R etc.  They all had unique characters and driving dynamics.

It's no wonder a lot of motoring hacks are urging people to revisit these old classics as they can see where the motoring market is heading - bland, generic, over produced dishwashers.

The only cars remotely interesting these days are Super and Hyper cars, which only rich people get to enjoy.....and even then, they only buy them for investment reasons.

I also despise all the stupid marketing fluff that is M Sport, S line, R Line etc.  Get real, it's not an R, RS or M is it?  It's just motoring apparel for folk who can't afford the real thing.  Yeah I've got an M3.  No you haven't.  You've got a 320d with M sport guff on it.  Dilution of their motorsport heritage like that just undermines what these cars used to stand for.

Anyway, I could rant on for days, but that'll do for now  :grin:

« Last Edit: October 12, 2021, 10:33:03 am by Pudding »


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Offline Chris92

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Re: Golf MK8
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2021, 09:24:30 pm »
Couldn't agree more.

There is just no engagement with modern cars.  People lease them. People drive them. People hand them back and get another one. The end. It's about as thrilling and rewarding as renting a new washing machine from Currys.

At least with older cars, they need nurturing to keep them going and there's reward in fixing something yourself, or enjoying/hating the modifications you've fitted.  They're a toy, something to enjoy messing with - which builds a relationship with your car.  And it is precisely that relationship that provokes nostalgia about cars we've owned in the past.

Certainly in the affordable price bracket, there is nothing remarkable or game changing about most of the available options now.  They're all 4 cylinder turbo engines.  They're all bog standard McPherson strut suspended. They all have the same sh*tty infotainment garbage. They all have some utterly gash cross-over/SUV/Plus/Max version of themselves.  The only thing slightly interesting is the RS3, and that's just down to it's engine.....and isn't really in the affordable bracket for most people either.

They are like smart phones.  There's a new, slightly improved, one every year and they all look the same. Car manufacturers, and indeed demanding customers, have turned cars into rolling computers and boy have they suffered this year because of chip shortages  :grin:  Good bloody job.  There's nothing like a crisis to force people to take stock and reevaluate what's actually important and desirable.  The sheer volume of e-waste and vehicle waste is not sustainable.

Wind back 10 years and there was more variety and charisma in cars, again, in the affordable bracket - Golf R32, Subaru Impreza, Lancer Evo, Civic Type R etc.  They all had unique characters and driving dynamics.

It's no wonder a lot of motoring hacks are urging people to revisit these old classics as they can see where the motoring market is heading - bland, generic, over produced dishwashers.

The only cars remotely interesting these days are Super and Hyper cars, which only rich people get to enjoy.....and even then, they only buy them for investment reasons.

I also despise all the stupid marketing fluff that is M Sport, S line, R Line etc.  Get real, it's not an R, RS or M is it?  It's just motoring apparel for folk who can't afford the real thing.  Yeah I've got an M3.  No you haven't.  You've got a 320d with M sport guff on it.  Dilution of their motorsport heritage like that just undermines what these cars used to stand for.

Anyway, I could rant on for days, but that'll do for now  :grin:

agree agree and agree some more. Its like you've read my mind and just wrote it down much better than I could haha

yeah that marketing crap they use to drives me crazy, I used to hate being out with my mates and when the subject of cars came up when I had my old 6R, two of them would be like yeah we have got a R like you!! No you've got a R-line ffs  :doh:  :doh: . It spoils it a little I think when people spends buckets load of cash for a top performance model then they make some basic model look 95% the same and call it st-line, s-line, m sport, r line , amg etc. Its just a money grab like everything else these days

Offline James Woodward

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Re: Golf MK8
« Reply #17 on: November 21, 2021, 08:35:59 pm »
agree agree and agree some more. Its like you've read my mind and just wrote it down much better than I could haha

yeah that marketing crap they use to drives me crazy, I used to hate being out with my mates and when the subject of cars came up when I had my old 6R, two of them would be like yeah we have got a R like you!! No you've got a R-line ffs  :doh:  :doh: . It spoils it a little I think when people spends buckets load of cash for a top performance model then they make some basic model look 95% the same and call it st-line, s-line, m sport, r line , amg etc. Its just a money grab like everything else these days. Here is a good article about the difference between PCP and HP. The blog by Carplus is awesome!
   
Golf MK8 is awesome in terms of its appearance (especially appearance) and reliability but its infotainment system leaves much better to be desired, my opinion. Not to mention these archaic icons in the menu  :rolleye:
« Last Edit: November 22, 2021, 05:37:39 pm by James Woodward »

Offline pudding

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Re: Golf MK8
« Reply #18 on: November 24, 2021, 03:46:19 pm »
It's far from awesome in it's appearance, and how do you know a car released less than 12 months ago is reliable?

I saw one at night for the first time last week.  "What the f'ck is that weird Tron looking thing coming towards me?" I thought, oh, of course....it's an ugly attention seeking MK8 Golf  :sick:  Why oh why have full width DRLs? It looks terrible!
« Last Edit: November 24, 2021, 03:48:14 pm by Pudding »


2007 ED30 | 2009 TDI 140 | 2016 BMW 330D