Just got back from a business tip to the UK. I was able to get a VW GTI from Hertz. It is an absolutely awesome car, apart from the fact that VW mistakenly placed the steering wheel on the right side of the car. A few quick notes:
1. The car is really competent at high speed. I went 125 mph with absolutely no drama. It was dead quiet, totally solid, and very confidence inspiring. It was accelerating pretty smartly at 125 in 6th gear when I ran out of cojones. I don't know what the top speed of this car is, but it sure felt like an honest-to-goodness 150-mph car.
2. Had the same experience with letting off the gas that I had in the diesel Ford in Germany. That is, after building lots of boost flooring the throttle for a while and then lifting off the gas, the car continues to accelerate. So is this a turbo thing, not just a turbo diesel thing? I have had a few turbo cars (Mazda 323GTX, Audi 5000S turbo), and I don't recall this behavior. But maybe I never noticed it. Another possibility is that the GTI's engine is a lot like a diesel engine in that is has no throttle butterflies (it is direct injection if I understand it correctly). Hmmm.
3. I used 3/4 tank of gas, and it cost me 40 pounds ($80 USD) to fill it up. Yikes!
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125 eh? Perhaps 15 years from now that will be buried far enough in Google's brain that those first driving lessons won't be taken with a grain of salt!
Nice point. I worry about future/current employers and maybe even muckraking journalists finding admissions of sin in my blog. But my kids? Ouch.
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