The GTI P2 Base gets Richmond 18” alloys and Good Year Falcon F1 tyres as stock.
BHPian Amey Kulkarni recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Merhaba Peeps,
Moving out of the comfort zone within your country to a new one and starting afresh is as challenging as a fresher entering the professional world.
Have travelled to a lot of countries but Dubai just never happened. Well now it did and happened for good. It’s been 8 odd months. The public transport isn’t convenient if you’re not staying in the apt locations. Anyone moving here, the first and foremost thing to do after scouting a house is to focus on driving license and getting a car. One for convenience to move around the city and other for the cars which you’ve only seen on wallpapers or dreamt of.
Exiting India with fresh memories of the track day at BIC on the Panigale 959, I was exhilarated to get something which would put a smile on my face again (Another superbike ). With a family of 3, a family car was the first priority and sadly the coupes and 2 seaters were out of question.
I took around 3 months to get the driving license considering just weekends were possible for me to attend lessons. The overall process is a pain honestly and can be stressful even if you have two decades of driving experience. The few attempts of failures you come across hit you hard and sometimes it’s better to be a noob at it than an experienced one to negate the bad habits of driving.
However, these 3 months were sufficient to gain some experience of understanding the market as well. The preowned market is huge and you need to be careful while choosing the car. “Stick to only GCC spec cars” was a statement I had heard across; unless you have a known mechanic or friends who’d gone through the buying and owning process, it’s just better to buy a brand-new car as a first and have peace of mind.
With a decent budget in mind which could’ve fetched me a lot of cars honestly but due to the semiconductor issues, the stock in Dubai is scarce.
The ferreting kicked off with browsing through online apps for pre-owned cars – Dubizzle, Cars 24 etc.
I did Test drive a variety of cars viz : Toyota Prado, Toyota Land Cruiser, Volvo XC90, Mercedes Benz C200 and C43 AMG.
The breadboxes were nice and comfy but not something which I was eyeing for. The interiors looked dated even on the new Model Years. The C200 was lame. Hated it, however, was amazed by the C43 AMG 3L Turbo V6, adaptive suspensions, valvetronic exhausts and the exuberating acceleration. Insane, it was love. A downside was my wife and I are quite tall. Myself 185cms. The cabin in the C feels cramped. I was trying to fit in to the seats comfortably. But we still decided to go ahead considering the Triumph I had after driving it.
The tables turned when I found out the C43 had a couple of accidents and the good thing here is getting an accidental history is not so difficult but the third party dealers will surely not give away any info. You’re on our own when it comes to retrieving all the past data.
We just decided to knock off the idea of going preowned and pay extra for a peaceful night’s sleep.
So, the hunt began.
Visits to the showrooms and the cars explored:
Mercedes-Benz: C200 MY 22 / C300, pre-worshipped C43 (if only :P). They only had C200, C300 is discontinued and so are C43 AMG and C63 AMG. There were a few pre-owned cars on sale viz – A35 AMG Saloon, lot of C200s (not surprised why).
BMW: Horror stories in GCC due to major failures in cars. Wasn’t even in contention.
JLR: No stock of the XE P 300, E Pace, XF, F Pace etc
Ford: Mustang, Rear seat leg space was disappointing, tacky interiors.
VW: Golf R – Not available, GTI MK8 – Loved the TD and something which we shortlisted in the first visit.
Toyota: For a family of 3, didn’t look at the breadboxes honestly. Prado and LC are available in abundance and quite affordable. Germans are expensive and you feel the pinch of buying an expensive car compared to Japanese. But for peeps who’ve experienced moving around Dubai; you really need a pocket rocket kind of a car unless your family size demands for a bigger one.
Lexus: I actually loved the 3L V6 version + Lexus interiors which I was keen on picking up but IS, ES, LS all out of stock. They only had NX which was disappointing.
Not boring you all with a lot of text, let’s jump in to see the pictures of the Hot Hatch:
The variants available in GCC:
- P1 – Base and Full.
- P2 – Base, Mid and Full.
I picked up a P2 Base and secured the price before the hike which was effective 1st Nov’ 2021. P2 Mid and Full already had price hikes. The P2 base costed me INR 4 lakhs cheaper the P2 mid for which I had to trade off the DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control), Harman sound system and 19” alloys.
Under the bonnet:
- An evolved EA888 ‘Evo 4’ 2.0 Litre Turbo,
- 180KW @ 5k-6k rpm ~ 245 bhp.
- 370 Nm @ 1.6k-4.3k rpm.
- FWD, 7 speed DSG (DQ381).
Exteriors:
Front view:
The front design is sharp and feels aggressive. The GTI gets parking light DRLs inside the headlamps as well as a straight line from left to right below the red strip you will see (overboard I feel).
GCC Specs Golf GTI MK8 does not get the front IQ Lights which is a sad miss.
The mid and base variants miss on the driving / lane assistance which I honestly don’t need. I’ve driven cars with this feature and it gets irritating at times when you realize the car restricts you to overtake, corrects the lane etc. Good to have feature but not a must have for me.
Matrix LEDs are as standard. Do a good job to cover up the dark roads. Fog lamps are effective too with the LEDs mounted inside a Honey comb structured grill.
GTI Badging all around; which I personally felt overdone.
Automatic rain sensing wipers with multiple droplet settings.
Side view:
The GTI P2 Base gets Richmond 18” alloys and Good Year Falcon F1 tyres as stock. The ride is stiff on the 18” even in comfort mode and I’m happy I didn’t pick up the 19″ option.
The door handles get white LEDs and a golf light projection on the ground from the mirrors gives it a nice touch at night.
The car is equipped with keyless entry as standard and works swiftly. Can be turned off as well from the options on the infotainment.
Rear view:
IQ Lights as standard. Standard VW logo for opening the boot and embedded neatly with the reverse cam as well which is high quality.
It also gets auto emergency braking in case the driver doesn’t realize someone in the rear blind spot.
The boot is decent for a family size of 3 /4 and rated at 374 litres.
Keyword: Ownership review: My Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk8 in Dubai