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Ganthrithor · 12-02-2013, 03:38 AM

I came from a totally optioned Mk4 GTI and don't miss it at all. When I went to move apartments I missed the cargo space of the GTI a little bit, but I was shocked at how much stuff I was able to fit into the BRZ with a careful packing job.

The interior of the BRZ has all the features of my GTI and more (satnav, although I don't use it because the BRZ head unit is terrible). I guess I don't have full leather seats anymore, but I really don't care: the BRZ seats are more comfortable and much more supportive than the GTI seats (which were already pretty comfortable). Overall I'd say that the interior on the GTI looks a little more "serious" than the BRZs, but the BRZ interior is plenty nice and similarly simple. I guess more modern GTIs had nicer interiors, so maybe if you're coming out of a recent one you'd find yourself missing things, but I've always preferred simple interiors anyway so I don't care.

Driving-wise the BRZ is just a whole new world of fun compared to my GTI. The GTI was quick, but ultimately the handling was pretty boring: mine has aftermarket springs / dampers, an aftermarket front swaybar, poly motor mounts and a Milltek turbo-back, but at the end of the day all the car really wanted to do was go fast and understeer a bit if you pushed it too hard. It was a quick and really forgiving car to drive, but not interesting like the BRZ is.

I do miss the power of my GTI a bit: it was probably making less HP than my BRZ, but the minimally-laggy torque from the turbo with that exhaust attached is something a miss a little. I'd say that if I drove both cars down a tight, windy road, my GTI with its Dunlop Star Specs might get from A to B a tiny bit faster than my BRZ, but my BRZ is much more fun to drive and with good tyres might be even quicker than the Mk4. Compared to my BRZ in stock format I think the GTI would definitely be a bit faster. There's just no comparing the quantities of fun involved though: the BRZ feels extremely light and nimble compared to the GTI, and being able to balance the car on the throttle better is a lot of fun.

FWIW I was driving both cars for a couple of months, and once you get used to the BRZ hopping into the GTI feels like you're driving a bus-- the wheel feels huge, the rack feels slow and strangely light, the seating position feels high and a bit wrong, the gear shift isn't where it ~*should*~ be, and the whole package feels heavy. My modded GTI felt like a fast hatch but you could still feel that it was a Golf trying hard to compete with proper sportscars (and doing a pretty good job in terms of raw numbers, but not that gracefully): my modded BRZ feels like a babby M-car-- less power, less weight, less grip (on stockers anyway), but it handles in the same way as much more serious cars.

12-02-2013, 03:38 AM	#34
Ganthrithor Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Drives: '13 BRZ, '06 997, Other Things(TM) Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 1,078 Thanks: 1,715 Thanked 670 Times in 351 Posts Mentioned: 9 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	I came from a totally optioned Mk4 GTI and don't miss it at all. When I went to move apartments I missed the cargo space of the GTI a little bit, but I was shocked at how much stuff I was able to fit into the BRZ with a careful packing job. The interior of the BRZ has all the features of my GTI and more (satnav, although I don't use it because the BRZ head unit is terrible). I guess I don't have full leather seats anymore, but I really don't care: the BRZ seats are more comfortable and much more supportive than the GTI seats (which were already pretty comfortable). Overall I'd say that the interior on the GTI looks a little more "serious" than the BRZs, but the BRZ interior is plenty nice and similarly simple. I guess more modern GTIs had nicer interiors, so maybe if you're coming out of a recent one you'd find yourself missing things, but I've always preferred simple interiors anyway so I don't care. Driving-wise the BRZ is just a whole new world of fun compared to my GTI. The GTI was quick, but ultimately the handling was pretty boring: mine has aftermarket springs / dampers, an aftermarket front swaybar, poly motor mounts and a Milltek turbo-back, but at the end of the day all the car really wanted to do was go fast and understeer a bit if you pushed it too hard. It was a quick and really forgiving car to drive, but not interesting like the BRZ is. I do miss the power of my GTI a bit: it was probably making less HP than my BRZ, but the minimally-laggy torque from the turbo with that exhaust attached is something a miss a little. I'd say that if I drove both cars down a tight, windy road, my GTI with its Dunlop Star Specs might get from A to B a tiny bit faster than my BRZ, but my BRZ is much more fun to drive and with good tyres might be even quicker than the Mk4. Compared to my BRZ in stock format I think the GTI would definitely be a bit faster. There's just no comparing the quantities of fun involved though: the BRZ feels extremely light and nimble compared to the GTI, and being able to balance the car on the throttle better is a lot of fun. FWIW I was driving both cars for a couple of months, and once you get used to the BRZ hopping into the GTI feels like you're driving a bus-- the wheel feels huge, the rack feels slow and strangely light, the seating position feels high and a bit wrong, the gear shift isn't where it ~should~ be, and the whole package feels heavy. My modded GTI felt like a fast hatch but you could still feel that it was a Golf trying hard to compete with proper sportscars (and doing a pretty good job in terms of raw numbers, but not that gracefully): my modded BRZ feels like a babby M-car-- less power, less weight, less grip (on stockers anyway), but it handles in the same way as much more serious cars.