An hour of fun

Hot hatchbacks, these elusive machines hard to single out from a crowd of similar looking vehicles without a trained eye. This month I had the pleasure of driving the hot hatch defining machine.

The newest generation Volkswagen Golf GTI is the car in question. The German manufacturer started the journey of the GTI way back in the 1970's during the first oil crisis. These small and nimble funboxes were created to liven up the grey days of the hard working man, and almost 40 years later, liven up my damp January afternoon.

The Mk7 Golf is all in all a great improvement from its predecessor the Mk6. It's got better engines, bigger interior and somehow it's also lost some weight by being over 50 kg lighter. All this is mighty impressive. But let us leave those figures to the boring committee and focus on the new GTI.

As the previous Golf GTI, it has a 2.0 litre turbocharged power plant driving the front wheels. But with a small increase in power from 210 to 220 horsepower. That isn't much, but the other important force making the car move forward, torque, has gone up from 280 to 350nm which is much. This propels the GTI from 0-100k/h in 6.5 seconds and top out at 245k/h in sixth gear.

There is the traditional red stripe, that the Mk7 Golf needed.

 On the subject on gears, the car I drove had the optional 6-speed DSG, which is indeed a work of German engineering magic, it's brilliant! In hard acceleration it's brutally fast but sophisticated and in normal cruising it's absolutely seamless. The gearbox itself feels like it is a mix of two, as a hot hatchback, a mix of practicality and sports car fun. I tested this by driving 50k/h with 5th gear and gave it a little squeeze on the throttle. The gearbox didn't panic and immediately kick down to 3rd, instead it let the immense torque from the engine care for the small 'overtake-like' acceleration.

Horrible day and a great car makes a great day.

 Inside the new Golf GTI then. Let's not faff about, it's as pleasant as being inside a well build performance computer. Everything important is at hand, lavished with many toys - and best of all - makes a satisfying hum, which reminds you of the power underneath. The seats are sporty but not small or uncomfortable, plastics are of extremely high quality (as is expected) and did I mention the noise. Only complaint I have about this car is the on board computer touch screen thing. It's something a driver should touch on the move. The screen is a bit too low down which takes your eyes off the road and it controls far too many things.

And there's the screen that should only be operated while stationary.

But the important thing is the new Golf GTI is fantastic. It was my first drive in a real hot hatch with a DSG flappy-paddel gearbox (which may be obvious). But all I can say is, bring me the VW Golf R. I want more.

The drving position is excelent, and best of all you can't see the upholstery while sitting on it.

GT6

I've taken some pictures from my game play in the new Gran Turismo 6 game.

Audi Quattro 1982. It does not belong on the track.

The superb Ford Focus ST. I should do a some kind of review on this...

Ford GT40 powersliding in Silverstone

Nissan Skyline R34 (white) and Nismo tuned Skyline R33.

Toyota GT86 in it's favourite activity (Gran Turismo 15th anniversary colours)

Hello again!

After some three weeks of no new content, TheSeatHeater is back. As it turns out it's not all about the cars, even though cars are a pretty big deal.

This post will not be like the others where I talk/rant about a car or a type of car and put up some pictures, no. This will be a hype up post for the upcoming motor show that I will visit this Saturday with my brand new camera. So clear and crispy pictures for all of you to see and behold. It will be a live motor show with both newer and older cars. For example many Lamborghini's, Ferrari's and some American cars will be attending. I still don't know what kind of event it will be, but hopefully I'll get real close to the cars.

In other news (if someone cares) I saw my first ever Fisker Karma. Which is odd since they make the car here in my home country. But still it was an impressive thing to witness. If you're not familiar with the Fisker Karma let me explain it a bit. It's an electric car for the really rich people. But what makes it unique is that it has an on-board power station in the shape of a 2.0 litre petrol engine. It doesn't drive the car at all but it makes electricity for the pile of batteries that then drive the car. So it's a long-ranged electric car. It's actually a GT (Grand Tourer) car.

So there I managed to squeeze in a small thing of the now two year old must have Hollywood accessory. But hey, this is a car blog after all with a slogan of 'It's all about the cars'.

Oh, and I almost forgot, it looks superb.

If you look closely you can see the solar panels on the roof.

No flora or fauna was damaged to create this interior.