The Mega MK7 & MK8 Golf GTI/GTD/R thread - Part II

hooch-85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118052383#Comment_118052383

Just spotted that now, they are 20" in one part of the ad and 19" in another? Also, looking at that finance offer 132 a week over 5 years with 15k down, that's pretty much a new Clubsport. €132k a week with €15k down is a cost of credit of 14k, something can't be right with that. Must have edited another ad and left that finance offer in it.

Award winning dealer my h0le.

mcburns07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118052431#Comment_118052431

Definitely a copy and paste ad. Also mentions it being 141. 35k for a 6 year old car with 64k km on it, and there’s now two newer versions. Prices have gone mad. I know someone who got 40k for a fully loaded low mileage 181 Golf R in Jan and they thought they got a very good deal 🤦🏻‍♂️.

Cetera

After 250km, my thoughts so far:

Design:

• I love the look of it (I know that’s subjective), even more than my MK7
• Lapiz is very striking
• 19” Estoril alloys look great (glad I didn’t end up with the black alloys as originally spec’d)
• The rear wing gives it a really sporty look; a little more aggressive looking than my MK7
• Definitely a premium feel to the car (and there’d want to be for the price of it)
• I don’t think I like the lightbar across the grille

Ride and Handling:

• Driving position seems much improved in the sense you feel lower to the ground (maybe because the car is lower than the MK7)
• You can really feel the torque vectoring on cornering; you can feel it push the car around. It’s very noticeable
• Steering seems similar to the MK7 to be honest - I’ve haven’t noticed much of a difference
• Non-DCC - it seems pretty ok so far, and I’ve driven a mix of backroads and main roads. Definitely would have preferred DCC, but my MK7 was way harsher over bumps (19” Pretoria). It might be too early to say though

Performance:

• to be determined after a bit more of a run in
• Modes:
• Drift - I will probably never use it
• Special - I don’t have the DCC so it will be somewhat limited

Sound:

• Less artificial sounding than my MK7, with more pops and bangs on the overrun from the exhaust. But like all performance Golfs, it’s pretty quiet most of the time

Technology:

• No software issues so far - all working very well. The WeConnect set up didn’t raise any issues
• No lag from the infotainment
• Lane assist is annoying and you have to remember to turn it off each time, but there is a shortcut on the left indicator lever
• My biggest frustration is getting to grips with the climate control. The lack of physical buttons for the climate control is just annoying
• Wireless CarPlay is a dream
• Screen resolution is great
• Haptic buttons on the steering wheel are not a major annoyance. They work fine, but would rather physical buttons.

Interior:

• Seats are very comfortable and hold you in better than the MK7 seats
• The choice of Ambient lighting is great
• Materials feel pretty good with some hard plastic in places.

In short, I love it :) It feels like a big improvement over the MK7. Do the improvements in the MK8 justify the price difference? Probably not, but I am very happy with my purchase.

There’s probably some things I haven’t covered but I’ll follow up again in a few weeks.

JoeA3

Nice overview Cetera and I’d echo most of your observations so far, especially:

• seating position is definitely better, it’s the first thing I noticed - lower slung, less perched up than MK7 and the dash feels like it wraps around you too.
• much fruitier exhaust farts
• infotainment - totally agree with you re the climate controls. If they’d only left those in a separate panel, even a touch screen one like in the new Tiguan, it would have been far better imo.
• wireless CarPlay - brilliant
• cabin ambience is really nice, esp at night with the configurable ambient lighting
• Not that keen on the light bar either!

One thing I’ve found is, on a cold start, you can’t just hop into the car and go. You need to wait for the infotainment to boot up and do its thing first before you can adjust climate / heated seats etc, then remember to disable lane assist, etc. It’s almost like having to do a bunch of pre-flight checks!

Cetera

Yeah, I agree. All minor frustrations really, and I don’t think they take away from the car at all.

The Lane assist is dangerous to be honest. I had a close call this morning on a background with no road markings - the car pulled me over right but thankfully there was no oncoming traffic :/

I noticed the cold start preparation this morning, now that you say it. There’s so much to set up before driving off

JoeA3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118056527#Comment_118056527

Yeah. There is a touch of novelty factor about it too at the moment, playing around with different settings, etc. I'm always changing the drive-Mode setting back and forth from "special" to Individual" and experimenting with different dash dials layout etc..

Cetera

“Sure there’ll be very few of these on the road”….. 4 days later after purchase…..

mcburns07

Looks fantastic Cetera! Have to say the looks of the mk8 have grown on me a lot, looks really well in the performance models with a good alloy choice. I still think I’d find the climate control being on the touchscreen really annoying. Handily on my BMW I was able to turn off lane assist day 1 and the car keeps the setting indefinitely. Is there an option to code it off permanently on the Golf?

JoeA3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118064411#Comment_118064411

Yep you can code it to remember your last setting. It’s on my to-do list!

dastardly00

@Cetera - your R looks fantastic! Well wear!

Kagawa

I've a question for the manual owners, my gears are quite notchy when changing, reverse through to 4th really. They never don't go into gear but there is a resistance when going into gear. They do get better when the car is hot but I'm just not happy with it as it's supposed to be a drivers car. I took the car back to the dealer and they drove it and said that it's 'normal'. I had a mk 7 GTD a few years ago from new and I don't remember it being as notchy as this. Have other manual owners found this?

hooch-85

I presume it's a mk7 R we are talking about?

Can't say I've had that issue with mine and I had a GTD prior to the R too, I wouldn't describe the gear change as notchy at all.

My Dad has a diesel Subaru Impreza and it's the worst gearbox I've ever used. I'm almost guaranteed to grind 3rd or 5th on the odd occasion I have to drive it.

Kagawa

Yes, it’s a 7.5 GTI. I just drove it now and it’s not as bad as it was last week, due to it being warmer I’m thinking.

Cetera

My CarPlay is throwing wobblers quite regularly…it will not play through the speakers even though the song is playing, so I have to switch the infotainment off a few times until it figures itself out. Anyone else experience the same on the MK8?

JoeA3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091798#Comment_118091798

i had a similar issue yes and I was getting a black screen with CarPlay too. I restarted the phone and it’s been 100% fine since

I had updated the iOS software on the phone the day before, so I reckon it was something to do with that.

mcburns07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091798#Comment_118091798

Have the odd issue like this with my BMW too. Think it's probably more of a CarPlay issue than the car itself.

Cetera

Thanks lads. I’ll restart the phone and see if that helps.

wotzgoingon

Typical iPhones. They are shít....

lenbar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118092609#Comment_118092609

If iPhones are what you say they are I doubt very much that close on a billion people worldwide would be using them.

bennyx_o

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093524#Comment_118093524

Can't believe someone registered just to post this 😂

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118093657#Comment_118093657

I feel special they registered close to two years ago but decided to make their first post be to answer a joke post I made.

DaveyDave

I've had some minor issues with Android Auto, I imagine it's a similar story with Apple. Not sure about Car Play but Android Auto is supposed to just display your phone screen and the phone does all the work. I have noticed the phone you're using and even the car makes a difference.

My previous phone would lose a lot of bass after 5 minutes for some reason. A previous update did make it fussy about connecting also. The cable you're using can also be an issue with the constant plugging in and can be damaged over time. Get an Amazon Basics or Anker brand cable for cheap. I got a 2 pack of Anker USB C cables for a tenner.

Also worth completely deleting the settings and starting from scratch or just restarting.

GavRedKing

Well, had my first f**k sale moment in the CS today.

About 3kms from Bantry pottering along about 90kmh in a 100kmh zone, hit a puddle, well.....a pothole that had filled with water, the thing must have been about 8ft deep because instantly the tyre pressure warning went off.

Stopped and had a look, side wall blown out of the front left, about a 1 inch gash and a nick taken out of the alloy.

Gets better though, after lot of cursing and near tears, I relaise there's no spare wheel so it's not going to be a simple fix.

Ring VW assistance as it's covered with the car, on hold for about 45/60mins waiting for an operator, lucky it wasn't a major breakdown.

Get in touch with someone eventually and there was a tow truck operator contacted me through VW assistance, he paid for a local taxi to drop us home. Car has to go to the nearest VW garage which is in Skibereen which is pretty far away from where I live, maybe 80/90kms.l but about 10kms from the car "broke down"

I can get a hire car but they're not open until tomorrow and can't get me a car until 1pm and I have to get down to Skibereen to get the car back and that's if they have a 19" tyre in stock down in VW Skib. All in total about 2.5 hrs between the tyre going pop to getting back home.

So I hope the tyre is the only issue and the alloy isn't buckled/cracked.

I'll definitely be going about getting a space saver spare wheel just in case it happens again.

Lesson definitely learned.

JoeA3

Ouch Gav! 🙈

I thought I was looking at a similar problem last weekend. Hit a sunken manhole and there was a good bang. Pulled over expecting to see the worst but I got away with it. Tyre and wheel un marked. I did get a low pressure warning later the same day which had me fearing hidden damage but I checked them and reset the warning and it didn’t go off since 🤷‍♂️

The lack of a spare is a pain in a situation like that. There isn’t a Jack or a wheel brace either… I’ve a proper trolley Jack ordered myself but it won’t be something you’d throw in the boot.

I wonder will your wheel be repairable?

GavRedKing

I'm hoping its just a tyre replacement, I'll take the 150-200quid hit for that.

Id rather not swallow a new alloy on top of that too, the front face of the alloy had a tiny nick and no obvious damage inside the rim but couldn't see behind the back side of it.

I was lucky there was a garage close by that I could throw the car into off the road and grab a bathroom break and a few refreshments.

There was a tyre centre in Bantry too but this being Ireland, theres no hope of them being open on Sunday. Theres also a mobile fitter in the city that operates on Sundays and after hours but no hope of getting him down that far and no guarantee he'd even have the tyre in stock.

Ill get a space saver sorted or maybe even a full size spare too, a replica from CM Wheels or somewhere similar to keep me ticking over if something happens like that again.

Just a very unlucky scenario but that's the joys of motoring. 🤷

everlast75

"but this being Ireland, theres no hope of them being open on Sunday"

This bugs the **** out of me. Do people not drive on a Sunday? Do people not get punctures on a Sunday?

A neighbour of mine damaged a wheel here in louth and contacted the local co co and got a refund for the damage to his wheel fyi

GavRedKing

I dont expect every place to be open but would be nice alright to have an option.

I went to a place one Saturday a few months back without a booking and was waiting a good 60mins to get a tyre for her own car.

Guy said Saturday was manic as people were working during the week, even during covid so couldn't get up to them and Saturday was usually their busiest day of the week.

I'm not even going go down the Co. council route, tbh it's just a load of hassle and I was probably a good 500m/1km up the road before I stopped and inspected the tyre so finding the culprit in the weather was going to be difficult and probably unsafe on a N road in the conditions.

I'll swallow the cost and moan about for a few days.

EDIT

I'm probably more annoyed at myself, I knew there was no spare or space saver so there was always a risk. She got great kick out of saying "I told ya so" and "Why's there no spare in an expensive car".

Which went down like a lead balloon while waiting for the tow truck and taxi. 😂

JoeA3

They removed the spare, toolkit etc, all as part of getting weight down for emissions. I don’t think a spare is fitted to any new VW now. You can buy the whole kit as an optional accessory from VW, incl the Jack etc

apparently the tyres are less prone to minor punctures these days (self sealing?!) but that’s not much good to you when you hit an Irish pothole.

There is a can of gunk and an air compressor in the boot alright but again not much use in a blowout situation.

ILikeBoats

Sorry to hear that Gav. Definitely a pain not having the spare.

Must have been the weekend for it. I was driving in Dublin city on Friday night, there was roadworks in Drumcondra and the had a chunk dug out of the road. There may have been signage but I didn't see it and hit the square edge of the tarmac. I wasn't going fast but it was enough to make me pull over just to check the tyre and wheel. Luckily nothing but gave me a fright.

GavRedKing

All sorted now but I've to wait until tomorrow to get the car back, they couldn't source a tyre locally until this afternoon.

Makes no odds to me anyway, was in no hurry to go down. 🤷