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

DaveyDave · 07-01-2022 11:33pm

I'm assuming Matrix LEDs are one of those things you'll never want to go without after you use them once? Just found out the Cupra Born doesn't have them. A bit disappointed as I like new tech but standard LED still an upgrade over halogens.

Anyone have the HUD on their Golf?

JoeA3 · 08-01-2022 12:04am

Yeah the matrix / IQ Lights are insanely good. They’re so impressive to watch in action on a dark country road, it feels a bit weird driving headlong into oncoming traffic with “full” beams but it is trimming the part that dazzles. I haven’t been flashed yet…

08-01-2022 12:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118436974#Comment_118436974

Ooohhh errr missus.

JoeA3 · 08-01-2022 12:25am

Walked into that one…..

Cetera · 08-01-2022 6:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118436974#Comment_118436974

They are seriously good! Definitely one of those features that would be very hard to forgo when buying again in the future. And when you are pushing on in race, they are super responsive!

I’ve been flashed twice - both times by trucks on the motorway.

Cetera · 08-01-2022 6:31pm

https://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/volkswagen/golf/fpa/202201051040609?journey=Search

This looks like the first used one up online. €65k with 29k on the clock and it doesn’t have PP pack.

captainchaos · 09-01-2022 9:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118436589#Comment_118436589

Apologies yes , I ,meant the lane assist!

bazz26 · 18-01-2022 4:15pm

This thread is gone a bit quiet but looks like VW are adding another performance Golf to the rang that may sit about the current R:

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/357118/volkswagen-teases-upcoming-high-performance-golf

JoeA3 · 18-01-2022 4:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118495225#Comment_118495225

The GTI forums were all over that yesterday. It is most likely fake news, someone jumped on a USA press release for the upcoming R launch in the US and 2+2=5.

bazz26 · 18-01-2022 4:19pm

Yeah, even with autoexpress it sounds a bit wide of the mark. They mention removing the rear seat like they did with the Mk7 Clubsport S but that was a 3 door.....lol. Tabloid story growing legs

Shotser · 26-01-2022 4:43pm

Have a mk7 estate, unfortunately it is not a fancy one. Boards search is useless so I can't find if there is a better place for my question. Please direct me to the relevant place if there is one.

My question is, does anyone know of a place that would retrofit a factory swivel tow bar, with the pull cord, wiring, coding etc? I've seen it done on youtube but the video is in German so I am a bit hesitant to have a go myself.

Thanks

JoeA3 · 26-01-2022 8:36pm

I’m pretty sure it is do-able. A buddy bought a new Tiguan a couple of years ago and wanted the factory towbar. The VW dealer fitted it for him and it looked “factory”. Had the button inside the boot to release it, it folded up behind the bumper, etc, all the same as factory.

So it might be worth enquiring with a VW dealer. I’d expect it would cost north of €1k though.

shanec1928 · 27-01-2022 11:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118341584#Comment_118341584

good luck with the acc one, i have that on my mk4 leon. Frankly its a safety issue imo. seat have been crap to deal with the dealers not much better. have provided multiple videos to them car has spent weeks in the garage and nothing other than there might be a software update for it. spending the best part of 40k on a car and then having a poor experience like that really takes the shine off a new car. ive had several cars from the VAG range, will more than likely be my last one after this.

JoeA3 · 27-01-2022 11:35am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539332#Comment_118539332

Not a "fix", but can't you just not use that feature? On the Golf (and I assume same on Leon) you can use the adaptive cruise without any of the extra "assistance", i.e. it works just like how ACC works in the MK7 if you want it to. Personally I dislike all the extra assistance such as lane assist and sign recognition so I don't use it.

Shotser · 27-01-2022 12:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118537294#Comment_118537294

Frank Keane said it couldn't be done. But I will ask again and with other dealers. Thanks for reply.

JoeA3 · 27-01-2022 12:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539851#Comment_118539851

I was on the motorway in my car last weekend. There are 2 buttons on the Golf steering wheel that are "ACC" related. One of them seems to just turn on regular ACC and it behaves like in the MK7. Set a speed and it keeps back from the car in front.

Then there's another button that enables "Travel assist" which gives you (in addition to the above) the annoying lane assist and the speed changing to suit road signs.

here they are… The one above the "RES" button is normal ACC. The one below RES is travel assist.

https://ibb.co/2gMknLf

PaulRyan97 · 30-01-2022 2:54pm

As anyone else with a MK8 encountered any issues with the ACC adjusting itself to the speed of the car in the next lane? Several times now when I've been in the right lane overtaking, (foot is not on the accelerator but I'm cruising at a higher speed than they are), the car will slow right down as I come up on them forcing me to kick down the accelerator myself to override it. It didn't use to this so I'm wondering if some bug got introduced in a software update?

30-01-2022 3:06pm

It's being discussed in the past few posts. It also happens in the Mk4 Leon. Can be coded out but I'm sure a software update will fix it eventually

JoeA3 · 30-01-2022 3:06pm

Sounds like a bug I’ve read quite a few UK owners complain about. There is software updates available now via the dealers. I guess if you go in and complain about known issues they’ll apply the update for you.

Cetera · 01-02-2022 2:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554567#Comment_118554567

Yes, intermittently. Around 70% of the time it works with no issues, but it is really annoying when it does happen. I still have to report it to the dealer.

My infotainment is pretty buggy (CarPlay only - but I doubt it’s an Apple issue). I am regularly resetting the system as it doesn’t pick up my Spotify, or decides to play music from Spotify through the phone instead of the car speakers. This is the most annoying issue. I still love the car, though!

SaintsYB · 06-02-2022 2:21pm

Would anyone be able to link the product guide for the Mk7.5 Golf for around mid 2018? I've been trying to find one online and can't seem to get it.

wallpapers123 · 20-02-2022 6:53pm

Thinking of buying a used mk7 Golf, but confused between the GTI and the GTD. I work from home 100%, so my driving is limited only on the occasional weekends fun drives and few short trips to the shops. The GTI is a clear choice here given my driving needs, but would the GTD also make sense if I can do a long-ish drive once a month(to help the DPF regen)?

The GTI scares me with all the timing chain horror stories on the internet, with the repair bills of couple of thousands, whereas the GTD is fairly safer with its Timing Belt setup.

Also, budget is a factor in my purchase as the GTIs are strangely very expensive in current used car market, whereas the GTDs are in a fairly decent price range for a 100k-150k miles.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

dastardly00 · 20-02-2022 11:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118590306#Comment_118590306

You've probably already found it, but just in case... Here it is for December 2018.

20181219-golf-gti-gtd-r-december-2018.pdf

JoeA3 · 21-02-2022 12:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118664358#Comment_118664358

I’ve never heard of the timing chain causing trouble in the MK7. There was a known design flaw with the tensioner in the MK6 alright and it was expensive to put right. I don’t think this problem carried over into the MK7 though.

For your driving pattern you’d be mad to consider a diesel imo. GTD residuals have been relatively poor in recent years, I guess due to the bad press diesels have been getting and loads of high miler GTD’s were imported in here pre Brexit. Hence GTD’s tend to be cheaper than the GTI but they’ll also tend to have multiples of the mileage, likely lower spec and in general probably not as well cared for. Obviously there’ll be exceptions but you might have to look harder to find a good one.

Go for the petrol imo. They do reasonable enough mpg anyway on a run. The GTD doesn’t do particularly great mpg on short trips and you’ll have the DPF issues.

wallpapers123 · 21-02-2022 2:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667022#Comment_118667022

If I make an occasional(once a month) long motorway drive, Will I still run into DPF issues?

Toyotafanboi · 21-02-2022 2:44pm

IMO if you have to ask yourself the question, will i have DPF issue, this in itself is evidence that you probably will.

DaveyDave · 21-02-2022 3:19pm

No point getting a diesel just because you do an occasional long trip. The GTI will get decent fuel economy on a long trip. If you're doing mostly short trips your fuel bill won't be huge anyway.

The GTD is very popular, not sure if it's just affordable ex-UK fleet cars or what but lots of younger lads are in them. I'd say a lot of them are driven hard, low spec, not serviced to a T so there's probably a lot of crap ones on the market.

wallpapers123 · 21-02-2022 4:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118667910#Comment_118667910

Thanks, I was leaning more towards the GTD as my budget is also fairly tight.

In current market, the GTDs fits in that perfectly(€14-€15K for a 100-140k miles run with top specs), whereas a decent GTI(€22K for a 100-140k kms run with good specs) is quite out of my budget.

Fuel bills is not my concern.

Toyotafanboi · 21-02-2022 7:40pm

All that being said, GTD's are still a nice yoke IMO and the EA288 isn't bad for doing dynamic regens even on short trips. You'd probably get away with it in reality but over the very long run it wouldn't be great for the car.

Any of the ones you do see giving EGR trouble, turbo trouble etc are usually as a result of carbon build up and living life doing short runs. Getting the DPF clear is only half the battle. If you are doing lots of short trips and it's not getting up to operating temp, in the long run it's bad for the whole engine. One long run a month wont kwep everything de-coked. Not that they are clean running at the best of times.

The opposite also being true, you see a fair few early ones out there now in excess of 300k kms going fairly sweet.

You might have to go a bit more to get into a GTI but it'll keep that value too. Bar a few issues around the cooling system the 2.0 petrol in the Mk7 is a decent yoke, econonical if driven handy and will take mileage no bother.

Kagawa · 27-02-2022 9:35am

It’s insane how car prices have gone, I was considering upgrading my 2018 GTI to a mk 8 but a 21/22 mk 8 is twice the price. I wonder will the prices ever go down again, if they stay this way my next car will have to be electric. I was hoping VW would bring out a hybrid GTI which would offset the cost of ownership a bit but with the cost to buy so high it probably wouldn’t matter.

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

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