The Mega Mk7 Golf GTI/GTD/R thread

Nice post Vintagevrs

@Paddy - really interesting car, but lack of dealership support must be affecting sales. Seems only one garage in Dublin has the setup to maintain it should something outside of a general service be required.

Looking forward to reading your review.

Regarding the premium over the GTI, it's a hard one to call what that actual premium is. Slightly higher running costs and probably loose a bit more on deprecation but not a massive amount I would say yes it is worth it. Purely for the fact if I had went with a GTI I would always be wondering what the R would be like.

I read on an R forum yesterday that a member put a vbox in his car to measure acceleration. He also owns a Porsche and did the same:

Stock Golf R 5dr DSG running factory Continentals
0-60mph.... 4.25sec
1/4mile.... 12.9sec @ 106.9mph

Cayman GTS PDK running PZeros
0-60mph... 4.3sec

Think VW numbers for 0-100kph are 4.9 for the DSG and 5.2 for the manual.

Not me !

I don't think I'd change much spec-wise if I were ordering again either. Options I spec'd were:

Pretorias - for 130 quid, you have to spec these. Far nicer and far easier to maintain.
keyless - would not have a car without it again - although some aspects of it's implementation could be better.
Leather - silly money, but I really like it, it lifts the interior feel significantly (over and above my cloth-seated GTI). And the heated seats are awesome.
5-door - essential. The car loses nothing looks wise (in fact from some angles it looks more purposeful than the 3 door) imo and it just makes the car a million times easier to live with.
DSG - I had a string of manuals and wanted to see what the hype was with DSG. I'm very happy with it but do sometimes long for the manual too. The manual box in my GTI was very slick.
Paint - Lapiz. This colour gets so much attention and rubber necking, it's incredible. Loads of people ask me about it all the time, admiring the colour. I've never had that with any car before. It really does stand out - but I understand some would rather not to stand out :pac:

Options I considered...
Nav Pro. Could not justify the cost. 1300 quid I think? FFS, you'll get a 4k 55" top end TV for that. Stupid money. I never use the Nav so it'll have been a huge premium for a slightly nicer screen.
DCC - didn't have it in the GTI and going up to 19's, I wondered if I should get it. I didn't and I don't notice any difference in ride comfort from the GTI. It's fine.
Sunroof - any car I ever had with one, it eventually rattled and buzzed. I kinda like the enclosed dark interior too. And the "pano" roof looks weird when it's open - a bit like a Sh1troen 2CV!


I'll probably get App-Connect (Apple CarPlay) retro-activated in the near future. The dealers are able to do it now - at a cost of course.

I think the nav in the Golfs is pants.

It tried to send me the wrong way on a one way road (Barrack Street) in Cork City. This one way system has been in place for a number of years.

Another day I set the nav for Blackrock when I got to the junction by the CSO it decided that the best route was through the CSO carpark . Which has a gate on the other side so no way out.

I don't trust it.

Anyone else experience issues with it.

I think I have carplay on the car, just need to get it activated??

Do you think its worth doing?

The GTD is going very well, 3k on it so far. Very impressive. However the R is always tempting me.

What sort of penalty is there for going back after 1 year on a PCP deal?

But would I be hammered more with depreciation in year one? Like I reckon the GFV after 3 years of 14k is quite good, but after year one would they hammer me?

If you change now and your current car is on PCP. The dealer will give you a value for your car, this is the trade value independent of how you paid for the car. You effectively clear the outstanding amount on your PCP with this. I asked my VW dealer a few weeks ago how much would it cost to clear my pcp. He checked and told me over the phone. By him doing that, I also get a letter in the post. If you were to pay off the outstanding amount, you end up actually paying less interest than you would if you went the duration of the three years as you are borrowing over a shorter period. Consumer credit act 1995 was mentioned beside the rebate.

Hope that helps.

Quick R review

Got mine in early Feb 2014, so have it almost 13 months
Lapiz Blue
19" Cadiz Wheels
Leather
DSG
5-door

What would I change spec-wise?
Probably only Prets for the Cadiz - I like both but on balance prefer the Prets
DCC - not sure I would be bothered
Larger screen/discover pro - maybe but happy enough with the current one
Colour - Like the white but would probably stick with the Lapiz

Mine was a little early so didnt get the driver mode select. Again I'd like to have it but not particularly bothered that I dont.

Current mileage - 25k kms
MPG - Around 27mpg - you can get low - mid 30's - you would get that if you were to drive on a motorway at around 90kph. The problem is that you are generally doing a fair bit more than that - hence the mpg suffers.

Thoughts
Love the car - really like that it is what it is but isnt too shouty (yes it has 4 exhausts but other than that i think it's reasonably subtle)
Grip - my other car is a 535d and the TC light is on more than it is off. The Golf just grips and goes.
Ride - Even on 19's with no DCC I have no issues.
Boot - yes it's a bit small but I rarely have a bootful of anything so little impact for me.
Overrun (ie fart ) - stuff like that you don't get in a diesel
Performance - It's plenty fast - especially if you wanted to rag it on a country road it would leave most anything behind. On a motorway it's probably on a par with the 535d (remapped).

Negatives - I think it could do with another gear - just for the motorway miles. There are times that you are doing 120kph..ish and it's revving higher than necessary for that type of driving. This would also help the mpg.

Not just with the R, but with all hatchbacks I guess - they get so bloody dirty at the rear. You wash it and within a mile of leaving the house it's filthy again.

Costs
Tax - so it's 570 which is a lot today I guess but given the 535d is 1500 odd it's hard to complain too much
Servicing - only one service so far which was included in the pack so zero cost there.
Tyres - After 25k km the fronts are getting close to changing but there's still a bit left in the rears. Ringing around I can get Contis for 207 euro (although others were quoting 230/240). There are cheaper brands but not going down that road. For comparison the 18" runflats on the 535d are around 220 euro.

Yeah well it will be next Jan at the very earliest. I am really liking the GTD I must say, it's an impressive car. The R is just the evil angel on my shoulder urging me on!