Rrrr you not entertained?

For the first time in 12 years and only the second time in my entire life, I bought a new car!  I'm a german car whore, so have been wanting a Golf R for awhile.  VW added a 6yr/72k mile bumper to bumper warranty on the '18's, so I knew I wanted that year at least, plus they did a cool digital dash then as well.

I looked around for a used '18 but the cost of them didn't make sense vs buying a new one, so I did!  I literally picked it up 2.5 hours ago.  Got an Indium Gray, 6MT (save the manuals!) 2019 Golf R.

Plan is OEM+ for the car, so things like the homelink mirror, which is a VW part, do a center resonator exhaust delete pipe from the Audi S3, etc, etc.  I already have both of those ready to install, along with a VW roof rack for my bikes/skis.

Tomorrow it'll get tint/clear bra, after that I'll put some miles on it and shake it out.

So far I love it!  Super nice inside, good power, great brakes and quick handling while being really comfortable.

Nice! Those things are low-key rockets. 

Looks great. Though I can't say I'm a fan of the digital gauges. IDK if this is just a R thing or the reg. GTI has them for 2019 as well, but one of my favorite parts about my '18 are the perfect, crisp, traditional gauges with a center digital display. 

Can you put the secondary gauges back on the main cluster? Because my infotainment screen always has other stuff on it (music, maps, etc), so having the gauges only show up there would be pretty annoying.  BTW, the "boost" gauge isn't even remotely close to reality, at least on the GTI, lol. 

And yeah, even after 12k miles on the GTI (mine is an SE, with the same brakes as the R), I continue to be amazed at how powerful the stopping power is, but still with great feel. 

Subscribed

oh the TT has that dash and it is PIMP. 

In reply to irish44j :

I love the digital gauges, way more modern than the older stuff.  I can't move the secondary gauges to the cluster, at least I don't think so.  I'll have to play around and see.

In reply to spacecadet :

Yup, shares the dash with the Audi S3, etc.  It's basically a hatchback, 6MT Audi S3.  I am having to get used to having a much smaller cargo area.  The GX was huge, I could toss whatever I wanted into it.  The width of this one is surprisingly narrow, I've had to use the pass thru for my fold up chair for example.

Nice pick up. I see you also enjoy Lithium, I'll enjoy my free trial while it lasts.

In reply to 10001110101 :

Yeah, I went to college in the late '80 early '90s so my favorite channels are Lithium, 1st Wave and Alt Nation.

Shoulda bought a V8......  no sweet ride.  I'd probably love it, but I'm not sure I could own one.

Definitely a great looking car, I've always been a fan of VW/audi dashboards and this one is no exception. I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions on living with it as a daily!

I figured out how to get the oil temp gauge up on the gauge cluster.  Can't get the boost gauge/water temp numeric readout on it tho.  No biggie. 

Dropped it off this morning at the tint/clear bra shop.  Should have it back this afternoon.  Tomorrow I'll install the Homelink mirror and roof rack. 

Really surprised at how peppy it is!

docwyte said:

In reply to 10001110101 :

Yeah, I went to college in the late '80 early '90s so my favorite channels are Lithium, 1st Wave and Alt Nation.

We've got the same channels on the first three buttons in my wife's car, too.

Subbed for info, I really want one of these myself, just can't swing it at the moment.

I really liked the one I drove 2 yrs back.  Super tight, rowdy, planted in the corners, nice and understated hot rod.

In reply to docwyte :

Must be weezingly slow if you just busted out with peppy......

Great looking car. Congrats!

In reply to AnthonyGS :

LOL!  Realize I've been driving my 996 Turbo daily for the past several weeks while I found, negotiated, then impatiently awaited the arrival of the R.  So in comparison to that, which is a total animal, yes, peppy.

In comparison to the GX470 it replaces, this thing is a rocket.  I'm very impressed with the throttle response and the fact that it has zero rev hang at all. 

Got the car back from tint/clear bra late afternoon yesterday.  Got the roof rack and my bike trays/wheels forks on it just now.  It still fits underneath my lift with the wheel forks installed, woot!

I also asked the tint place to put a protective strip on the top of the rear bumper, where I sit and put on bike shoes, ski boots, the dog jumps on, etc.  Came out looking nice!

Lastly someone posted a bunch of parts from their Golf R on craigslist.  An intake, exhaust, downpipe and intercooler.  While I was tempted by all of it, I want to keep the warranty intact, so that means no downpipe.  I want a civilized car, so no 3" boomy exhaust.  The intercooler was tempting, but this is my street car, the factory intercooler should be fine.

The intake tho, that's an OEM+ upgrade that I want to pursue, its a VW Racing R600 intake.  Closed box design, with scoops to the front of the car for cold air.  I got it for a reasonable price, I'll install it when I do the center exhaust resonator delete.

Hope to install the Homelink mirror tonight!

Got the Homelink mirror installed!  Not a whole lot of pics while I was doing it because it literally took less than ten minutes.  Here's the rundown.

Using a small, long flat head screwdriver, put it in the hole right behind the base of the mirror and push towards the outside of the car.  The plastic trim piece will come flying off.  Then reverse the direction of the screwdriver and push off the other side of the plastic trim cover. 

Now grab the mirror and rotate it counter clockwise.  That'll pop it off the windshield mount.  Pinch the wiring harness plug and pop it off.  The old mirror is now off and sitting in your hand.

Take your new Homelink mirror and plug in the wiring harness.  Feed that end of the mirror inside the larger trim piece and seat the mirror in place.  This took me a few tries to get it totally lined up and flush.  Now rotate it clockwise and you'll hear it snap into place.  Confirm that it's properly seated.  Now pop in the two plastic trim pieces again.

Ignition on, you should see the "C" in the compass spot.  Apparently it takes a few minutes for it to figure out where the car is and read the correct compass reading.

Here are the Homelink buttons underneath the mirror

Time to program the Homelink.  I have 3 doors, so one for each button.  Push the Homelink button once, the little house icon will flash slowly.  Take your old remote and hold down the button you want to program until the house icon on the mirror starts to flash rapidly.  Now hit that homelink button several times for 2 seconds and your garage door should work.  Repeat as necessary for other doors/buttons.

I was really surprised that I didn't have to hit the "learn" button on my garage door openers themselves but the procedure above worked on all three of my Liftmasters.  Result!

docwyte said:

In reply to AnthonyGS :

LOL!  Realize I've been driving my 996 Turbo daily for the past several weeks while I found, negotiated, then impatiently awaited the arrival of the R.  So in comparison to that, which is a total animal, yes, peppy.

In comparison to the GX470 it replaces, this thing is a rocket.  I'm very impressed with the throttle response and the fact that it has zero rev hang at all. 

I’m pretty silly sometimes.  I thought the peppy comment was a bit too cutesy for my taste.  The programming on VAGs DSG boxes makes me think my next Porsche lay have one too.  

So I popped the hood last night to scope out the intake install and saw this.

Yeah, the battery blanket cover is missing on my brand new car.  I sent this pic to my sales guy asking him to get me another one and heard back "I'll research that".  I have a feeling I'll need to stop by the dealer and insist they take one of off one their lot cars.

My 18 GTI doesn’t have a cover on the battery blanket. 

My mom’s ‘18 Jetta has a felt cover on the battery. She had two Jettas and they both had it.  

Seems like the blanket has gone away for the 19’s.  It’s a $42 part, if the dealer gives one to me, I’ll take it but I won’t buy one myself.

went to go mtn biking with a friend and instead a thunder storm with lightning rolled in.

so we installed the vwr600 intake.  Super easy, took maybe 15 minutes.  Grabs air from both sides of the factory front air duct vs only one side for the stock airbox.

uses a foam filter, totally closed/sealed system.  Looks stock, haven’t had a chance to drive the car and see if I feel a difference.

In reply to docwyte :

I hate foam filters.  If you can get a good paper filter for that airbox, do it.