2018 GTI: Initial Thoughts After a Week

Also, in case you want to see pictures of it with tint and with the Rally Armor flaps I cut out to fit it today, because i love mudflaps on my cars :)

I like those a lot. They make the car look beefier from the rear.

its interesting, the wheel well linter material isn't traditional cheap plastic, it's kind of this rigid, waterproof insulated material that's fairly thick. One thing that's nice is it doesn't seem like it will easily crack like plastic liners always do for me. Also provides a nice mounting point for mudflaps and stuff since it's rigid and molded.

Tom_Spangler said:

I like those a lot. They make the car look beefier from the rear.

if this wasn't a brand new car, I'd be seriously tempted to get some matte black paint and do it up cosmetically like the Alltrak with the wheel arches and rockers. 

Thanks for putting the Rally Armor mud flaps on yours. I was just wondering today how they would look and I think that I will spring for those once the dust settles on my move. 

I like those wheels. I may hunt out a set for my summer tires and put the snows on my stock tires. Good to hear on the TPMS stuff too. Need to get on that. I'll probably see some snow tomorrow on my way to my customer. 

bmw88rider said:

Thanks for putting the Rally Armor mud flaps on yours. I was just wondering today how they would look and I think that I will spring for those once the dust settles on my move. 

 

I like those wheels. I may hunt out a set for my summer tires and put the snows on my stock tires. Good to hear on the TPMS stuff too. Need to get on that. I'll probably see some snow tomorrow on my way to my customer. 

these are the $15 "universal" flaps (cut yourself). I fyou get them, LMK and I'll take pics of my cuts and attachment points, just to save you some time. 

The wheels, no need to hunt, unless you want the "real" OEM ones. These are reproductions sold by ECS, and they are seriously dirt-cheap but have a great reputation for quality (they also make a few other repro VW wheels. They are "Alzor" brand (I'm sure they're Chinese but whatever), and the stock VW centercaps fit perfectly, as do the lug covers. Here's a link: 

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-alzor-parts/18-style-621-wheels-set-of-four/621-2~kt2/

Our TDI Golf has very dusty brake pads too.  Dirtiest OE pads I've ever had.

1000-mile update. Now that I've had some time in the car:

- Still averaging right around 30mpg in my mixed-traffic commute, so that's good. If I remembered there's a 6th gear, I'd probably do a bit better, but force of habit always having 5-speeds.....

- I really enjoy this car most at night. The LED headlights are nothing short of outstanding. I used to hate driving the WRX at night, even with upgraded STi HIDs, and was always jealous of certain cars that had great headlights. Now this is that car. Nary a need for high-beams, the depth and width of the LED beam is really, really good.

- The other reason I enjoy the car at night is the interior lighting. It's damn near perfect (and the WRX had great interior lighting as well, but this is better). In addition to the dim red LCD strips along the doors which just look cool, VW put dim white LEDs all over the place in the car to subtley highlight things you might want to find at night...door handles, footwells, door sills, various other things.

- Finally, the quietness of this car is a bit annoying with a M/T. Even with the fake sound thing on "sport" the car is so well insulated you just can't feel or hear the engine and I find myself constantly in the wrong gears. I removed the "snow shield" from the airbox (yeah, that is apparently a real thing) and that barely increased intake noise, but I don't want to get an open intake, and I don't want to replace the very nice stock stainless exhaust/muffler (especially because nice catbacks aren't cheap). I think as an inexpensive compromise I'm going to delete the secondary resonator, as there are widely-available stainless delete pipes for pretty cheap, and everyone says it increases the volume enough to hear the car. So though I really don't want to "mod" this car to any degree, I'm doing that because I really can't live with a car that's this damn quiet inside.

- I do find it has a bit more blind spot than i'm used to. Though it does have the blind spot warnings in the mirrors - just haven't gotten used to looking for them yet lol. The side mirrors are smaller than the WRX......

- Other than that, I'm still really enjoying it. The LSD is really quite excellent for street drivign and its presence is apparent in any cornering acceleration. The car overall handles very well, takes fast corners extremely flat for a stock car, and the suspension soaks up bad roads nicely with no drama.

So yeah, that's my update.

Here's a one-month update:

1. Yes, this car continues to be pretty good at pretty much everything.

2. Yes, I still like this car quite a bit but damn...it really doesn't excite me at all, and honestly that is kind of frustrating. Other than the last few troublesome months of ownership, I always looked forward to getting into the WRX to take a drive. The GTI just doesn't have that. I has no soul. It is a pleasant place to be, and does everything well, but it is really not an exciting car to drive in any way, shape or form and I can't say I "look forward" to driving it other than knowing I will have a pleasant trip. It's an extremely good-performing appliance.. Maybe I just don't enjoy the driving dynamics of a FWD car (I haven't owned one in over a decade before this), IDK. It has decent power, great brakes, silky smooth transmission, great seats, great ergonomics, great road manners, ride and handling. I can't figure out why it's so uninteresting to drive. It just is. 

2a. I do still really like driving it at night and look forward to it mostly because I really appreciate the great lighting, inside and out. Also at night with no traffic around I feel like I can "hear" the car better if that makes sense. 

3. The standard sound system sucks. The more I listen to music in this car, the more I want to listen to talk radio. The music sound, no matter what source (CD, iPod, streaming) is flat and meh....there are a few equalizer adjustments that can be made but they only provide minor improvement. I have honestly thought of just putting my earbuds in and listening through those....:/  Because everything is integrated there's no possibility of aftermarket head unit (and aftermarket speakers supposedly do not work well with the funky stock amp). One of the few "easy" options is the Helix Box upgrade from VW, which adds a sub and a second amp output to the other speakers, which supposedly improves sound quality for about $400. So maybe I'll have to go that route. I listen to music everywhere and all the time, and this system is annoyingly bleh. So, if you get a Mk7 GTI and like music, make sure to get the one with the Fender Audio upgrade. 

4. I'm getting almost 31mpg pretty consistently in my mixed commute still, so that's pretty great. 

5. Apart from the music part, the audio/bluetooth/phone integration with Android Auto is pretty excellent once you figure out a few oddball functions. 

6. The more I drive this car, the more I really like the seats. They are *almost* as good as the WRX seats, which I absolutely loved. And the seat heaters have much better levels than the WRX did (WRX high or low were both "burn your ass after 5 minutes).....

7. With the front driver's window down at highway speeds with all others closed, there is massive wind buffeting. Like someone is banging a bass drum by your ear. You have to open another window a bit to get rid of it. Not a big deal, but this was never an issue on any other car I've owned. 

8. I mentioned the car is so quiet the engine/exhaust note is nonexistant unless you're "on it." You also can't "feel" the engine at all. I find myself having to glance down at the indicator sometimes to see what gear I'm in (I've found myself on the highway doing 80 and in 4th gear without even noticing, lol). I replaced the stock 2-foot-long resonator with a straight delete pipe hoping that would add some sound, but the car is so well-insulated the change in exhaust sound is negligible. Oddly, I do get a decent amount of tire noise (the same tires on my Porsche are not noticeable). 

Keep posting these updates please!

i saw some youtube reviews, does the engine sound change when you change the drive mode? It might be all fake, but is it more noticeable?

Slippery said:

Keep posting these updates please!

i saw some youtube reviews, does the engine sound change when you change the drive mode? It might be all fake, but is it more noticeable?

yes, the fake noisemaker is definitely louder in sport mode (or in custom mode if you set it that way). That said, I'm not sure I like it very much and it seems a lot of people remove it altogether (I'm assuming those people have a full exhaust installed that is louder than stock). To be honest, it sounds like a diesel engine noise almost. It's not a "speaker" per se but kind of something that vibrates with sound and is mounted at the base of teh windshield under the dash. It's funny, if you touch the rearview mirror while accelerating hard you can actually feel the vibrations coming through the windshield.

So yeah, it makes a bit more "audible" engine-ish sound but I'm not sure it's actually a "good sound" per se. I turn it "up" sometimes and other times I turn it to "comformt" setting (pretty quiet). I'd prefer more of an exhaust rumble than some diesel-ish noise. But then again, I just came out of a tuned WRX with exhaust, so I'm used to being able to both hear and feel the "boxer rumble"

I don't know which wrx- ('14?) you are comparing... I'm comparing the '02 wrx wagon I swapped from the '15 GTI. 

THe GTI is LIGHT YEARS better than a '02 WRX wagon. Sure, it should be. And it is. The engine is #1 improvement- pull from anywhere and decent MPG is shocking for the performance you get. And the performance is miles better than my (yes, I get it...) 12 year old WRX. It's quieter, by a mile. Handles waaaaaay better, and parks better. I've found the '02 wrx wagon had a really wide parking radius, and rolled really bad in turns (even with hotchkis sways and d-sport struts).

Eh, Whatever makes you feel good. Our '15 GTI is a berkeleying miracle. Took my family of four (with cat) cross country for a military move with aplomb. 

Teh E36 M3 said:

I don't know which wrx- ('14?) you are comparing... I'm comparing the '02 wrx wagon I swapped from the '15 GTI. 

THe GTI is LIGHT YEARS better than a '02 WRX wagon. Sure, it should be. And it is. The engine is #1 improvement- pull from anywhere and decent MPG is shocking for the performance you get. And the performance is miles better than my (yes, I get it...) 12 year old WRX. It's quieter, by a mile. Handles waaaaaay better, and parks better. I've found the '02 wrx wagon had a really wide parking radius, and rolled really bad in turns (even with hotchkis sways and d-sport struts).

 

Eh, Whatever makes you feel good. Our '15 GTI is a berkeleying miracle. Took my family of four (with cat) cross country for a military move with aplomb. 

My WRX was an '09, so it in itself was lightyears better than a bugeye in pretty much every aspect (better suspension, about 100 more HP, much better interior among other things). 

I've driven plenty of bugeyes and yeah, they feel cheap cars with meh chassis and not very quick in stock form. They are my least favorite "performance" subaru to drive in pretty much every category. The GTI crushes the bugeye in every way, shape, and form. 

The 09 2.5 (with VF52) had massive power pretty much anyplace (stock, but far moreso with the tune I had). I would definitely say the GTI is quicker and better power delivery than a bugeye with the 2.0 and TD04 (or whatever its turbo was). The MPG in the GTI is for sure a huge upgrade as I noted earlier. No Subaru has ever been called "fuel efficient" I don't think!

It is 1000% quieter than my WRX (which had the optional SPT catback), but that's almost one of my complaints. It's even queiter than my Sequioa. Handling is very good - though tough for me to compare since my WRX had full (good) suspension on it for the last 9 or so years and we set up (in my opinion) about as perfectly as a street WRX can be. The GTI manages to handle almost as well on stock suspension, so that's certainly a plus.I will caveat that by saying that I am having to get used to wheelspin (even with LSD) when accelerating through a turn from slow/stop to fast. Issues that an AWD never has. You don't realize how great Subaru AWD for all-situation traction until you don't have it any more!

Again, I'm not complaining about how the car does what it does (as I said, it does everything very well). I'd drive it cross-country tomorrow if I needed to, and it would be a great road-trip car I'm certain.  I just think it lacks any real character - maybe because it does everythign *too* well? IDK. I think everyone here likes their oddball cars because of the intangibles, and the GTI is so good it really doesn't have any.intangibles. I took it through my favorite 15-mile woodland twisty road today and it handled it with ease, but wasn't remotely invigorating I wouldn't say. 

Not trying to make an argument or disparage the car (well, except the sound system) by any means. Just throwing out my personal thoughts for whomever might care :)

Nice read. I have a 16 WRX limited. Was very excited when I got it. But I really don’t like it very much. 135 miles all of 2018. Really want to replace it with something. 

To me the wrx interior is realy really low quality. Like a tier 3 manufacturer. It has the led headlights and moonroof and leather but it doesn’t feel “involved” driving wise 

not sure how else to explain it. It is probably the only car (53 cars, 22 bikes), where I bought it as a result of reading reviews than actually desiring it. People think it’s the bed tithing since sliced bread (in the 4door world), but I just don’t see it:m. Used GSF night make a worthy replacement .... 

mr2s2000elise said:

Nice read. I have a 16 WRX limited. Was very excited when I got it. But I really don’t like it very much. 135 miles all of 2018. Really want to replace it with something. 

 

To me the wrx interior is realy really low quality. Like a tier 3 manufacturer. It has the led headlights and moonroof and leather but it doesn’t feel “involved” driving wise 

 

not sure how else to explain it. It is probably the only car (53 cars, 22 bikes), where I bought it as a result of reading reviews than actually desiring it. People think it’s the bed tithing since sliced bread (in the 4door world), but I just don’t see it:m. Used GSF night make a worthy replacement .... 

When I test-drove a current-model WRX I just didn't like the feel or sound of the engine. Not to mention, forget the advertised numbers but the new WRX generation definitely puts well lest "actual" whp/wtq down compared to the previous generation and feels like it to my butt-dyno.  At least that's what I gather from my baseline dyno and other 09+ cars to newer ones on the exact same dyno at a local Subaru shop. Then they went and put in ELH's and got rid of the boxer rumble so it sounds like every other sport-compact out there now. 

WRX interior wasn't "nice" in mine, but it was very functional and everything "felt" perfect in terms of positioning and such. The hard plastic everywhere was prettly lame though. 

I actually dislike the boxer engine sound very much. 

I have had 1981 GL wagon , 88 subaru Justy, 91 Loyale GL-10, 01 Outback. 

So I am used to their build quality. But for 30k for my limited, I felt interior was very low quality. It was functional but build quality was poor. 

It just elicits  no passion from me. 

mr2s2000elise said:

I actually dislike the boxer engine sound very much. 

 

I have had 1981 GL wagon , 88 subaru Justy, 91 Loyale GL-10, 01 Outback. 

 

So I am used to their build quality. But for 30k for my limited, I felt interior was very low quality. It was functional but build quality was poor. 

 

It just elicits  no passion from me. 

its funny, when I got the WRX, I very much disliked the sound. Now I find that I miss how much it tells me audibly and by feel about what the car is doing....

I'm a recent bugeye WRX to golf convert myself as well.  I was looking for a "newish" version of my WRX (which doesn't exist) and was intrigued by the golf sportrack as the nearest stand-in.  After a drive left me a bit cold the dealer handed me the keys to a '15 golf R (DSG, stage one) and send me out unsupervised.  It was *very* good, definitely gave me "the fizz."  While the DSG was phenomenal when driving hard, I think it would bore me when i'm not trying to set my pants on fire.  The car had  ton of miles and they wanted too much, but the hunt was on.

A few weeks later I had a '16 R w/ a manual transmission in my driveway.  So far I find it more entertaining to drive than the WRX.  The engine is very flexible but pulls hard on boost, the sounaktor is cheesey but I like it, and the chassis is very confidence inspiring.  It's much less of a hooligan car than the WRX but drives so damn well that I still really enjoy it.  The bugeye is sticking around for now in case I find some time to start rallycrossing again or want a fun gravel road car.  Snow tires go on this week as it came on dedicated summers, but I'm not sure how much salt I'm willing to expose it to.

I will say, after talking bad about VW products for years, they got a ton right with this chassis.  The GF drives a standard base golf, and while it doesn't have the go-fast or luxury goodies of the 'R, it's still an excellent car for the money.  The build quality is miles ahead of Subaru, we shall see how the two hold up over the next few years.

^^agree. I have hated VWs for years ever since my wife had a highly trouble-prone Jetta years ago and swore them off. VW's new extremely long 6 year/72k bumper-to-bumper warranty gave me the confidence to get this car (plus the VW dealer is only 10 minutes from my house). At least in initial feel it certainly *feels* a much higher quality level than my WRX did brand-new. The WRX already had multiple squeaks in the interior after a week of driving that multiplied as the years went on (thank goodness for loud exhaust). 

While doing my driving-mode testing tonight I drove with windows up and music off and it was pretty amazing the absolute, complete lack of any sounds of any kind coming from anywhere in the car when going over bumps, manhole covers, etc. Just a muted thud and no drama. It definitely is an excellent chassis. I'm just hoping all the electronic gizmos hold up over time :)

So tonight with wet roads (but rain done and little traffic) I wanted to go test out a few other features of the car.

So the SE GTI has several standard driving modes: Eco, Comfort, and Normal - all of which seem to really just adjust the noise the fake engine noisemaker makes. The fourth one is "Sport," which does four things: 1) reduces power steering assist (electric) for heavier steering, 2) quickens throttle response, 3) sets the Haldex-style diff for more aggressive/quicker lock, 4) sets the automatic headlights to a "sport" setting (whatever that means, I forgot to notice), and 5) turns the noisemaker up to full volume. On the Autobahn edition cars it also stiffens up the adaptive suspension settings (mind doesn't have this). Anyhow, I pretty much drive the car all the time in Sport mode.

But in the car settings on the infotainment, there are a couple other settings that can only be turned on temporarily (they reset to stock when the car is turned off).

One is the ASR (Anti-Slip Regulation aka Traction Control) off, which does exactly what it says it does. Now with ASR on i've found it to be very non-intrusive and never activates except when I purposely try to make it do so. I think this speaks to how good the diff response it paired with some new, good-performing tires that I have on the car. With ASR off you get the usual little "traction off" icon on the dash - same as it was with the WRX. 

The other one is the "ESC Sport" setting. This setting not only turns off ASR but also substantially reduces the response of the stability control system - but doesn't turn it off completely. Basically it just lets you hoon a little bit (but not much) with like a 1-second delay in ESC kicking in so you can slide the car briefly before it kicks in an "saves" (lol) you. Probably fun for a "modern" driver who is used to cars with a million nannies, though can't say it was all that much extra excitement for someone like me who has multiple old/sporty cars with zero electronic anything, not even ABS :) IIRC in the owner's manual it says something about this setting being "for experienced drivers only" or something like that, haha. In any case, it's something that might be more fun once we get some snow here, perhaps. Though i'm gonna miss doing AWD donuts (guess I'll just have to go hoon in the e30 rally car). The one annoying thing about the ESC sport is that it adds a second, much brighter triangle-and-exclamation point warning light dead-center in the dash, which is actually really bright and distracting driving at night. "Serious Drivers Only"

So anyhow, that's that.

Side note: With fresh BFG Comp 2 A/S tires all around, this car actually is extremely stable and grippy in the rain (it was really rainy on my commute today). Not a surprise since I have the same tires on the Porsche and it is downright locked-in on rainy streets. So, highly suggested if you're looking for good-performing all-seasons. 

---

One other thing on the lousy stereo system. I think that some of that might have been beacuse I was streaming *free* Spotify from my new phone (hadn't turned on my unlimited account for some reason). Apparently the unlimited Spotify greatly increases the stream sound quality, and with it implemented the GTI's soundsystem now sounds at least tolerable - better though still pretty mediocre. So I will reduce my prior venom for the soundsystem by a small degree :)

Fupdiggity said:

 

A few weeks later I had a '16 R w/ a manual transmission in my driveway. 

Congrats!  There are tons of R it seems locally. I enjoy seeing them on the road. If I ever would get a VW product, R would be it for me. 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Thanks! There a few around here, but once I narrowed down what I was looking for (16 or 17, w/ nav, DCC and DAP, blue or grey) it was slim pickins.  I did my first fly-n-drive, had the owner pick me up from the airport in Charlotte and drove it back up to Charlottesville.  What an excellent way to get to know a new car.

irish44j said:

So tonight with wet roads (but rain done and little traffic) I wanted to go test out a few other features of the car.

So the SE GTI has several standard driving modes: Eco, Comfort, and Normal - all of which seem to really just adjust the noise the fake engine noisemaker makes. The fourth one is "Sport," which does four things: 1) reduces power steering assist (electric) for heavier steering, 2) quickens throttle response, 3) sets the Haldex-style diff for more aggressive/quicker lock, 4) sets the automatic headlights to a "sport" setting (whatever that means, I forgot to notice), and 5) turns the noisemaker up to full volume. On the Autobahn edition cars it also stiffens up the adaptive suspension settings (mind doesn't have this). Anyhow, I pretty much drive the car all the time in Sport mode.

Ha, I can't comment on the "eco" mode as it's new for '18, but the 'R modes are similar.  How do you find the pedal setup?  My biggest gripe about the driving experience thus far is the huge spacing between the gas and brake pedals.  It makes heel-toe driving all but impossible (little feet here), I just ordered a cheesy strap-on pedal extension to see if that helps. 

Comfort - I'm not convinced, yet.  On first glance it's nice for cruising (light steering, lazy throttle, soft dampers, quiet soundaktor).  The lazy throttle makes it difficult to be smooth with the manual in this car, especially when downshifting as it takes a pretty large blip of the throttle to do any sort of rev matching.  It also doesn't help that you have to re-calibrate your foot compared to the other modes, I'm sure it works fine on a DSG though.  The suspension softens up nicely, but the springs (obviously) stay just as firm.  It works fine on relatively smooth surfaces but feels under-damped and a little wallowy on consistently rough surfaces.

Normal - just like it says, middle of the road.  The steering and damping settings work well in this mode for daily driving (duh), the throttle is still al little lazy, soundaktor is quiet.

Race - oh yeah, that's what the extra $$ over a GTI paid for, Race Mode!  The dampers stiffen up nicely, steering gets additional weight, throttle response is snappy, and the soundaktor wakes up to make race-car noises.  For now I'm really enjoying the fake engine speaker.  It does a good enough job that I don't think about it being a speaker, which is about as good of a complement as I can give.  This appears to be an unpopular opinion among enthusiasts.

Individual - mine's set up w/ normal damping, steering and soundaktor with race throttle for consistency.  This is where the car lives most of the time.  I purposely reserve race mode for a good stretch of road so it feels more special.

The quiet and isolated nature of this car (when compared to the subies at least) does make it more difficult to drive by feel (vibration and audible cues), but I find just enough gets through to make it work after some adjustment.  On the flip side, this is my first "nice" car, and it plays that game very well.

The pedal spacing is pretty good for me, but I wear a 10 1/2 and usually wear trail-running shoes and stuff so have plenty of width. Maybe I'll try in my Alpinestars and see how the spacing is with race shoes. That said, all of my cars are very different pedal setups....e30 floor-mounted gas pedal and "high" brake...Porsche pedals are oddball angle...I haven't had any issue with throttle control, but I'm sure the R is tuned much differently than the GTI. 

My main complaint is the width of the center console, which my knee constantly makes contact with no matter how i sit. I also had this problem in my wife's old Mazda3. Never had this problem in the WRX. 

The GTI Autobahn edition I *think* gets the R adaptive suspension. My SE just gets the R brakes (which are really good). Since my SE has no adaptive suspension, the "modes" really don't make as much difference, from what I can tell. 

I like this thread. When I started looking for a new car the WRX was top of my list but I’ve also had an interest in GTIs. Both were above budget so I ended up in a MS3. It’s a weird compromise between the two. Anyway, I have the same tires and they stick like crazy but are quite loud in my car. I added sound deadening and they still roar, but not as loud as my roof rack. 

I put flaps on mine too! They just look right. 

I hope you find a way to enjoy the car! I go through cycles of loving and being bored with mine so I understand that. It’s a weird hobby.