In reply to MTechnically :
ah ok, good to go. the specs look like they're standard SE specs.
In reply to MTechnically :
ah ok, good to go. the specs look like they're standard SE specs.
All of them have the VAQ LSD now.
Rabbit has no sunroof, LED lights, model specific wheels and cloth interior.
Didn't go out and test drive today. Waiting for the dealer to get a new GLI in as well to test side by side.
So I guess I'll do a quick update, since it can be short:
Short points:
- everything that I previously thought was really good, is still really good
- have had no problems with the car, now over 12k miles on it
- other than the stock VW windshield wipers blades are kind of "meh" and I want to replace them.
- also, with it being the middle of summer with temps here in the mid-90s this week (and me having to park outside at work sometimes), I've found the A/C to be so-so. It takes a LONG time to cool down the car on a hot day. The WRX A/C wasn't great, but it was better. Frankly, my 1988 Porsche (with r134 conversion) blows much colder from the vents. The GTI blows cold, but not ICE cold like many other cars, even when consistently at high rpms. It's average at best.
- still averaging around 29-30mpg in fairly assertive mixed (50-50) highway/city driving - calculated. The trip computer reads about 1 mpg high.
- these brakes dust a LOT. I'm almost looking forward to wearing out the pads someday so I have an excuse to get some Hawk HPS or something. I also plan on painting my wheels gunmetal/gray, so that may help as well lol.
Otherwise, all is good. Haven't found anything I don't really like about the car. Still don't find it particularly exciting, but again I think that's just because its so capable it makes assertive driving seem rather mundane.
In reply to irish44j :
Your experience with the A/C mirrors mine. It seemed like you needed to keep the system on Max to really cool the car down on hot days. The heat is a different story. I could hardly ever have it on more than an eighth of a turn before it got uncomfortably warm.
In reply to irish44j :
Interesting. It was 94 here today and my new R had no problem freezing my butt off with it set on "auto" and 71 degrees.
In reply to docwyte :
I agree something seems off. The A/C in my 2003 TDI wagon was perfectly adequate and capable of freezing you. I almost never ran it on the "max" setting unless it was in the 90's and it had been sitting in the sun all day. Even then, only for a short time until it got the cabin comfortable. Granted, it's not 'Merican A/C, but considering how much glass is in a wagon, it worked well. Now the A/C in the R53, on the other hand - on the weak side.
The new paradigm in auto A/C is 30 degree temperature reduction. So if it is 95 degrees outside, acceptable cooling would be 65 degrees out of the vents.
Also note that Volkwagen had a snitfit over R-1234yf, going as far as to post videos online of what happens when a A/C line ruptures near a hot turbo: it ignites, causing a fire risk. (but then, so will R-134a and R-12, thanks to the oil) They had been working on a different refrigerant and rather didn't like being told to use this R-1234yf stuff. I wouldn't doubt it if they were deliberately making the A/C crappy in order to sway public opinion against it.
irish44j said:So I guess I'll do a quick update, since it can be short:
Short points:
- everything that I previously thought was really good, is still really good
- have had no problems with the car, now over 12k miles on it
- other than the stock VW windshield wipers blades are kind of "meh" and I want to replace them.
- also, with it being the middle of summer with temps here in the mid-90s this week (and me having to park outside at work sometimes), I've found the A/C to be so-so. It takes a LONG time to cool down the car on a hot day. The WRX A/C wasn't great, but it was better. Frankly, my 1988 Porsche (with r134 conversion) blows much colder from the vents. The GTI blows cold, but not ICE cold like many other cars, even when consistently at high rpms. It's average at best.
- still averaging around 29-30mpg in fairly assertive mixed (50-50) highway/city driving - calculated. The trip computer reads about 1 mpg high.
- these brakes dust a LOT. I'm almost looking forward to wearing out the pads someday so I have an excuse to get some Hawk HPS or something. I also plan on painting my wheels gunmetal/gray, so that may help as well lol.
Otherwise, all is good. Haven't found anything I don't really like about the car. Still don't find it particularly exciting, but again I think that's just because its so capable it makes assertive driving seem rather mundane.
Wanted to circle back, Irish. Looks like about 10 months since the last post. I recently acquired a 2019 GLI-S with some can't-pass-up incentives. I am amazed at the level of polish and refinement, which you have echoed in your earlier posts. Came out of a 2017 Elantra Sport, which I liked a fair bit--but was growing bored, and was starting no notice a few squeaks and rattles and a few other "quality" issues.
Anything of consequence to report?
I've got almost 9000 miles on my 19 R. Had it ten months now. Zero problems, no rattles/squeeks etc. Motor has broken in and I'm averaging 24-25mpg on a tank with 50/50 driving, using E30. I'd probably get better mpg if I ran straight 91 octane.
Happy with the car, still have over 5 years of VW bumper to bumper warranty left.
FSP_ZX2 said:Wanted to circle back, Irish. Looks like about 10 months since the last post. I recently acquired a 2019 GLI-S with some can't-pass-up incentives. I am amazed at the level of polish and refinement, which you have echoed in your earlier posts. Came out of a 2017 Elantra Sport, which I liked a fair bit--but was growing bored, and was starting no notice a few squeaks and rattles and a few other "quality" issues.
Anything of consequence to report?
Nice!
No, nothing of consequence. I think I'm around 25k miles now, but all this "not going anyplace" for the last couple months has gotten me back to my target 12k per year to fully use my warranty lol.
Hmm, yeah, nothing much new to say about the car. Still a great driver in all respects, still very comfortable, still not all that exciting but very good. I'm sure if I tuned it for more power i'd enjoy it more, but no real reason for me to do that at the moment since I like warranty. I still kinda dislike the feeling of being "pulled" on hard acceleration with FWD lol....just feels unnatural amongs all my RWD cars (and the Subaru always felt like a RWD in acceleration). But the haldex-based LSD on this car has proven to be really excellent, especially on dry surfaces.
Everything seems fine. I'll note that my tires (BFG Sport Comp A/S) show no appreciable signs of wear after 25k miles and are every bit as good in heavy rain/standing water (last week) as they were new. But I'm most impressed with the wear, not that it's directly attributable to the car itself, but to the high treadwear rating (which you'd never guess when driving, as they feel much like 250TW summer tires).
Guess I'll just update this since someone was asking about GTIs recently and I linked him to this.
- really nothing to report, I've had zero problems on it and I must be around 30k miles (didn't bother to look but I'm right around there). Tires still show pretty much no wear after 30k miles, which is pretty amazing. My WRX never had any tires last longer than about 30k! Still getting around 32mpg in general mixed commuting (10 miles of local/stoplight driving and 15 miles or so of highway around 75mph, and i'm not light on the throttle). Running premium definitely makes the car pull harder - it's not just butt-dyno it's an actual gain vs. regular.
- only tiny issue is a squeak somewhere in the sunroof when fully closed, occasionally. I keep on meaning to look and see what needs a dab of grease, but I always forget and it's not worth a trip to the dealer.
- still don't like the noises the engine makes, but I usually have music on so only notice it when I have the stereo off.
otherwise, nothing to report. I haven't done any additional mods to the car and don't plan to while its under warranty, so nothing to talk about there either.
Is it a mechanical noise you're complaining about from the engine?
I'm at 70k on my 15 gti. Manual, leather. Just a wonderful car. Coming from 02 wrx owned since new. Whole different class of vehicle, as I said on a different thread. And I loved the wrx.
chaparral said:Is it a mechanical noise you're complaining about from the engine?
nah, just the general sound/pulsation of it I guess. Hard to explain, just doesn't sound all that cool. Not "smooth" like my BMW and Porsche inlines, not burbly like the Subaru was. Just some vague place in between that I don't have much affinity for. Also, I"m talking about the idle sound. It's fine when its up in load with a bit of turbo whine.
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:chaparral said:Is it a mechanical noise you're complaining about from the engine?
nah, just the general sound/pulsation of it I guess. Hard to explain, just doesn't sound all that cool. Not "smooth" like my BMW and Porsche inlines, not burbly like the Subaru was. Just some vague place in between that I don't have much affinity for. Also, I"m talking about the idle sound. It's fine when its up in load with a bit of turbo whine.
Have you removed the "soundaktor". That was the first thing I did to mine.
TR7 (Forum Supporter) said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:chaparral said:Is it a mechanical noise you're complaining about from the engine?
nah, just the general sound/pulsation of it I guess. Hard to explain, just doesn't sound all that cool. Not "smooth" like my BMW and Porsche inlines, not burbly like the Subaru was. Just some vague place in between that I don't have much affinity for. Also, I"m talking about the idle sound. It's fine when its up in load with a bit of turbo whine.
Have you removed the "soundaktor". That was the first thing I did to mine.
I mean, i can turn it off via the touchscreen, no need to remove it. But that is not the noise I'm referring to. I actually think that'll sounds pretty decent on the newer gti when you were under heavy load
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Huh, I was not able to turn mine off without actually unplugging it. Maybe it was an update on the later cars.
Also I hated mine. It just sounded like generic engine rattle in the same way that high mile chevy trucks from the 80s sounded.
TR7 (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Huh, I was not able to turn mine off without actually unplugging it. Maybe it was an update on the later cars.
Also I hated mine. It just sounded like generic engine rattle in the same way that high mile chevy trucks from the 80s sounded.
It sounds ok - I mostly leave it on because without it, I literally can't hear the engine at all thanks to so much sound insulation. When I first got the car I turned the fake noise off and repeatedly stalled the car and/or hit the start button thinking the engine was off (when it was on) lol.
I mean, coming from a WRX with SPT exhaust, I was used to hearing and feeling the engine all the time haha...
First thing I did was code the soundakator off on my R with vag com.
In reply to docwyte :
I just configured the custom setting to turn that option to the "eco" mode. I don't notice it at all.
Figured I'd give a 30,000-mile update on this.
1. Nothing whatsoever has broken on it. The only thing I've done is regular oil changes and air filters. Period.
2. I still don't find it very exciting, but the longer I own it, the more I appreciate how really good it is at everything, especially in the handling department. No matter how hard you push it, it is utterly predictable and sure-footed (in rain or dry). I have BFG Comp 2 A/S tires on it, in case you're wondering.
3. the brakes are still stellar. I've never driven a car with better brakes in terms of both power and feel (this has the SE brakes, which are the Golf R brakes).
4. Averaging 29.5mpg overall in mixed DC commuting driving, for the most part. So that's pretty good.
So all in all, nothing really new to report. I bought it as a commuter car, and so far it has been a flawless commuter car :)
Don't mean to hijack, but just add my own experience.
We got a '20 "base" GTI (Canada) 6 months ago. We only have 9,000km on it but I really love it. I'll echo virtually everything irish44j has said in this thread, except mine will never have a sunroof squeak...haha. Especially agree with the thoughts on the Haldex front diff. It's really good. And the brakes...OMG the brakes. They border on violent when you really step on the pedal, but yes they are very dirty. It's ok, the pedal feel and initial bite are incredible.
It's capable, quick, economical, comfortable and feels very well screwed together. We're planning on keeping it until its used up, so we're driving the tired old Mazda5 we bought new in '09 as much as possible to make sure the warranty lasts us 5 full years.
I really love the VW though.
My R has 16k miles on it. Besides the passenger Oh Shizz handle breaking it's been perfect. Running, um, more than stock power, the thing is a hoot!
I just saw your comment about the AC leaving something to be desired. I've noticed the same thing with my Alltrack. If the weather is over 80 degrees you need to use MAX AC setting. It's become a habit where I turn it to max AC without even thinking about it.
I've been told there is a "warm climate" setting you can select if you have an ODB11 coding system. I haven't done it yet, because I don't want to do mod anything while I'm still under warranty.
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