Nice enjoy!
My first car was a 1988 Jetta GLI 16V and a blast.
My first car was a 1988 Jetta GLI 16V and a blast.
Purchased a new car (VW)
- Thread starter CharlieJ
- Start date
I test drove a MK8 base model GTI with the DSG (the car I was planning to buy when the car market cools off) before this and was shocked at how fast and how seamlessly the transmission shifted compared to my '07 Mazda 5-speed auto. I ultimately learned what people meant when they called automatics "slush boxes" becasue it made my old mazda feel like it had box of slush for gears. I was sold on the DSG.
I looked up "Direct Shift Gearbox" on Google. Two separate gearboxes? I can't figure it out.
DSG: what is a Direct Shift Gearbox and how do they work? | Auto Express
A direct shift gearbox, also known as a dual-clutch gearbox, offers an alternative to a conventional automaticwww.autoexpress.co.uk
It is VW's version of a dual clutch transmission (DCT). Basically it's an automated manual transmission contolled by a computer to move the sifting forks within the tranission with hydraulic pressure. And, both even and odd gears have their own set of wet clutch packs that are always engaged, which is why it can shift between gears so quickly. I'm not an expert either, but that's the summary of how I understand it.
The blue hatch is my '07 Mazda3 which totalled and now gone, towed away to the scrap yard. If you zoom in on the driver side rear, you can see that it is smashed to bits and the rear glass is missing. The rear quarter panel was pushed far enough forward to pin the rear door shut.
They were caught cheating so my assumption is in order to maintain customer base they are not over inflating the prices?
Nice car to say the least regardless. That red accent is superior. Motor on...
The were caught cheating with their diesel engines and no longer import them to the US. This is a gasoline direct injection engine.
It is up to the dealers to price their cars, many dealerships are/were adding additional "market adjustment" costs to make more profit. Thankfully, this dealership did not do that.
I am quite impressed with the driver display and the center display (I am glad VW integrated it into the dash and not just "tacked on" like an afterthought like some manufacturers)
The resolution and graphics are good to the point were I don't even notice a difference when driving this and my Mazda with analog gauges. I immediately adapted to it. I believe it automatically adjusts screen brightness by sensing how much light there is around it or maybe by what time it currently is as I have no issue with its brightnesst while driving in the dark.
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Thank you for providing this detail and personal review and observation.
I am truly impressed with their display. I thought on photos that it looks cheap, but it is really, really good. It is not cluttered, graphics is excellent:
Know my name isn't Charlie but how good or bad screen clusters are is dependent on how they're designed. A recessed design like that is less "pretty" but more practical and vw's software is better so I'd rather have that in my suv.
The curved glossy oled screen in my escalade looks great in pictures but because it's a curved glossy screen that isn't recessed at all means the sun blocks it and shines it back at angles and it doesn't get bright enough in the day at times to be easy to see. And the software is wasteful of all that screen real estate and is silly to look at. It's cluttered and laggy at times. It's garbage but a software update and a matte finish film would fix that though neither exist. Makes me love the analog gauges in my old truck even more but I don't hate screen clusters, Just crappy ones that are form over function. VW was sensible here.
Congrats on your new VW. Love VWs. Very drivable, manual or automatic. Have owned and always have at least one VW in the family. Currently an R32. As you probably know, VW is part of the VW/Audi/Porsche family. Explains a lot. Not sure today but some of their parts used to be intergang able. Just spend some time familiarizing yourself with the unique aspects of the brand and you will have many years of enjoyable driving.
Congrats again!!
Congrats again!!
Nice ride! Congrats.
DSG is one of the absolute best "automatic" transmissions out there and they live nice long lives even when not maintained by the book, not many problems to report and VW has been building and refining them since '05-'06 so the bugs are pretty much worked out. Fluid changes can be pricy but like mentioned above I recall VW has extended the interval beyond the 40k it was - don't quote me on that though.
DSG is one of the absolute best "automatic" transmissions out there and they live nice long lives even when not maintained by the book, not many problems to report and VW has been building and refining them since '05-'06 so the bugs are pretty much worked out. Fluid changes can be pricy but like mentioned above I recall VW has extended the interval beyond the 40k it was - don't quote me on that though.
Looks nice! I have no experience with VW but I've always thought they made nice looking cars. I'll probably give them a try eventually.
Congrats, great choice.
As a mk7 GLI owner, I truly believe it is one of the most underrated cars in this price range, that's why (I think) it offers a great bang for the buck. I was unable to get a huge discount as it was the time where OEMs started to have inventory issues (sep 2021), I was only able to get $1k off MSRP, no extra BS and 0% finance for 48 months, which is almost impossible to get nowadays, that's the main reason why I'm glad I did not wait for the mk7.5 GLI because interest rates are so much higher.
I do not put many miles (6k miles in 1.5 years), but been tracking it, the only problem is the TCU tune in my opinion, but it wouldn't really matter if you are not taking it to the track.
Also, mk7's tires were one of the worst I've ever seen (and I get to drive a lot of brand new cars), I guess the mk7.5 no longer comes with Hankook Kinergy GTs?
mk8 GTI is also nice, but the car feels definitely smaller and infotainment system sucks. If you have any kids and need to put rear facing child seat, it would be so much more painful to live with. With my GLI, I can put my huge stroller longitudinally in the trunk on either side and it fits perfectly fine, so you can use the other side, this is something you can only do with huge 3-row SUVs.
Enjoy your new GLI, feel free to DM if you have any questions.
As a mk7 GLI owner, I truly believe it is one of the most underrated cars in this price range, that's why (I think) it offers a great bang for the buck. I was unable to get a huge discount as it was the time where OEMs started to have inventory issues (sep 2021), I was only able to get $1k off MSRP, no extra BS and 0% finance for 48 months, which is almost impossible to get nowadays, that's the main reason why I'm glad I did not wait for the mk7.5 GLI because interest rates are so much higher.
I do not put many miles (6k miles in 1.5 years), but been tracking it, the only problem is the TCU tune in my opinion, but it wouldn't really matter if you are not taking it to the track.
Also, mk7's tires were one of the worst I've ever seen (and I get to drive a lot of brand new cars), I guess the mk7.5 no longer comes with Hankook Kinergy GTs?
mk8 GTI is also nice, but the car feels definitely smaller and infotainment system sucks. If you have any kids and need to put rear facing child seat, it would be so much more painful to live with. With my GLI, I can put my huge stroller longitudinally in the trunk on either side and it fits perfectly fine, so you can use the other side, this is something you can only do with huge 3-row SUVs.
Enjoy your new GLI, feel free to DM if you have any questions.
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Yes the non summer tire package which most come with are awful.
We love our 19 GLI been a good car thus far. Got a good deal on it new as well
We love our 19 GLI been a good car thus far. Got a good deal on it new as well
Is it on lowered springs or coilover? looking great
Not my cup of tea but it looks great!! Congrats.
Eibach pro kit springs for GTI
I need to get new shocks and struts. It’s not the best with OE ones.
The EQT coil overs are another option worth looking at.
I mostly did it for looks as I find the wheel gap huge on a stock GLI at least ours was.
I can still get my rotary lift arms under the car with no issues as well as a standard floor jack so the height is perfect
Eibachs are pretty livable, I also have the Eibach pro kits but for the Golf R.
The reason why I went with the R is - GLI's weight is closer to the R, and mine comes with DCC like the Golf R. The springs work great with DCC struts. The Golf R eibach springs are slightly firmer in the rear, which is ideal for track. Although it is not the ideal choice, it works well with the DCC struts. Coilovers are extremely pricey, like $3k, not worth until struts are blown.
I've been tracking it and it's fine, front end is significantly softer, which is a good thing for a FWD. Rear can be very stiff when I set the struts to the firmest setting. I'm running 25mm rear sway bar, at -2.5 camber in the front, -2.2 in the rear.
It's soft enough for daily driving, except the ride height is less, so you still have to be careful about the big potholes. It's not ideal for autocrossing, but okay for a daily driver and occasional track days.
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