Traded the TDI and went polar opposite to a GLI.

Joined
Aug 15, 2020
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773
Location
Atlanta, GA
So the '11 TDI Sportwagen was rapidly approaching its dieselgate extended warranty expiration, had quite a bit of expensive future (and deferred?) maintenance that was going to start hitting so we struck while the iron was hot and dumped it back on VW to deal with. Trade in offer was excellent to where it cost ~$4900 to drive it for a little over 3 years or ~$136/month. It seemed to be a great buy back a little over 3 years ago but the reality was that sitting and rotting away unused for multiple years then the "fix" to be resold which caused all its own issues made probably all these resold buybacks basket cases - I wish I was an accountant at VWoA to see how much dieselgate warranty claims have cost the company.

Test drove 4 cars over the weekend - 2012 Mercedes C300 4Matic, 2014 Audi A4 Quattro, 2017 Jetta Sport manual and 2017 Jetta GLI manual. Of all the cars test driven the GLI was the winner within 2 miles of the test drive, even over the more luxurious Audi and Mercedes. Neither of the luxury cars felt like the right fit for him in his words whereas the Jetta's felt right. Hey lower service costs and its not my car so I wasn't going to question it.

So here she/he is - 2017 Jetta GLI. 65k miles, VW certified (2/24 warranty), manual trans. Carfax is clean and appears to have been a VWoA employee lease, regular service at VW dealers with the only hiccups being the radio head unit being replaced under warranty twice. We always joked and hated on the VWAG corporate 2.0T since it is in everything under the VWAG sun but once driving it the tune apparently changed, I still need to get behind the wheel to see what the hoopla is about.

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GLI 2.jpg
 
Top trim and a stick, a rare bird! So who's car is it?
Apparently last year of the 6th gen the GLI only came in top trim - its kinda hard to decipher what all is included since last model years don't get much auto review action. Need to play around in it to see what it has as I was just kinda along for the test drive and not really paying attention. Not my car but I'll get some wheel time here and there.

On a side note and I forgot to mention this. Used car shortage apparently doesn't apply to manual trans since no one can or wants to drive them, this GLI has been on their lot for 2 months and the Jetta Sport manual is still sitting there 3 months later. The Sport would have been a good fit as well but it was kind of beat up, pictured well but when you saw in person it had lots of little careless prior owner damage.
 
I wouldn’t call it polar opposite. 37 mpg to 27 mpg may sound like a lot, but $5.04 per gallon for diesel to $4.10 to gas makes a lot of sense.

$2,043 per year at 15k miles per year for the TDI or $2,277 for the GLI. $4.51 per week to not deal with the pending doom of that TDI? Sounds like a no brainer to me.
 
Nice car!

53k miles since I bought my Touareg, needed a few sensors and an SCR under warranty. Not too bad.

What maintenence was looming on the TDI?
 
So DSG fluid exchange was coming up (~$400), shocks and struts were shot to hell and I still can't gather whether the timing belt was on its last legs as VW didn't give a time interval on it just mileage (110k) so that was kind of scary in its own right being a 11-12 year old rubber belt. On top of this the car developed an odd rattling sound in the area of the fuel filter/HPFP and was increasingly taking longer to start over the past few months but VW wouldn't look at it unless the CEL was lit.

Honestly it was starting to scare us - we maintained it by the book but it was just something here and there every which way we turned. It has had a lot of issues under dieselgate warranty and we didn't want to chance it when it was on our own dime.
 
So took a quick test couple mile drive that allowed me to punch it up to ~55 MPH - now I see why this 2.0T is so likeable. Torque for days and it just lights off from sub-2k RPM. Clutch is incredibly light and very much like my previous MKV (2.5) and MKIV (TDI) non-sporty VW's, made it like riding a bike where it was second nature driving even so it has been 4-5 years since my last manual trans experience.

Now the bad - sending that much torque through just the front wheels. Even with new Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires it was wheel spin city - even a light 1st gear throttle with a 3k rpm short shift to 2nd still resulted in wheel spin in 2nd.

Excellent car though from my quick drive.
 
That EA888 engine is a gem. They had some oil consumption issues and went through a bunch of design revisions to solve it, but your engine was probably made after that had been sorted out. Still it's a good idea to keep an eye on the oil level at least until you have a solid idea of
what to expect in terms of your particular engine's oil consumption.

With a manual gearbox instead of a DSG, you have a solid car that's fun to drive and which is never going to present the sort of maintenance costs which were an eventuality with your TDI and a DSG.

It sounds like your TDi high pressure fuel pump was close to failure from your description of the starting symptoms and the noise. You tossed that grenade before it blew in your hands. Well done !

Summer-only performance tires would give you better grip, provided you're willing to accept their shorter service life and their utter worthlessness with respect to snow traction ( don't even try to drive in snow with high performance summer tires, the rubber compound simply won't work in the cold ).


Aside :
I almost bought a new final-year Golf Sportwagen 4 Motion with an EA888 engine, manual gearbox and no sunroof, until I saw that the special people at VW of America had decided to indicate in the Owner's Manual that installation or use of a trailer hitch on the car would void the powertrain warranty. The exact same car is certified in Germany to tow slightly in excess of 2,000 pounds. So VW of America was just pulling a fast one, and it's not the first time I've witnessed that from VWoA. I walked away from the deal.


I do hope your experience with your new-to-you Jetta is a happy one !
 
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Don't mistake the EA888 3G (Mk7 etc) with previous revisions of the EA888.
It's first gen (GTI Mk6) and second gen (several Audis) are what had issues.
My GTI Mk7 is certified to tow 1600 kg = 3520 lbs.
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Now the bad - sending that much torque through just the front wheels. Even with new Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires it was wheel spin city - even a light 1st gear throttle with a 3k rpm short shift to 2nd still resulted in wheel spin in 2nd.

Excellent car though from my quick drive.
Sounds like a good problem to have! Enjoy the car.
 
Nice GLI!

Having owned about 7 Jettas from MK1-MK6 generations, my last one was also my last VW. I've had enough.
 
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Don't mistake the EA888 3G (Mk7 etc) with previous revisions of the EA888.
It's first gen (GTI Mk6) and second gen (several Audis) are what had issues.
My GTI Mk7 is certified to tow 1600 kg = 3520 lbs.
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I already said the version of the EA888 in the OP's car was likely to be new enough that it would not have the oil usage issues that affected earlier iterations of the EA888.

It's still a good idea to monitor the oil level on a used vehicle that is new to you though, in case the oil consumption might be higher than expected, and that was the advice I gave the OP. I stand by that advice.

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I don't believe for a second that a Mark 7 GTi is VWAG - certified to tow 3,520 pounds. That weight would be very close to the weight of the car, and anyone who has a reasonable amount of towing experience will be aware of the scenario in which the "tail can wag the dog" when a trailer weighs too much.


I believe you are confusing kilograms and pounds. MAYBE the Golf 7 can tow 1,600 pounds ( that is plausible ) but a Golf 7 being certified to tow 3,520 pounds is improbable in the extreme.

Show me an official source which backs up your claim for the 3,520 pound towing capacity of the Golf 7. To be clear what I mean by "official source", I want a link to a VW factory owner's or service manual or a VW service bulletin for the US market, where most of the members here are using cars, which clearly indicates towing capacity for a Golf 7 GTi.


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The issue I had with the "towing capacity" of the new Golf Sportwagen I almost bought was that the US distributor of VW, which is responsible for processing US warranty claims, made it clear in the Owner's Manual that if a trailer hitch was installed on a ( then new ) US-market Golf Sportwagen, VW of America would void the powertrain warranty. If you wanted to retain warranty coverage on that Golf Sportwagen you bought new, you would have to accept that the car could NOT be used for towing or even have a trailer hitch mounted on it.

I spoke via phone directly with VW of America about this, and they were clear and emphatic that installation of a trailer hitch would indeed void the powertrain warranty. I told them this would cause me not to buy the car and they did not seem to care even slightly, which in itself is telling about their corporate culture. If they don't care, then I certainly don't need to spend my money on a new car with their company.

Of course you could go ahead and install a hitch on a Golf Sportwagen, but if your car had powertrain issues VW could easily justify refusing to cover the issues under warranty, because their prohibition on the installation or use of a trailer hitch is clearly written in the Owner's Manual.

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What your Golf 7 is rated to tow is not germane to the situation I had with the Golf Sportwagen and VWofA making it clear that towing or installation of a hitch would void the powertrain warranty.

The Golf Sportwagen in Germany is rated for towing at least 1,500 pounds ( refer to the correct owner's manual to get the exact spec ) but VW of America chose to write language in the owner's manual which clearly enables them to avoid taking responsibility for a warranty claim related to powertrain issues if the car has been used for towing OR has a trailer hitch mounted on it.

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Directly because of the conduct of VW of America I have ( like Andreigbs above ) bought my last new Volkswagen from VW of America.

I refuse to support a business which does business like VW of America does. I've been driving VWs since before water cooled VWs existed, so I have been a VW user longer than any current VW of America employees have even worked for VW. I buy stuff from companies which back up their product, NOT companies which seek ways to weasel out of taking responsibility for product failures which should be covered under warranty.
 
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Nice GLI!

Having owned about 7 Jettas from MK1-MK6 generations, my last one was also my last VW. I've had enough.

Like you, I have had enough of dealing with VW.

In my case it's not the engineering or quality control that have brought my VW-buying days to an end.

It is the deliberate conduct of VW of America, who will never get another chance to disappoint me with shabby customer treatment.
 
I love GLIs as my first car love was my 1988 VW Jetta GLI 16v. Enjoy!

The A2 16V cars remain some of the best cars ever made by ANY car company. This is my opinion but also the opinion of a guy I know who owns a Bosch Service Center in Bonn, DE. That guy has driven pretty much every car ever made in Germany, including Porsche stuff that never came to the US, like a 964 RS N/GT. So when he says an A2 16V is one of the best cars ever made, I am not disposed to doubt his opinion.

I still own an A2 GTi 16V ( 1992, the last year they were sold in the US ) which has Bilstein PSS9 and 280mm front brakes and a cable-shift 02A gearbox ( all installed by me ) along with too many other mods to mention here. I'll never sell it.

Sadly the VWs which came later became progressively more complex, and also gained an obscene amount of weight such that the driving dynamics of the car are very different from the A2 cars, which weighed around 2.100 pound ready to drive. Part of this progression is due to
government interference in car design, but it is still regrettable. I've driven the new Golf R, and while it is immensely competent and pretty quick, it is nowhere near as fun to drive as my modified A2 16V. Weight is the single most important factor in whether a car is fun to drive.
 
@Ice-9

 
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