New GTI owner

[Skitz]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Paul from the Gold Coast and I've just taken delivery of a candy white 5 door GTI DSG as of yesterday afternoon. I honestly couldn't love it more. To put things in perspective, my previous ride was a 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage. As you can imagine the GTI is a massive step up from a bare bones car like the Mirage. I still own the Mirage, it only has 50,000km on it, so its a great little run around albiet a tad underpowered.

I'm still learning all the functions on the GTI, its amazing how much they cram into these cars for under $50k. If anyone has handy tips or things I should know about the GTI any information would be greatly appreciated.

I work for a car audio specialist here on the Gold Coast so if people need advice or information regarding in-car entertainment please feel free to ask. All of our technicians have 15+ years experience so anything I don't know I can always find out. As a company we do a lot of work for Volkswagen so we have quite a bit of specific technical experience. We are continually impressed with level of build quality in these vehicles, it definitely puts some of the more expensive manufacturers to shame.

One question I do have, what fuel do people use in their GTIs ? The dealer told me 95ron would be sufficient but is there any benefit to use 98ron?

Thanks every, looking forward to being a part of the VW community.

-Paul aka Skitz

[team_v]

Hi Paul.

The GTI surely is a great drivers car.

I personally would only use 98Ron as you get better fuel consumption and less stress on the engine.
95Ron may be cheaper at the pump but it is actually more expensive in the long run.

[HereGoes]

How good it is! Gotta love the golf! I have had mine for a month now and i am still finding new little functions and things!

I got around 510 -520km per tank of 98 filling up about 51L each time. I do not recommend running it low to see how far you get coz unline my old car when the GTI is empty it really is Empty! lol

[Skitz]

Hi all,

Sounds like 98 ron is the way to go then, I don't drive that far so a tank will easily last me 2 weeks. But I suspect with the Golf I might be driving a bit more than usual.

How long do you guys warm up the car before you drive it ? I've just always done this with whatever car I happen to be driving out of habit.

Other than that I can't wait to get a nice aftermarket audio system put in.

-Skitz

[GTI2708]

I just got a five door GTI in white aswell. It's beautiful. Good choice
I always put 98ron just cos i feel like it's better. It probably doesn't do all that much but i do anyway.
The car has a lot of little features you learn along the way so just keep fiddling and you'll figure out some surprising little knik-knaks.
I usually turn it on five minutes or so before i go anywhere so as to let it warm up a bit because i have to rev it failry hard to reverse up the basement driveway...it's fairly steep.
But yeh, up to you, and congrats.

[gregozedobe]

How long do you guys warm up the car before you drive it ? I've just always done this with whatever car I happen to be driving out of habit.

Welcome aboard - lots of useful info and opinions here. Remember, SEARCH is your friend, and actually reading the owner's manual is also very informative (if a bit confusing at times when it describes equipment and options that aren't available in Oz).

Most people believe it is better for modern engines to drive off straight away, but with the caveat to drive gently until the engine is properly warmed up (oil as well as water). Idling without load is particularly bad for new diesel engines, and it isn't that great for petrol ones either. It is an excellent idea to let a very hot engine cool down a bit before switching it off (especially if you have a turbo) - this can be done by driving gently for the last 3-5 minutes of your journey, you don't have to sit there idling.

If your car is new, try a search on "running in", there a some interesting theories around on what is best (I'm in the 'medium revs, lots of accelerator, bed the rings in immediately' school, and I like an initial oil change at 7,500Km as well).

I use a good quality 98 octane brew (BP Ultimate) for my Octavia.

Enjoy your new ride

[Skitz]

Cheers for the info guys, I might be babying it a little too much. I keep it off boost for the first 3 minutes of my journey anyway so I might reduce the warm up time. This is my first new car so I just want to take care of it.

thanks again