NSW About to buy a MK7 but a little worried..Looking for honest owners experiences.

[JohnGeorge]

Hi Guys,

I've been looking at getting a new car for a while and the mk7 golf GTI seems to fit the bill quite nicely.. However there is one thing that is bugging me in the back of my mind and that is reliability... I'm not trying to be a troll or anything, I'm just genuinely looking for owners experiences to understand whether I'm over worrying about this or not.

I've had a few friends who have had golfs and no problems at all. One had and still has a R32 with DSG and no problems. They other had a mk5 gti and in a similar fashion had no issues either, although sold it as soon as warranty was up.

However I've also have a few other friends who have had major issues.

- One had a mk6 golf R thats spend more time in the service centre then on the road.
- Another had a mk6 golf GTI just stopped whilst driving in suburban streets. He said it was a problem with the engine and it cost him a small fortune to get fixed...
- My Brother got a mk6 GTI for one of his staff members and he describes it as a 'pig of a car' because of all the issues its had.

Now I've only every owned Japanese cars and I've kept them for ~10 years and never had any issues with them ( nothing costing more that a couple of hundred to fix at least ). But if I personally know more than a handful of people with golfs and half of them had have major issues, it worries me....

Having said all of this I am still considering buying one because to be quick frank it was a LOT if fun to drive.

So I guess my question is, are these types of problems as common as they seem?

[donweather]

If you're worried about it then perhaps think about purchasing an extended warranty with the car.

[Lucas_R]

The Mk6 Golf R is hugely reliable and a very strong engine - any that have spent more time in the workshop than on the road would be quite rare (and unfortunate for the owner of course). Plenty of Golf R's are tuned up to 250-300kw on the stock engine (with bigger turbos etc) and hit the drag strip on a regular basis.

The Mk6 GTI is not quite as reliable as the R, but still pretty good on the whole. My own GTI has fallen victim to one of the issues that these engines suffer - which can cost a fortune (new engine required in some cases) if not fixed. The timing chain tensioner can fail which causes the timing chain to slip (in bad cases) and then the pistons make contact with the valves causing many $$$ of damage.

Some GTI's also had issues with the flaps in the inlet manifold - but apart from that they are pretty good.

The MK7 is a revised version of the engine found in the MK6 GTI, so the timing chain tensioner "should" be fixed by now, or at the very least a better/more robust design.

[JohnGeorge]

Thanks Lucas, very insightful..

Is there anyway to know if the MK7 GTI engine has most of the issues ironed out? It sounds like if I can afford it I would be safer going with the Golf R.

[AdamD]

The MK7 is a revised version of the engine found in the MK6 GTI, so the timing chain tensioner "should" be fixed by now, or at the very least a better/more robust design.

With the latest revision of the EA888 (as found in the Mk7 GTI), they've reverted to a timing belt for driving the camshafts.

There is a potential issue with the Mk7 GTI and R turbochargers; a small number have failed. Unfortunately a lot of noise is being made of it, considering the apparently-small number of failures worldwide, but nevertheless it is an issue to consider, particularly on the Golf R (which seems to be more widely affected and for which there have been four part revisions and no recalls yet).

The Mk6 GTI and R were pretty much rock solid mechanically. The biggest concern for either is usually the DSG gearbox.

[JohnGeorge]

Thanks AdamD,

Would I be correct in thinking that the car would need a timing belt change as well now? I guess its a small sacrifice for increased reliability.

I was also told that you can get an extended warranty for $1000, does anyone know if its a 'real' warranty? i.e is it an extension of the 3 year warranty or does it have a list of exclusions that don't make it worthwhile?

cheers.

[Lucas_R]

With the latest revision of the EA888 (as found in the Mk7 GTI), they've reverted to a timing belt for driving the camshafts.

You learn something new every day - wasn't aware of this. So the MK5 GTI was a timing belt, then Mk6 GTI they went to timing chain with issues, now with the Mk7 GTI they have gone back to timing belt.

[Lucas_R]

Would I be correct in thinking that the car would need a timing belt change as well now? I guess its a small sacrifice for increased reliability.

Not sure what the timing belt servicing schedule is for the MK7 GTi, but in earlier models it was 105,000km or 6 years.

[AdamD]

Would I be correct in thinking that the car would need a timing belt change as well now? I guess its a small sacrifice for increased reliability.

I was also told that you can get an extended warranty for $1000, does anyone know if its a 'real' warranty? i.e is it an extension of the 3 year warranty or does it have a list of exclusions that don't make it worthwhile?

Yep, belts will need to be changed at some interval (not sure of the specifics; as discussed that's often around the 100,000km/10 year mark, but it varies from model to model. The belts on the Mk5s are now recommended to be replaced every 5-7 years or so (at a cost of over $1k including labour). Bear in mind that belt changes are par for the course for most vehicles - new and old. Timing chains are the exception, and even these are not always maintenance-free.

Extended warranties are just insurance policies, and each is different. They are also charged differently depending on your car and your personal circumstances. VW do sell an Allianz-backed product through many of their dealerships; Allianz themselves sell their own product as well (they're not identical and they're not identically priced). You'll need to do your own research on these products, but remember that they're just insurance, with all the caveats that come with insurance policies.

You learn something new every day - wasn't aware of this. So the MK5 GTI was a timing belt, then Mk6 GTI they went to timing chain with issues, now with the Mk7 GTI they have gone back to timing belt.

Yep, they've reverted to a belt for the 3rd gen EA888 to improve refinement. The chains were too noisy apparently.

[JohnGeorge]

Hi Guys,

Just a small update, so I spoke with a dealer about a my15 GTI, of course he was trying to sell me one in stock which was manufactured early 2014. I told him I wasn't interested ( politely). He keeped on pushing the 2014 and I told him that if he must know, I am concerned about VW's reliability and I'd rather have the lasted revisions in both hardware and software. At this point he got verbally aggressive with me and told me its a load of crap and they haven't had issues since 2007. Mind you my wife was with me and was quite taken back by this guys aggressiveness. We politely just got up and left...

Two days later I have a missed call saying if we want the car we should let him know buy 1pm or he's giving it to someone else... WTF??

Anyway, on the other end of the scale, I went and test drove a volvo v40 R-design 2015 and they were nothing short of professional, honest and open about everything... so I'm seriously considering getting the volvo.. Whist the GTI was more fun to drive, the Volvo's interior in my opinion was a step up, its faster and the dealership were professional.