Golf GTI: the good, the bad, the weird...and appreciation thread

[danielv10]

Well done on the buy mate ! Some may say its not a big upgrade but I'd snap one up too given the opportunity. And plenty of little mods and things available for the Golf compared to the Polo GTI. Both look great there.
A tune appears to turn the Golf GTI alive, it would seem

[Ryan_R]

Nice, loosing the supercharger + the extra weight will be the main factors. A tune will help no doubt. Congrats on the upgrade.

[Maltopia]

Faults in first 3 years (including coolant leak) and warranty results

My GTI is just short of 3 years (33,000 km) and here is the list of what has gone wrong with it and what the dealer fixed under warranty and what they would not:

1. Coolant leak due to faulty water pump - diagnostic pressure test and replacement of the pump covered by warranty but not fixed yet (no parts at the dealership).
2. Nub for the parcel shelf strings in the rear door snapped off - covered by warranty, they replaced the entire internal frame
3. One of the rear aircon vent tabs (the bit you hold to adjust the vents) has come off - not covered by warranty, they say they can't reattach the tab/handle without replacing the whole vent ($331 or so). This was probably kicked off by my kids - they all usually pile in the back from one side and have to climb over the middle divide.
4. Rear drinks holder door had come off (probably kicked off by my kids - see above) - reattached by them at no cost

Hope this is interesting for some of you.

re the coolant leak, a couple of weeks ago, I hopped in the car to drive and shortly afterwards had the flashing coolant light come on which the manual says "don't drive, call the technician" or something like that. Coolant tank (top left under the bonnet) was less than full and there was a few slimy drops of liquid in the belly pan. A bit surprised now to find that the water pump is slowly leaking the coolant after so few kms.

[sVWatt]

"Faults" seems a bit wide of the mark, if items 3 and 4 were your kids

So really you had a coolant leak which is now awaiting a part.

Not too bad.

[hoi polloi]

Here's mine...

1. Under bonnet insulation sagged - replaced under warranty..

- Anthony

p.s. FWIW I think this was caused by the dealership - just watching how crazy the people who wash the cars go with the high pressure hose in the engine bay (other cars not mine) is enough to make you wince... Hope that was a one-off...

[Guest001]

My GTI is just short of 3 years (33,000 km) and here is the list of what has gone wrong with it and what the dealer fixed under warranty and what they would not:

1. Coolant leak due to faulty water pump - diagnostic pressure test and replacement of the pump covered by warranty but not fixed yet (no parts at the dealership).
2. Nub for the parcel shelf strings in the rear door snapped off - covered by warranty, they replaced the entire internal frame
3. One of the rear aircon vent tabs (the bit you hold to adjust the vents) has come off - not covered by warranty, they say they can't reattach the tab/handle without replacing the whole vent ($331 or so). This was probably kicked off by my kids - they all usually pile in the back from one side and have to climb over the middle divide.
4. Rear drinks holder door had come off (probably kicked off by my kids - see above) - reattached by them at no cost

Hope this is interesting for some of you.

re the coolant leak, a couple of weeks ago, I hopped in the car to drive and shortly afterwards had the flashing coolant light come on which the manual says "don't drive, call the technician" or something like that. Coolant tank (top left under the bonnet) was less than full and there was a few slimy drops of liquid in the belly pan. A bit surprised now to find that the water pump is slowly leaking the coolant after so few kms.

Would say that apart from the water pump you havent got much to growl about.
The little nubs can be broken by misuse so you might have been lucky there. As far as the rest is concerned is not VW's problem.
We had a Tiguan for a loaner that the rear drinkholder was knocked around and the service guy said yep people are careless and kick s**t out of them so we will fix it when it gets sold.

Relocation of the holder would fix it I guess but hardly likely to happen.

[sVWatt]

p.s. FWIW I think this was caused by the dealership - just watching how crazy the people who wash the cars go with the high pressure hose in the engine bay (other cars not mine) is enough to make you wince... Hope that was a one-off...

Reminds me of the 'free' car clean the dealer gave my Polo. Outside wash and inside vacuum. Sounded great until I saw the pace the vacuum guy was going at. When I walked over and got into my car I noticed a 10mm scratch on the chrome DSG trim surround.
Couldn't prove anything, but I think the vacuum head was flying around in there...

[Maltopia]

I wasn't growling or complaining, I was just sharing my experience in case it helped over Golf owners.

With the nub on the rear door, I have never put anything on the cargo blind apart from a book once or twice, so was very surprised to have it snap off out of the blue, but very happy to have it replaced

[spellbound]

Two years up 19k and just had the two year service on Thursday , my only problem has been a click/squeak when the clutch pedal depresses and releases , duly noted and checked , may have needed some lube .

Dealer has lodged a warranty claim for faulty clutch pedal bearing , will be back to have replaced next few days , other than this its been a dream drive .

Oh forgot to mention , I disconnected the SOUNDAKTOR , much quieter inside , if need the real sound I just drop the windows and roof .

[Bassik]

Nice, loosing the supercharger + the extra weight will be the main factors. A tune will help no doubt. Congrats on the upgrade.

I hear a tune won't do wonders in earlier rpms?

[Ryan_R]

Check the dyno pics on the goapr website

[MadWorm]

Check the dyno pics on the goapr website

What he said. Practically applied, I took my R up the Clyde mountain from Batemans Bay to Braidwood today, and it howled all the way up - even from low RPM if stuck behind slow traffic when provoked.

[tonymy01]

My clutch pedal clicked also, there is a tpi to replace a component in there and put a strip of felt in there too. Click gone.

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Bassik]

Just added to the bad but if it can be solved then it can be removed.

My central locking key is a pain to open more then 1 door I have to press the unlock button 3-4 times to get the back door open. I usually throw my work gear in the mornings and its a pain. Can this be configured with VCDs?

[danielv10]

Golf has a MFD option that allows you to choose whether first press unlocks driver door only or all doors.
Should be under "convenience"