I really want to love my R, but...

I've now had my R for 23 days and about 1050 miles. I really want to love my it, but I have some major complaints and problems that are preventing this from happening. Instead, it's just plain frustrating to own.

My hope is that this amazingly intelligent and wise members of this community will share with me their insights to help me understand my car better, change the things I hate, and live with my car better in general.

For each of these, please let me know if it seems like the car/feature is broken, or if I can get a part to replace/upgrade, or if I just need to learn how to use something, or what....

Without further ado, my laundry list of gripes and problems (in no particular order)...

Missing Convenience Features
1. No automatic headlights.
2. No auto-dimming rear view mirror.
3. No automatic wiper blades.
4. No side mirror dip while in reverse.
5. No fog lights.
6. Cannot disable ESC.

Climatronic Problems
1. It's been cold outside lately, so I've been using the heat to try and stay warm. But, the Climatronic only blows hot air if it is set to 80 or High. 78 and below are all varying degress of cold air. The all-or-nothing-ness of this is quite annoying. Heat full blast or cold air when you're already cold. Am I missing something with how this is supposed to work, or is it broken?
2. A/C comes on randomly. I can turn it off, but it will reenable itself again.
3. If the side vents are closed and air is blowing, there is a very loud harmonic hum underneath the dashboard which is louder than the radio. The only way to fix this is to open the side vents completely or turn the air speed down low.
4. Auto cannot be turned off manually. It just toggles between *AUTO and AUTO*.

Mechanical Problems
1. I have a rattle that comes and goes. It is a harmonic rattle that underlies the note of the engine under the hood. I cannot reproduce it reliably, but it always saps my power when it's around. The car has already been to 2 dealerships who couldn't figure out the problem. The only solutions available were to just wait and see if it gets worse over time (while enduring a brand new car hobbling sloppily down the road) or let them dissect the car in hopes that they will find something.
2. I have a loud air noise under the hood that comes and goes. It sounds like the turbo is actually just blowing outside under the hood. It is not a high-pitch hiss of escaping air; rather, it's more like a wide, loose push of fast air. It is not readily reproducible either.

Radio/Nav Issues
1. The touch screen gets disabled whenever I am adjusting the volume. I can adjust the volume and then try to change the radio station, but it won't work. You have to wait until the volume display totally disappears before you can interact with the radio. It's extremely annoying having to wait 3-5 seconds between every input into the radio/nav.


I really hope y'all can help me love my R more!

Thanks!!

missing convenience features... lol? seriously?

mechanical problems... the rattle sounds like a standard sound that some people get around 3000 rpm? not sure, weird that you lose power though. problem 2 sounds weird, but if you can't reproduce it then i don't think anyone can tell you what it is. if you can give us info on exactly when it happens then people may be able to point you toward the problem.

climatronic... i i think i had a similar issue, take it in and they should be able to fix it. this occurs after the car warms up fully right? not like you're trying to blast heat right after turning it on? parts 2/3 also sound like there's something wrong. have you taken it to the dealer and complained about this?

radio/nav issues... i don't have touch screen so don't know.

I'll tackle the missing features:

1. You can retrofit the auto headlight switch with a light sensor.
2. You can buy an auto dimming or homelink mirror. DIY under electronics I believe.
3. If you can, it wouldn't be easy. In some of the other VW's there's a camera sensor near the rear view mirror.
4. Possible, but really, really, expensive.
5. I'm not a Golf R expert but you might be able to wire or vag com the LED's to act as fogs.
6. I hate this too... It can never be totally disabled, however you can reduce it with VAG COM. There are 3 settings; stock, stronger, weaker.

Troll much?

ChaoticHypnotic said:

Missing Convenience Features
1. No automatic headlights.
2. No auto-dimming rear view mirror.
3. No automatic wiper blades.
4. No side mirror dip while in reverse.

Click to expand...

I have all those on my R :lol:

Hi Dybz,

Thanks for the quick response!

With regard to the Missing Convenience Features, my old .:R32 had all features except 4 and 5. I didn't really realize how important they were to me until I got my 2012 R and those features were gone! But, yeah, I really miss them.

Yeah, the mechanical rattle is loudest between 2500 and 4000 rpm. But, it doesn't always happen. When it's not there, I have full power. The reproducibility (or lack thereof, rather) of both of these issues is really making things tough for the service departments to address.

I did mention the Climatronic problems when I was last in the dealer, but I didn't want to derail them from finding and fixing the mechanical problems. Yes, it happens when the car is fully warm. I agree I should take it in to have them look it over, but I just thought I'd check with everyone first to see if I'm missing something about how to control this properly. Right now, it just fights my every move.

JasonH said:

I'll tackle the missing features:

1. You can retrofit the auto headlight switch with a light sensor.
2. You can buy an auto dimming or homelink mirror. DIY under electronics I believe.
3. If you can, it wouldn't be easy. In some of the other VW's there's a camera sensor near the rear view mirror.
4. Possible, but really, really, expensive.
5. I'm not a Golf R expert but you might be able to wire or vag com the LED's to act as fogs.
6. I hate this too... It can never be totally disabled, however you can reduce it with VAG COM. There are 3 settings; stock, stronger, weaker.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I'm still new to the forums and getting a feel for what guides are out there.

This info is very helpful!

Imolarot said:

I have all those on my R :lol:

Click to expand...

Color me jealous!

For my sanity, we shan't discuss your headlights, tail lights, or seats also.

2k miles on mine and no issues ... It's fair you're pointing out things that are lacking but in retrospect, you KNEW that all those things would be missing.

I'd focus on the stellar drive and handling along with the great purrrr the exhaust makes when you push it past 4k RPM.

Give it some time and those things "missing" will be non issues.

Someone didn't do their homework before buying a $35K car....


.... tune it, and that should help.

Not too sure about the R in the states it seems like a lot of the Wow factor was cut for cost! Those seats in the euro spec R amazing! (See what I did there lol!)

Imolarot said:

I have all those on my R :lol:

Click to expand...

How much did you pay for your R?

These features were cut out in the US to reduce the build variety and keep the cost down. A "fully loaded" US-spec R (4-door, nav, sunroof, KESSY, climatronic, Dynaudio, satellite radio, and other features; none of the feature the OP listed and no adjustable suspension or Recaro seats; destination fee included) is $36,760 -- about 248,000 kr at today's exchange rate.

I don't know enough Swedish to read all the options, but I just went to vw.se and built a manual transmission R in Rising Blue (no extra cost in the US, 5500 kr in Sweden), 2 doors (do you have a 4-door option?), and added only Dynaudio, keyless access, and RNS-310 Navigation, and it's already at 361,000 kr. That's about $53,500!

We got left out on some features in the US, but we ended up with a much more affordable Golf R.

Personally, I'd gladly trade KESSY and Climatronic for automatic headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and auto-dimming mirrors. Sadly, VW didn't solicit my opinion when deciding on the build.

Lack of those features don't bother me in the least, its a VERY good car at the price point it sells for here in the US. We also have a M3, fun factor is about the same,has all the features you mention and costs 50K. IMHO

You didn't know about your cars "missing" features when you bought it? :laugh: WTF ?

I'd love some auto headlights and I saw that someone retrofitted the euro headlight dial, but I am not sure if they actually got the auto functionality active in the USDM R. The rest don't bug me since my last car didn't have them.