Anybody regret buying a GTI for a daily driver?

[OhioMK6]

I blew mine up with 145k miles 2 weeks ago and spent almost 6k to put another engine in it. I love this car and do not regret doing what I've done to it and driving it everyday. It's a car that's pretty good at doing everything. Not amazing, but pretty good.

Sorry to hear about your blown engine. What failed on it and what mods do you have?

 

[damagi123]

It's the weight transfer from front to rear combined with a left turn and traffic that doesn't stop moving at 55 MPH that made me hate the car in the beginning. Hence the limitations of FWD that I keep complaining about. In other words, I didn't have that problem with my WRX and its crappy summer performance tires.

those dead stop to left turns, especially after tuning, also irritated the fuck outta me the first year or so until i changed my driving technique

 

[thatspsychotic]

those dead stop to left turns, especially after tuning, also irritated the fuck outta me the first year or so until i changed my driving technique

Did the WALK and sway bars help for some of this?

 

[APRMK6GTi]

No regrets here! Perfectly happy with the way the car performs for daily commuting and occasional track days. There are some hiccups throughout the ownership, but all were covered under warranty (water pump 3x, intake manifold 1x, radiator 1x, rear hatch lock mechanism failed). Now just need to keep up with the maintenance and check out on the timing chain tensioner. APR tuned since 2,000 miles, K04 at 50,000 now at 63,000 miles. I still can't think of another car that I would choose at the price range when I bought it new.

 

[damagi123]

Did the WALK and sway bars help for some of this?

so the walk, definitely yes, one of my favorite mods hands down for traction in the platform.

and the sway bars.. not really.. if anything that specific situation is worse

i made a mistake with the 27mm sways frankly theyre too fuckin stiff and they actually upset traction in certain situations, wanting to shift weight and bring one wheel up sometimes. Dont get me wrong it really turns you into a go kart but its not a comfortable setup. Unless you daily drive it like youre on the track(which i do lol), late braking and just goddamn hucking it into every corner id never tell someone to go with the biggest sways, just go with a SLIGHTLY bigger set of bars.

 

[JoeCap]

Sorry to hear about your blown engine. What failed on it and what mods do you have?

It threw a rod. It had a ton of miles and was consuming a quart of oil every 1k miles for the last 60k. I'm thinking I was losing compression on cylinder 4. I had engine knocking while I was in Tennessee for Wookies in the Woods and it threw a rod trying to get the car off the mountain and to the shop. Sorry in advance if these pictures are huge.

You can actually see the connecting rod sitting at the bottom of the engine through the hole at the top. But yeah, the car's downstairs with an engine that now has 41k miles on it. Thank you to whoever totaled their car to keep mine going.

Here are the mods I have:
APR K04 and tune (10k miles)
Southbend Stage 2 Daily Clutch (30k miles)
Integrated Engineering Catch Can (20k miles)
APR Carbino Intake (5k miles)
SPM Turboback Exhaust (1/2 Street, 1/2 Track) (80k miles)
BC Racing Coils (30k miles)
APR Rear Sway Bar (Fucking forever)
BFI Stage 2 Dogbone Mount (Also fucking forever)
GFB DV+ Diverter Valve (30k miles)
eBay Turbo Outlet Pipe (40k miles)
APR Short Shift Kit (30k miles)
Raceseng Heavy Weight Shift Knob (Yes it's a mod. The knob weights over a pound)
Spulen Rear Toe Arms (30k miles)

 

[StrigaMort]

Bruh I seriously don't get that rattle every one is talking about . Do you get it at a certain mileage? Seriously maybe I am deaf but I wanna know where exactly this noise comes from


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I'm with you. I usually have the stereo turned up, but sometimes I drive in silence. My car has about 110k miles and I don't notice any rattling. Nvh is one of the things I love about my example.

I wasn't going to comment because I haven't had my car for long, but considering I bought it for 8k I can pretty much say that I love the car and I'm happy I bought it even if something failed. Obviously I hope it doesn't, but I feel like I got a really great deal as it is.

I live in the city and a small car just made sense. I will drive the wheels off this one, but when it's time to buy another one) because I will be) it'll be a 4 door with dsg. I may go with an mk7 if I can find a good deal at the time.

2010 GTI 6mt, Autobahn, APR Stage 1 tune, Freakishly Clean

 

[sterkrazzy]

I think the roads might have a lot to do with the rattles. My car rides pretty damn good, until I find that perfect road and something in the dash rattles like a son of a bitch. Luckily I've only found a few roads that are like that and the rest of the time I'm rattle free.

 

[Kiev]

I regret at my 110,000 miles. This cars shakes at idle almost like my 1969 Vw Beetle. The interior is falling apart (thanks to the German's quality product) and near the windshield the paint is pealing. Even I treat it well, it has been 3 times at the dealer. I do almost all the maintenance I can myself, but still parts are expensive so I was looking for a daily driver. Recently, a friend of mine was trying to give his Toyota Camry 1994 V6 with 255,000 miles to charity because it has a lot of problems (his 17 years old son was driving it) so I offered $150 for it (the motor was in a good condition but body and interior was a mess) and he sold it to me. I spent about $600 on parts(Ebay): 4 full shock assemblies, radiator, front wheel hubs, O2 sensor, disk pads, motor support, motor and transmission oil and door handles. This car handles now like a brand new. Engine is running like new and transmission became better as soon as I changed the oil. Now this car has becoming my daily driver, I spend less on gas on this car than on my GTI (87 vs 93 octane) which surprisingly is very economical even is a V6 3.0. Definitively, I would not buy a GTI for daily driving.

 

[Fantom1107]

I think the roads might have a lot to do with the rattles. My car rides pretty damn good, until I find that perfect road and something in the dash rattles like a son of a bitch. Luckily I've only found a few roads that are like that and the rest of the time I'm rattle free.

Temperature too. Here in Michigan during the winter below freezing my car (well pretty much any car) runs and sounds like shit. Now that it's warmer my car feels 5 years newer again.

 

[VEGASVWGTI]

No regrets here! Perfectly happy with the way the car performs for daily commuting and occasional track days. There are some hiccups throughout the ownership, but all were covered under warranty (water pump 3x, intake manifold 1x, radiator 1x, rear hatch lock mechanism failed). Now just need to keep up with the maintenance and check out on the timing chain tensioner. APR tuned since 2,000 miles, K04 at 50,000 now at 63,000 miles. I still can't think of another car that I would choose at the price range when I bought it new.

Exact same issues with mine and in the same quantities. Just add a rear window regulator and now moisture getting in the right rear tail due to some sort of assembly seal failure. Lost an ECU that was opened for a tune back in 2011. 95K APR Stage 1 again through the port this time. Just had some PZEV coverage items handled including oil breather/separator replaced and some seals and coils after the retune as well. Tensioner was inspected and determined to be in very good condition. VW has supported me in many of these issues including extending my power train to almost 90K. I do not regret the purchase. It is a blast to drive and has yet to leave me stranded. Up to 100K with no major out of pocket expenses I consider a success.

I cannot think of anything sub 40K at the moment I want to replace it with so I will hold and push on. With excellent power to economy ratio, zero oil consumption and leaks, a clutch that for the moment is still holding the power, a car with heated seats on cloth, a classy interior and such minor body style changes that the car is always thought to be new not only is it "cheaper to keeper", but it is also no chore to do so...at the moment at least.

 

[snobrdrdan]

does it also have the soundaktor?

No. The engine sits lower in the bay and the cabin is (sort of) over it instead of behind the engine, so more NVH from the engine is in the cabin.
Does NOT sound rev happy at all, lol

The Tiguan isn't equipped with the DSG?

No, and I would assume it's because of towing reasons

 

[akropicMR]

Daily drive the MK6 and no major regrets so far other than the need for 93 octane. Nothing major has gone wrong and coming from other German cars I've come to accept that things like waterpumps, coils, PCVs, various sensors, etc are just part of "normal maintenance."

A couple of things that do end up bothering me is the suspension and good chance of bending a wheel on my commute to work - the roads aren't good here. 6MT can also get tiring in traffic but these aren't faults of the car.

When the roads are clear it's totally worth the driving experience. And wrench time is "me time."

I drove a V6 Camry today and although it's dead reliable and soaked up every bump on the road, it was the most numbing driving experience I've had in a long time.

 

[thatspsychotic]

It threw a rod. It had a ton of miles and was consuming a quart of oil every 1k miles for the last 60k. I'm thinking I was losing compression on cylinder 4. I had engine knocking while I was in Tennessee for Wookies in the Woods and it threw a rod trying to get the car off the mountain and to the shop. Sorry in advance if these pictures are huge.

You can actually see the connecting rod sitting at the bottom of the engine through the hole at the top. But yeah, the car's downstairs with an engine that now has 41k miles on it. Thank you to whoever totaled their car to keep mine going.

Here are the mods I have:
APR K04 and tune (10k miles)
Southbend Stage 2 Daily Clutch (30k miles)
Integrated Engineering Catch Can (20k miles)
APR Carbino Intake (5k miles)
SPM Turboback Exhaust (1/2 Street, 1/2 Track) (80k miles)
BC Racing Coils (30k miles)
APR Rear Sway Bar (Fucking forever)
BFI Stage 2 Dogbone Mount (Also fucking forever)
GFB DV+ Diverter Valve (30k miles)
eBay Turbo Outlet Pipe (40k miles)
APR Short Shift Kit (30k miles)
Raceseng Heavy Weight Shift Knob (Yes it's a mod. The knob weights over a pound)
Spulen Rear Toe Arms (30k miles)

That is an absolutely insane amount of oil consumption, my car has 137k miles and consumes about 1 quart every ~7-8k miles, which is pretty reasonable to me.

Part of your oil consumption was most likely the IE catch can (africa plate leads to a lot of oil loss), but yeah, sounds like your motor was not that happy before it let go.

 

[JoeCap]

That is an absolutely insane amount of oil consumption, my car has 137k miles and consumes about 1 quart every ~7-8k miles, which is pretty reasonable to me.

Part of your oil consumption was most likely the IE catch can (africa plate leads to a lot of oil loss), but yeah, sounds like your motor was not that happy before it let go.

The motor was not happy at all. The new engine has the Africa plate on it and it's been holding steady on oil after 1200 miles so I don't want to say the Africa plate was an issue. It's a recirculating kit too which makes a difference.