I've had my GTI for a little over a month now. I have, for years now, been a truck driver. I was quite content with my Toyota Tacoma for many years but within the last year or two, I felt it was time for something new. If you keep any car long enough, all the little things you wish were better about it eventually overwhelm everything you love. That's what happened with me.
Now I have been interested in VW for many years. Specifically the TDI. In the mid nineties I nearly bought a Golf TDI but issues with both the quality of the cars and the service departments at the dealers were simply too many and too negative for me to make the leap from a Toyota. Jump to 2010. VW once again decides to offer a Golf TDI in America. Also, VW quality has improved, and the situation with the dealer service departments...well that still sucks, but I found an excellent mechanic to get me around that. As these cars cost upwards of $25000, I felt it essential that I get the options I wanted, and not whatever was on the lot. Finding a Golf TDI with the options I desired, at least in late 2009 proved impossible. The cars were here, but they were few and far between, and not one of them came close to what I wanted. They were like fairy dust. Magical, but no where to be found. In all honesty, I had never considered a GTI.
I had gone through the trouble to test drive a Mini Clubman Cooper S as a plan B, but somehow, in my twisted logic, the GTI was never a consideration. Silly me. When it finally dawned on me that the GTI and the TDI were so similar, I showed up at a VW dealer and took one for a test drive. I guess that's what it took for me to see the value in the GTI. Giving up on diesel allowed me to get what is easily the coolest car I've ever owned.
There are some things about the GTI that I would want prospective buyers to be aware of. First and foremost is the mileage. I'm an average driver and there's just no way this car is ever going to get 30mpg. I think I would have to enslave myself to the little shift guide in the dash to get it and there's just no way I'm going to put the car in sixth gear in a 45mph zone. It's just too much fun to drive. Hell, I sprung for a better stereo and most of the time I turn it off to listen to the exhaust. Never saw that one coming. Also, the fuel gauge...I don't like it. I gives one the perception that you are going through a tank of gas quickly.
The steering wheel is unfortunately NOT detachable. So you cannot hold on to it at night as you sleep. I feel VW could have done better here.
There's just a kind of dignity to this car. It's like a black t shirt that goes with anything. I can take it to the nicest restaurant and go straight to roller derby and it fits in. I can take this car anywhere.
Not more than a week ago we had six inches of snow here in North Carolina and though I missed my old 4x4 a little, the GTI did a great job of keeping me on the road. Through the worst of the storm, the GTI got me to work on time day after day, regardless of whether the roads were plowed or not. If you live around more frequent snow falls and there's going to be a GTI in your life, I would get a wooden spoon out of the kitchen to clear the snow/ice from the inside of the wheels on days like this. It didn't take much of a buildup of snow to throw the wheels out of balance and you can really feel it around 35mph on the GTI(detroit wheels).
My biggest problem with this car is an issue with the stereo. I use an iPod, like most and no matter what kind of iPod you use, the interface on the stereo is glacially slow when navigating the contents of an iPod. In fact it's UNSAFE to use when driving in my opinion. Most of the time I just shuffle the library and skip when the song isn't working. Even worse is the memory card slot. In order for music on a card to work, it's got to be in MP3 format and it has to be placed on the card with a file structure intact. That's too much work for me. Just what about a GTI implies work to you? There's no way I'm doing this. In the case of the stereo at least, VW's marketing far exceeds their engineering.
I opted for a two door, MT, with xenon lights, a sunroof and the Dynaudio stereo. The DSG was another option that I was interested in, but paying upwards of $300 every 40000 miles to change the transmission fluid put me off. Once I drove a MT GTI I didn't miss the DSG at all. In fact the car I tested is sitting in my driveway right now. I did try a DSG, and it seemed cool, but I just didn't have enough time with it to form a better opinion. I've had MT's for so long that being without one is a profoundly different driving experience. I pay more attention to the road with a MT. But that's just me.
If you really love music, the Dynaudio is worth it. My tastes are all over the map, from rock to jazz to reggae, etc... The Dynaudio system in the GTI puts the soundstage of whatever your listening to on the dashboard. Once I got used to it, which wasn't hard, I grew to love it. Aside from the soundstage, the stereo has great clarity and that takes no getting used to at all, I loved it straight off. I'm into Hi-Fi and Dynaudio is a coveted name. Some of their speakers cost thousands of dollars. Given the cost of their system in the GTI, this is a tremendous value. Mind you, the Dynaudio is about imaging and clarity, not volume. I love it.
The Xenon lights are a qualified good. Now I have no idea what the halogens are like in the GTI, but my Xenons have a way of cutting through the darkness that really appeals to me. Everything in the xenon's field of view is VERY visible. Maybe it's just going from a tall 4x4 to a GTI, but one thing I don't like about the xenon's is the way they just seem to cut off about 50 yards closer than I'd like. At speed, it just seems like I have less time to react to potholes or road debris. The lights do turn with the car, which is something I never really noticed until it snowed and I started to fishtail a little. The fog lights are kind of a running joke with me. They look just great on the car, but using them....it's like they're pointed to the sides instead of forward. If they weren't there, I wouldn't miss them.
I've only used my sunroof a couple of times. This is the first car of mine that's actually had one. Maybe I'll appreciate it more once spring comes. It's easy to operate, and with all the bad weather here, I've had no issues with leaks, not even from the high pressure washers at the car wash.
About the only thing I think I'll change on this car is the wheels. For reasons I won't go into, my GTI has 18 inch Detroit wheels. They look cool as hell but you pay for that on the road with lots of road noise and a rougher ride. At least that's how I see it. When these tires wear out, I'll be going to the less conspicuous 17 inch wheels.
So that's pretty much it. I'm goin' out for a ride.
Now I have been interested in VW for many years. Specifically the TDI. In the mid nineties I nearly bought a Golf TDI but issues with both the quality of the cars and the service departments at the dealers were simply too many and too negative for me to make the leap from a Toyota. Jump to 2010. VW once again decides to offer a Golf TDI in America. Also, VW quality has improved, and the situation with the dealer service departments...well that still sucks, but I found an excellent mechanic to get me around that. As these cars cost upwards of $25000, I felt it essential that I get the options I wanted, and not whatever was on the lot. Finding a Golf TDI with the options I desired, at least in late 2009 proved impossible. The cars were here, but they were few and far between, and not one of them came close to what I wanted. They were like fairy dust. Magical, but no where to be found. In all honesty, I had never considered a GTI.
I had gone through the trouble to test drive a Mini Clubman Cooper S as a plan B, but somehow, in my twisted logic, the GTI was never a consideration. Silly me. When it finally dawned on me that the GTI and the TDI were so similar, I showed up at a VW dealer and took one for a test drive. I guess that's what it took for me to see the value in the GTI. Giving up on diesel allowed me to get what is easily the coolest car I've ever owned.
There are some things about the GTI that I would want prospective buyers to be aware of. First and foremost is the mileage. I'm an average driver and there's just no way this car is ever going to get 30mpg. I think I would have to enslave myself to the little shift guide in the dash to get it and there's just no way I'm going to put the car in sixth gear in a 45mph zone. It's just too much fun to drive. Hell, I sprung for a better stereo and most of the time I turn it off to listen to the exhaust. Never saw that one coming. Also, the fuel gauge...I don't like it. I gives one the perception that you are going through a tank of gas quickly.
The steering wheel is unfortunately NOT detachable. So you cannot hold on to it at night as you sleep. I feel VW could have done better here.
There's just a kind of dignity to this car. It's like a black t shirt that goes with anything. I can take it to the nicest restaurant and go straight to roller derby and it fits in. I can take this car anywhere.
Not more than a week ago we had six inches of snow here in North Carolina and though I missed my old 4x4 a little, the GTI did a great job of keeping me on the road. Through the worst of the storm, the GTI got me to work on time day after day, regardless of whether the roads were plowed or not. If you live around more frequent snow falls and there's going to be a GTI in your life, I would get a wooden spoon out of the kitchen to clear the snow/ice from the inside of the wheels on days like this. It didn't take much of a buildup of snow to throw the wheels out of balance and you can really feel it around 35mph on the GTI(detroit wheels).
My biggest problem with this car is an issue with the stereo. I use an iPod, like most and no matter what kind of iPod you use, the interface on the stereo is glacially slow when navigating the contents of an iPod. In fact it's UNSAFE to use when driving in my opinion. Most of the time I just shuffle the library and skip when the song isn't working. Even worse is the memory card slot. In order for music on a card to work, it's got to be in MP3 format and it has to be placed on the card with a file structure intact. That's too much work for me. Just what about a GTI implies work to you? There's no way I'm doing this. In the case of the stereo at least, VW's marketing far exceeds their engineering.
I opted for a two door, MT, with xenon lights, a sunroof and the Dynaudio stereo. The DSG was another option that I was interested in, but paying upwards of $300 every 40000 miles to change the transmission fluid put me off. Once I drove a MT GTI I didn't miss the DSG at all. In fact the car I tested is sitting in my driveway right now. I did try a DSG, and it seemed cool, but I just didn't have enough time with it to form a better opinion. I've had MT's for so long that being without one is a profoundly different driving experience. I pay more attention to the road with a MT. But that's just me.
If you really love music, the Dynaudio is worth it. My tastes are all over the map, from rock to jazz to reggae, etc... The Dynaudio system in the GTI puts the soundstage of whatever your listening to on the dashboard. Once I got used to it, which wasn't hard, I grew to love it. Aside from the soundstage, the stereo has great clarity and that takes no getting used to at all, I loved it straight off. I'm into Hi-Fi and Dynaudio is a coveted name. Some of their speakers cost thousands of dollars. Given the cost of their system in the GTI, this is a tremendous value. Mind you, the Dynaudio is about imaging and clarity, not volume. I love it.
The Xenon lights are a qualified good. Now I have no idea what the halogens are like in the GTI, but my Xenons have a way of cutting through the darkness that really appeals to me. Everything in the xenon's field of view is VERY visible. Maybe it's just going from a tall 4x4 to a GTI, but one thing I don't like about the xenon's is the way they just seem to cut off about 50 yards closer than I'd like. At speed, it just seems like I have less time to react to potholes or road debris. The lights do turn with the car, which is something I never really noticed until it snowed and I started to fishtail a little. The fog lights are kind of a running joke with me. They look just great on the car, but using them....it's like they're pointed to the sides instead of forward. If they weren't there, I wouldn't miss them.
I've only used my sunroof a couple of times. This is the first car of mine that's actually had one. Maybe I'll appreciate it more once spring comes. It's easy to operate, and with all the bad weather here, I've had no issues with leaks, not even from the high pressure washers at the car wash.
About the only thing I think I'll change on this car is the wheels. For reasons I won't go into, my GTI has 18 inch Detroit wheels. They look cool as hell but you pay for that on the road with lots of road noise and a rougher ride. At least that's how I see it. When these tires wear out, I'll be going to the less conspicuous 17 inch wheels.
So that's pretty much it. I'm goin' out for a ride.
) I use the media card and it plays MP3 and WMA files; I really don't want a loose player hanging from a cord. I have used the stereo bluetooth to play files from my phone just to try it, but the card is a cleaner solution.
