New 2013 GTI - loud low drone at low revs

Hoping you guys can lay my concerns to rest. Bought a new 2013 GTI meaning just about everyday I stress about a new little thing I think that might be off. Over the past week, I've noticed that when in D and low speed, stop and go traffic, I have this loud low frequency drone (right around 1200-1400 rpm) that is quite loud (much louder than the car at 70mph). It is almost as if you took the sound of the car at full acceleration and just held it, but all I am doing is moving at 20 mph in stop and go traffic. Obviously if I move outside of the 1300~ rev range it goes away but the sound just feels out of place. Is this normal or worth a drive to the dealer to check it out?

Help a GTI noob out. :thumbup:

Not familiar with that noise in that situation.

Get it checked out.

if its as loud as you say it is, i would take it in. possibly a bad soundactor?

I second the sound noise maker under the cowl. I ripped mine out after a week of owning my gli.

stock GTI has an awesome low growl but under 1000rpms when coming to a stop or cold start up. If your is screaming at 1500 something is odd.

yea, its the low growl but it happens right around 1300 rpm so everytime i switch gears I get this low frequency growl and if I cruise it tends to just ride the current gear at 1300rpm unless I apply the breaks, making the growl last. Weirdly, this only occurs after the car is warmed up (about half way on my drive home). I guess I might have misrepresented how loud it actually is, it's mostly noticeable and annoying because it feels very much like the vibration you get when you have one window open (closed tube oscillation for those who remember high school physics) and it sort of hurts the eardrums. In any case I'll probably get it checked out, just a bit afraid I won't be able to recreate the sound from a cold start at the dealership.

Further opinions are appreciated. Mostly, how noticeable is the sound supposed to be when switching gears in a stock GTI? Thanks guys!

Hmmm. I've noticed the same thing in the past few weeks. I've just been attributing it to the soundactor, which I've been too lazy to unplug. Keep us posted if you end up taking it in.