2010 GTI - Is it "fun enough" to be just a toy?

Hi all, I have been a lurker here for quite some time, and I have been driving a 2010 GTI 6spd w/Revo Stage 1 tune for over three years. It is a fantastic daily, and is just enough fun to keep me content. It just rolled 115k miles and has treated me well thus far. I can foresee needing to replace the clutch, brakes, tires, and suspension within the next year or so.

My dilemma is as follows:

I just inherited a mint 2005 Grand Marquis with 40k miles. I have been commuting (70 miles per day) in this car for the last few days and absolutely love it for this type of driving. I commute from the North Shore of MA down into Boston, so as you can imagine it is primarily stop and go.

So now I still have my GTI, but it now will only be used on the weekends for "fun" purposes. I have been considering dumping it for a new ND Miata, or potentially a lightly used NC because they are more truly a "fun" weekend car, whereas I feel like the GTI is just too practical to be a toy.

My other option would be to throw an RSR clutch in the GTI, exhaust, intake, and coilovers to increase the fun factor a bit, but at the end of the day it is still a 4-door hatchback.

Do any of you have GTI's that are used as strictly a toy? I am just curious to get people's opinions.

I'm not sure I'd consider a miata a "fun toy", but I prefer speed over agility. Not a lot of twisties down here. My idea of fun, obviously varies. Both appeal to the economically sound sporty crowd, or the enthusiasts. If you really want a fun car, get a used BRZ. That has similar power output to a stock GTI, and is extremely nimble. Miatas are like 2 seater go-karts with airbags.

FocalPoint said:

I'm not sure I'd consider a miata a "fun toy", but I prefer speed over agility. Not a lot of twisties down here. My idea of fun, obviously varies. Both appeal to the economically sound sporty crowd, or the enthusiasts. If you really want a fun car, get a used BRZ. That has similar power output to a stock GTI, and is extremely nimble. Miatas are like 2 seater go-karts with airbags.

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Although I kind of agree with you, but the new ND is faster than the BRZ on the track. Also 0-60 is faster too. Anyway, BRZ/FRS is the ultimate-budget-handling car right out of factory, the ND MX5 even with the club pack still has a bit more body roll I think.

Still I think GTI is a good weekend car, if power is your thing you will miss it. If you decided to get a mx5, go for the ND one as its far superior than the NC, and faster too. Go test drive them to see what you think.

I think K04 makes it a toy. 2 door would be better, but I say run with it. These can be as serious as any previous gen sports car.

Get a used BRZ or upgrade the GTI with sway bars, coils or damper/springs, intake, exhaust etc. and get a stage 2+ tune or K04 and tune, have a blast flying around like you stole the thing.

Depends what you mean by a weekend car. If it's just cruising around the scenic roads, going places, then sure. If your idea of a weekend car is something great for the track, then no, not really.

Thanks for the responses!

I guess my idea of a fun weekend car is something that presents a unique driving experience.....not necessarily a track day car. I want it to be something that doesn't feel right doing anything but A to A driving. The GTI could be this with enough money poured into.....but would it be worth it? This is what I am struggling with. Even though an ND Miata is slower than a GTI, it presents a truly unique experience....top down, light weight, two seats, etc. The BRZ kind of hits this note, but honestly not having a drop top takes away a little bit from it when comparing the two.

DSchradieck said:

Thanks for the responses!

I guess my idea of a fun weekend car is something that presents a unique driving experience.....not necessarily a track day car. I want it to be something that doesn't feel right doing anything but A to A driving. The GTI could be this with enough money poured into.....but would it be worth it? This is what I am struggling with. Even though an ND Miata is slower than a GTI, it presents a truly unique experience....top down, light weight, two seats, etc. The BRZ kind of hits this note, but honestly not having a drop top takes away a little bit from it when comparing the two.

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If you're thinking about a droptop, the GTI may not have a chance in your head anyway. Otherwise, I think the GTI could absolutely be a fun weekend car. Think of it this way: you can spend $20k+ buying a new stock car, or you could take a platform that you already really like and upgrade everything to match your exact personal feelings on what the car should be. GTIs are very much a blank canvas, and at least personally, I love that I can really make the car my own. That's what makes it so much fun.

dafuture said:

Think of it this way: you can spend $20k+ buying a new stock car, or you could take a platform that you already really like and upgrade everything to match your exact personal feelings on what the car should be. GTIs are very much a blank canvas, and at least personally, I love that I can really make the car my own. That's what makes it so much fun.

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And that is the exact reason I haven't already ditched it, I love the car because of that reason....I am just not certain if I dump $5k+ into if it will truly be what I am looking for. The other side of it is that I know I would get the itch to mod whatever I buy....so it is probably more economical to stay with the GTI.

Any idea all what an all around dollar figure would be for a legit K04 + installation with exhaust and intake?

DSchradieck said:

And that is the exact reason I haven't already ditched it, I love the car because of that reason....I am just not certain if I dump $5k+ into if it will truly be what I am looking for. The other side of it is that I know I would get the itch to mod whatever I buy....so it is probably more economical to stay with the GTI.

Any idea all what an all around dollar figure would be for a legit K04 + installation with exhaust and intake?

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I definitely get what you're saying. It may not be the super weekend car that all of us would love to have, but on the other hand you can actually do things in the GTI once you mod it, like taking road trips and even running regular errands. Yes, the practicality is sort of disappointing for what's supposed to be a purely fun weekend car, but I can definitely tell you that this car never fails to put a smile on my face.

It's most likely more economical as well. My guess (and this is a rough estimate) that if you bought the parts off the forum you'd be looking something like this:

New K04 - $1800
Used Turboback - $600
Used Intake - $250
Labor - $200 for exhaust, $500ish for turbo.

Total - about $3400

I could be off on those figures, but I'm basing this off threads I've seen about installing a K04 and how long it took people. The exhaust would probably take 2 hours of shop time (even if it doesn't take that long in reality, that would probably be the charge), and the intake you could easily do yourself. I would also suggest a couple supporting mods if you wanted to go a little farther: FMIC, Coil packs, GFB DV+, etc....

This is the thing... You have a ton of miles. You already alluded to having to upgrade clutch, suspension, and possible will need timing belt and carbon cleaning. So without even doing any more performance mods you are looking at a ton of cash going into maintenance. That said, if you budget for the maintenance and want to drop another $4k into going k04 then I think you would be happy with it as a toy.

DSchradieck said:

Thanks for the responses!

I guess my idea of a fun weekend car is something that presents a unique driving experience.....not necessarily a track day car. I want it to be something that doesn't feel right doing anything but A to A driving. The GTI could be this with enough money poured into.....but would it be worth it? This is what I am struggling with. Even though an ND Miata is slower than a GTI, it presents a truly unique experience....top down, light weight, two seats, etc. The BRZ kind of hits this note, but honestly not having a drop top takes away a little bit from it when comparing the two.

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have you ever driven a miata before? If you haven't try it with the top down, that alone will put a huge smile on your face. people give you thumbs up all the time when u put the top down lol. Also the handling is another great experience if you haven't driven one yet.
You can buy a good condition NA/NB and work on it.

The GTi is a fun car for sure. But I don't really see it as a weekend car, but a fun daily or only viable car. For me personally, I'd get something like Honda s2000, miata, 370z, anything Rwd pretty much.


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To me the GTI is a decent commuter car, but it is nowhere near what I have in mind for a toy car. Now, if I could find a decently priced, used Z06, that would be my toy car!

Hi there,

I'm in a very similar situation as you- a month after purchasing my MY12 GTI, I started working for a car manufacturer and started participating in their (ridiculously awesome) employee lease program. Ever since, I've decided to use my company lease as my DD, and the GTI as the "weekend/fun" car. With that being said, I've learned over the past couple years that:

The GTI simply doesn't cut it as a "weekend/fun" car. If it wasn't for the sentimental value (first NEW car, first car purchase, bought for my 21st, etc..) I would have let the GTI go and picked up a truly "fun" car.

It's really an amazing car and I love it, but it's appreciated more if it's your only car or if you DD it- not use it for the weekend. I actually sometimes feel disappointed when I take it out- it's simply not special enough.