After owning the car just over a year, and driving it for 11k miles (bought the car with 23k miles), here are my thoughts on my 2014 Wolfsburg GTI.
Styling:
I can’t say really anything bad about the way this car looks, inside and out. One of the main reasons that I chose the GTI over some the other cars I was considering (WRX, Mini S, Focus ST), was the looks. I’m 35 years old, and even in my younger days subtle styling appealed more to me than showy looks. For me, the GTI is better looking than any of the other fun to drive cars I considered. The exterior looks sharp and grown up, the interior has a splash of fun with the plaid seats, and red stitching, but it is still very grown up and mature.
City driving:
The GTI is not perfect, it’s excellent, but there are moments while driving in the city when I miss my (much slower) Impreza RS. Since the GTI has power, and is FWD, it’s tricky to accelerate during a turn without looking foolish, the front end grips fine in straight line acceleration, but around turns you either go slow, or spin your tires. The Impreza was much less powerful, but with AWD I could use all of the power it had, whenever I wanted, which was a lot of fun! This is more of a quirk than a flaw, but it’s worth noting because I’ve had to change my driving habits around it. Another observation with city driving is that I have to be much more aware of potholes, and other road imperfections. The ride quality isn’t what I would call bad, but the rally inspired suspension of the Subaru (along with smaller wheels and sidewall on the tires) meant that I could plow over manhole covers and most potholes without a second thought. The GTI is certainly well built, but going over road imperfections makes is suddenly feel delicate. I find myself weaving back and forth to avoid bumps, which I suppose the compromise one makes for sharp suspension low profile tires.
I love the way the wheels look, but I’m tempted to replace them with smaller wheels and get some tires with more sidewall. I’d like to soften up some road imperfections without needing to mess with the suspension. It would also be nice to have a little more rubber between the wheel and curb so I don’t have to stress over curb rash every time I parallel park.
Highway driving:
This car shines on the highway. It’s a bit noisy, but that’s partially due to crappy OEM tires, and the stupid soundaktor that I still haven’t unplugged, so I don’t really count the noise as a flaw since it’s easily fixed. Passing on the highway is easy, it’s not the most powerful car on the road, but it’s always got the power I need to pass (or just have some fun). The steering feels good at all speeds, VW balances the steering feel well at all speeds, in my opinion. I’ve had a couple short road trips with it, and it has done really well. I took it through some mountain roads from Denver to Crested Butte and had a blast, it handled the turns easily, while still being comfortable, and I could pass with ease when I got stuck behind slower traffic on the 2 lane sections.
Practicality:
I knew that if I bought a GTI it wasn’t going to be the fastest car on the road, but that wasn’t the point. It was far more important to have a balance of fun, style, and practicality. It has not disappointed in this area. I recently moved my entire house into storage while I wait for my new place to be ready, and besides my bed, and a couple of other large pieces of furniture, I moved everything in the GTI. It has far more usable space than a sedan, so I was very happy that I didn’t go with the WRX. VW is also clever about how they use the space in the car, there are plenty of storage areas that for me are very useful. The hooks for grocery bags in the hatch are brilliant, the doors open wide making it very easy to get my dog in and out of, and there’s plenty of space for adults in the back seat.
Miscellaneous observations:
I don’t love the visibility, it’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. The oversized rear headrests block a decent amount of the view from the rear view mirror, and the passenger seat and B-pillars are in just the right spot to make backing up a little more difficult than in my previous cars. It’s really not terrible, and depending on how tall you are, and what your seating position is like, it may be a non-issue. If you know how to adjust and use your mirrors then you won’t have an issue.
The steering wheel is perfect, but the shifter is not. The OEM shifter is a bit too tall, and the knob is too light, this is easily fixed through aftermarket parts, but it’s worth noting that it could use improving. They made sure to get the steering wheel right, so obviously they knew the importance of the things that actually get handled the most in a car, so I’m a bit bummed the shifter isn’t better.
The cloth interior looks great, and the seats feel great with good support, but the door armrests and center armrest are a bit…scratchy. The fabric isn’t soft, and as most of you know it looks dirty and faded all the time. I’ve used scotchguard on everything, which helps, but the faded look comes back fairly quickly.
The stereo is awful, but even if I had gotten the upgraded Dynaudio package I would have replaced it anyway, so it’s better to replace a cheaper crappy stereo than a more expensive mediocre stereo (I have studied acoustics, designed stereo systems, and built speakers for many years, so my expectations are higher than most).
I wish I could store my sunglasses in the overhead storage compartment, but it rattles anytime I put them in there, which drives me crazy. I may disassemble it and see if I can snug it up a bit, but I haven’t gotten to that yet.
This is everything that's coming to my mind right now. I'll post more observations as they come.
Styling:
I can’t say really anything bad about the way this car looks, inside and out. One of the main reasons that I chose the GTI over some the other cars I was considering (WRX, Mini S, Focus ST), was the looks. I’m 35 years old, and even in my younger days subtle styling appealed more to me than showy looks. For me, the GTI is better looking than any of the other fun to drive cars I considered. The exterior looks sharp and grown up, the interior has a splash of fun with the plaid seats, and red stitching, but it is still very grown up and mature.
City driving:
The GTI is not perfect, it’s excellent, but there are moments while driving in the city when I miss my (much slower) Impreza RS. Since the GTI has power, and is FWD, it’s tricky to accelerate during a turn without looking foolish, the front end grips fine in straight line acceleration, but around turns you either go slow, or spin your tires. The Impreza was much less powerful, but with AWD I could use all of the power it had, whenever I wanted, which was a lot of fun! This is more of a quirk than a flaw, but it’s worth noting because I’ve had to change my driving habits around it. Another observation with city driving is that I have to be much more aware of potholes, and other road imperfections. The ride quality isn’t what I would call bad, but the rally inspired suspension of the Subaru (along with smaller wheels and sidewall on the tires) meant that I could plow over manhole covers and most potholes without a second thought. The GTI is certainly well built, but going over road imperfections makes is suddenly feel delicate. I find myself weaving back and forth to avoid bumps, which I suppose the compromise one makes for sharp suspension low profile tires.
I love the way the wheels look, but I’m tempted to replace them with smaller wheels and get some tires with more sidewall. I’d like to soften up some road imperfections without needing to mess with the suspension. It would also be nice to have a little more rubber between the wheel and curb so I don’t have to stress over curb rash every time I parallel park.
Highway driving:
This car shines on the highway. It’s a bit noisy, but that’s partially due to crappy OEM tires, and the stupid soundaktor that I still haven’t unplugged, so I don’t really count the noise as a flaw since it’s easily fixed. Passing on the highway is easy, it’s not the most powerful car on the road, but it’s always got the power I need to pass (or just have some fun). The steering feels good at all speeds, VW balances the steering feel well at all speeds, in my opinion. I’ve had a couple short road trips with it, and it has done really well. I took it through some mountain roads from Denver to Crested Butte and had a blast, it handled the turns easily, while still being comfortable, and I could pass with ease when I got stuck behind slower traffic on the 2 lane sections.
Practicality:
I knew that if I bought a GTI it wasn’t going to be the fastest car on the road, but that wasn’t the point. It was far more important to have a balance of fun, style, and practicality. It has not disappointed in this area. I recently moved my entire house into storage while I wait for my new place to be ready, and besides my bed, and a couple of other large pieces of furniture, I moved everything in the GTI. It has far more usable space than a sedan, so I was very happy that I didn’t go with the WRX. VW is also clever about how they use the space in the car, there are plenty of storage areas that for me are very useful. The hooks for grocery bags in the hatch are brilliant, the doors open wide making it very easy to get my dog in and out of, and there’s plenty of space for adults in the back seat.
Miscellaneous observations:
I don’t love the visibility, it’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. The oversized rear headrests block a decent amount of the view from the rear view mirror, and the passenger seat and B-pillars are in just the right spot to make backing up a little more difficult than in my previous cars. It’s really not terrible, and depending on how tall you are, and what your seating position is like, it may be a non-issue. If you know how to adjust and use your mirrors then you won’t have an issue.
The steering wheel is perfect, but the shifter is not. The OEM shifter is a bit too tall, and the knob is too light, this is easily fixed through aftermarket parts, but it’s worth noting that it could use improving. They made sure to get the steering wheel right, so obviously they knew the importance of the things that actually get handled the most in a car, so I’m a bit bummed the shifter isn’t better.
The cloth interior looks great, and the seats feel great with good support, but the door armrests and center armrest are a bit…scratchy. The fabric isn’t soft, and as most of you know it looks dirty and faded all the time. I’ve used scotchguard on everything, which helps, but the faded look comes back fairly quickly.
The stereo is awful, but even if I had gotten the upgraded Dynaudio package I would have replaced it anyway, so it’s better to replace a cheaper crappy stereo than a more expensive mediocre stereo (I have studied acoustics, designed stereo systems, and built speakers for many years, so my expectations are higher than most).
I wish I could store my sunglasses in the overhead storage compartment, but it rattles anytime I put them in there, which drives me crazy. I may disassemble it and see if I can snug it up a bit, but I haven’t gotten to that yet.
This is everything that's coming to my mind right now. I'll post more observations as they come.
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