Fred's Thoughts on Mk8 GTI ownership

[Exonian]

The sound quality in the standard set up is actually ok. I’m no audiophile mind you, but would any audiophile be happy with any car set up that didn’t involve ££££?

The HK will be a lot better though going from my experiences with Dynaudio in the mk7.5. I’d happily pay the extra and generally I’m pretty stingy on spec upgrades.
Bass is so easily lost in a boomy hot hatch cabin even with the horrid sound actuator on minimum setting, so that sub is a godsend on those days when traffic is light, passengers are absent and you can lose yourself in some music. Or great for when you’re showing off to your mates. Only I don’t have any mates. 

[fredgroves]

So regarding speaker setup in the front only, is it just like a 6inch in the front door and a tweeter on the A pillar.
I guess its the same number of speakers if standard or using HK....

I think there are 6 speakers on the standard setup, 10 for the HK.... whether thats different mounting points or just that some locations have dual cones...

[Yusee]

Done 45 miles in my 32 year old french car today.
I turn the key, the engine fires up.
No problems with the user interface in this😂😂

[ar899]

Done 45 miles in my 32 year old french car today.
I turn the key, the engine fires up.
No problems with the user interface in this😂😂

Best car I've ever owned was French. 180k miles in 11 years on petrol engine with no problems - original clutch, original exhaust, 32k miles out of tyres.

[fredgroves]

Done 45 miles in my 32 year old french car today.
I turn the key, the engine fires up.
No problems with the user interface in this😂😂

Best car I've ever owned was French. 180k miles in 11 years on petrol engine with no problems - original clutch, original exhaust, 32k miles out of tyres.

2CV per chance?

[AndyGTI]

Fred

Just a quick note on all your posts, very informative and giving a great picture of Mk 8 GTI ownership.

I hope your sanity is still intacted as it does sound quite a battle with some of the log in procedures, not to mention error code bingo.

It is fascinating that the driving dynamics seem to be great but software is in its infancy.

I was looking at the various bits of info that VW had put out this week at their AGM and seems on electric vehicles there is a plan for new versions of software over next few years (I suppose like Apple with yearly iOS)

Do you think once you get to 1788 update that your glitches are mostly solved?

It seems really strange to me that VW seem to be so reticent to update vehicles where errors and glitches have a known solution and that you have to drag them through the list to finally get a resolution.

I would have thought they would be straight down on any problem to stop a possible growing feeling...oh don’t get a Golf it doesn’t work properly and the screen throws loads of errors at you.

However I have been an owner and reader of forums to know that the attitude is normally, “move along now nothing to see here” and when it really does go wrong then they act

[fredgroves]

I find it slightly odd.

I will say though that yesterday I had the most amazing drive out of it. Absolutely incredible. After tootling around for ages I decide to go attack some corners. It's fantastic and I really must do that more.

Does it have some annoying things, sure. Are vw a pain about dealing with it? Yes but no different to say bmw (of which I'm a bit familiar with now) is about the same software type issues.

We live in an increasing digital world, car makers as always are slow to the uptake (i think it was best part of twenty years before I had a CD player in a car despite having new cars every three years!)

It's unfortunate but trust me, the mk8 in its performance guises really is a great car to drive.

[ar899]

Done 45 miles in my 32 year old french car today.
I turn the key, the engine fires up.
No problems with the user interface in this😂😂

Best car I've ever owned was French. 180k miles in 11 years on petrol engine with no problems - original clutch, original exhaust, 32k miles out of tyres.

2CV per chance?

Ha ha, no it was a sporty(ish) Clio. Did drive a friends 2CV a bit though, many years ago - interesting gear shift and handbrake IIRC 

[Gambo]

Thank you for your account. I found it very useful as a person who has just purchased his first GTi.

I have DCC but I have found that the ultra-comfort setting (top left hand of the options in 'individual' mode) creates a very noisy level of tyre noise. I was surprised at this. On country roads, it really is incredibly noisy, so much so that it is difficult to concentrate and decide whether this setting helps to glid over bumps better than 'comfort' or not. Whether the extreme comfort setting is a smoother ride is almost irrelevant: the noise puts you off the setting. That means the choice is back to standard comfort or sport.

Have you found this? I should emphasise though, that I am not technically minded at all and come to this from an ordinary car without DCC. And not a GTi!

[Si_Telford]

I find it slightly odd.

I will say though that yesterday I had the most amazing drive out of it. Absolutely incredible. After tootling around for ages I decide to go attack some corners. It's fantastic and I really must do that more.

Does it have some annoying things, sure. Are vw a pain about dealing with it? Yes but no different to say bmw (of which I'm a bit familiar with now) is about the same software type issues.

We live in an increasing digital world, car makers as always are slow to the uptake (i think it was best part of twenty years before I had a CD player in a car despite having new cars every three years!)

It's unfortunate but trust me, the mk8 in its performance guises really is a great car to drive.

Fred to add on from this I find I can't approach a corner without powering 😂. It's bloody too addictive. I'm in constant sport mode through individual with engine sound on eco to hear the standard engine noise more than the fake through the speaker.