GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: steve12345 on 18 February 2019, 11:09
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Hi all,
I'm new to GTI's and VW infact, but I've always liked the look of them.
My questions really are around practicality. I have no doubt the performance etc will be way above my expectations.
My current car is a 2014 BMW 116D M sport. Ignoring performance etc here are a few of the issues with this car:
1. M-sport suspension very stiff. For the driver its great, handles & drives really nice. For passengers however it means uncomfortable bumpy ride.
2. Rear doors are slim - getting the baby seat in is a little tight, also car is quite low which doesn't help.
3. Rear seat comfort - If you have two people in the back, or in my case baby seat and one adult. Its quite uncomfortable over long journeys. The back rests are angled in a little. and with the bumpy ride its worse in the back.
We only started using the rear seats recently when baby arrived, so I guess if anyone else has a small family how do you find the GTI as a daily car?
I'd be looking at a Mark 7 GTI (not the new 7.5) from around 2014/2015/2016, most on the second hand market don't come with the dynamic chassis option.
Has anyone gone from a BMW msport to a GTI? how do you find the stock suspension? it is comfortable for passengers? Should i be worried about any of the above with a GTI?
Also do you have any other advice or things I should look out for on a second hand GTI?
Thanks in advance
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I ran a 2012 116D for a while, not the M Sport mind. The GTI is a great family car, we have an 18 month old girl. Ride is perfect on the 18s without DCC. Enough room in the back but it's not a massive car, I have the drivers seat quite far back so leg room is minimal. Use mine daily for nursery drop offs, business meetings and the odd drive just for fun.
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I haven't had a 1 series, but I did look at them a few years ago when they were in my employers company car scheme.
The Golf is a far more civilised proposition, larger inside in almost every dimension and the suspension is as comfortable as you're likely to find in a hot hatch. Larger alloy wheels look great, but there is a trade-off with comfort, so better to stick with the standard wheels if that is something that may bother you.
If you look for a car built after week 22 2015 you will find these have a few items of standard equipment that cost extra on earlier builds, the main one being factory fit sat nav, and with a larger screen than earlier cars.
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I had a ride in my cousins 120d msport the other day. Very very tight in the back.
My lads car seat wouldn’t fit in comfortably. No problem in a gti at all. Loads more rear room. Ride on 18s and 19s is great imo. Easier to get a good ride when the car isn’t on those dreadful run flats. :whistle:
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My daily drive for the last 15 years have been 3 series msport cars- a 330 coupe then a 335d. Now running a new gti on standard wheels , no dcc.
I ran the 335d on non runflats as the ride was so poor on them.
I am very impressed with the ride on my gti - though it isn’t easy to compare , as those were ageing cars.
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My last 2 cars was an E87 Msport and an E92 Msport on 19s. Ride on my 7.5 GTI is more comfortable on 18s with no DCC. Also it feels alot lighter and nimble than the BMWs, but I do miss the RWD :evil:
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Thanks for the reply’s. I’m hoping to test drive one this weekend, but it seems like it should be an improvement on what I have at the moment.
It’s amazing how much better spec’ed a standard GTI from of that age is compared to my stock M-Sport 1 seires. Also how the gti has held its value a lot better than the 1 series too, that could be down to me picking a 116d rather than one of the more exciting engines tho.
I’m looking forward to having a car with some power to. I’ve always picked economical diesels until now. And looking at it the GTI seems very reasonable for fuel economy too.
Anyways thanks for your help, if I pull the trigger I’m sure I’ll be back soon with more questions
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Have you thought about an Octavia vRS?
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Don’t forget, your 1er uses run-flats which kills any sort of ride comfort so it’s not 100% down to the car. :smiley:
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I don't think my wife would approve of a Octavia, it dose look decent though!
So i had a quote back from a VW dealer on a second hand GTI, they added a few optional extra's:
£299 - Autoglym lifeshine - No thanks!
£99 - Admin fee - im guessing I won't be able to get out of this?
£75 - carpet mats - now this is very cheeky - its a second hand car, and the video demo they sent me showed it already has mats in!! :angry:
£17 - Fuel - again i dont understand this one... its an odd number as well? are they going to put £17 of petrol in for me and then charge me for it?
£33 - Data plug - I don't have a clue what this is? any ideas?
I'll def be disputing some of those charges. Have any you guys found VW to be quite negotiable on price for second hand cars and the extras?
The car that I looked at has a pro navigation system, its a 2014 model. will they be able to update the maps for me. I've never had sat nav before so im not sure if that's even possible?
Thanks
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Cheeky Barstewards!! All GTi's from the factory come standard with mats so tell them you want the standard ones that came with the car. Considering they are giving dataplugs away free tell them to take it off, they are crap anyway. Tell them you want a full tank of fuel and not 17 quids worth! Don't let the dealer apply any paint coatings because they generally make an a4se of it. If they won't do any of above walk away and find another car.
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Don't pay for the dataplug!!!
Cheeky buggers.
You don't need that, its just a way of VW spying on you and trying to sell you more services.
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And what the bloody bu@@ery bo!!ocks is a £99 admin fee for? Name and shame and move on. If they are going to be that arsey at the point of purchase who knows how much of a pain in the arse they would be if god forbid something went wrong post purchase...
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And what the bloody bu@@ery bo!!ocks is a £99 admin fee for?
It's pretty common practice now for some of the bigger named franchises. My nearest dealer's network (Motorline) charges £139+VAT on all their used vehicles.
The salesman I spoke to there when I was looking was very embarrassed with it, especially when I asked the simple question "why don't you just build that cost into the price?".
:huh:
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And what the bloody bu@@ery bo!!ocks is a £99 admin fee for?
It's pretty common practice now for some of the bigger named franchises. My nearest dealer's network (Motorline) charges £139+VAT on all their used vehicles.
The salesman I spoke to there when I was looking was very embarrassed with it, especially when I asked the simple question "why don't you just build that cost into the price?".
:huh:
I've heard it all now, being charged to buy something! And how much "admin" is there anyway? I'd walk away.
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They want to charge you £99 to buy a car from them :grin: Isn't that what your paying for anyway.
It's like McDonalds charging you a £1 burger flipping fee for someone to flip your burgers for you :laugh:
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Hahahaaaaaa. The absolute cheek of that! Stick two fingers up at them and tell them to do one.
My mate is a car salesman and he says you don't have to pay the admin fee.
Name and shame the dealership so we can avoid them.
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When I looked at a GTI at a main dealer, I turned up and it had £239 admin fee sticker on the window, at a main VW dealer, I was shocked! I protested and said it wasn't in the Autotrader Advert, dealer said yes it was, it's our policy, blah blah. I showed him the ad on my phone and it wasn't there, still wouldn't budge. So I went and bought a car somewhere else, lesson learnt.
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Name and shame the dealership so we can avoid them.
As I pointed out it's not a dealership thing, it's a franchise group policy. So for example https://www.motorline.co.uk who have many approved dealer brands in their group (including VW) charge an admin fee on all their used cars.
It's now common practice.
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Cheeky Barstewards!! All GTi's from the factory come standard with mats so tell them you want the standard ones that came with the car. Considering they are giving dataplugs away free tell them to take it off, they are crap anyway. Tell them you want a full tank of fuel and not 17 quids worth! Don't let the dealer apply any paint coatings because they generally make an a4se of it. If they won't do any of above walk away and find another car.
So there's a reason for the mat thing. If they leave mats in a 2nd hand car and they aren't in perfect condition, if for instance the mat didn't fit as well as it should and caused an accident, they would be liable. So all these car supermarkets pull them out and more often than not don't supply them.
But a main dealer should supply some proper mats as part of retailing an approved car. We had this issue with a 3 year old Auris from a main dealer that we got for the missus and had to stipulate we wanted mats which they reluctantly did do.
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It's just a con to get more money out of a prospective buyer.
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so I'll be sure dispute all of those charges! thanks for the heads up guys.
Just had another though as im looking at cars that are about 5 years old, so i be concerned about cam belt changes? when do they usually need to be done?
I am aware of the DSG gearbox services at 40k miles.
Thanks!
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See here
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/what-we-check-and-why/cambelt-change
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See here
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/what-we-check-and-why/cambelt-change
Gti doesn't have a belt, it's a chain
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Thanks guys,
I was able to remove all of those extras in the end - turns out it was a “generic” quote with all the extras included for illustration.
Few more questions for you guys - seen as even the base gti is a high performance car. Are there any tell tell signs that would suggest the orginal owner has driven it hard and given it a really hard life?
For instance the car I’m looking at is 40k miles and they are changing the rear discs and pads... seems a bit early for a disc / pad change but I could wrong. My mainly motorway mileage 1 series didn’t need new pads until about 65k Miles.
When I test drive it, is there anything I should look out for?
It’s a base gti with DSG (no PP or DCC)
Thanks
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That does seem a bit early - especially for rears. I'm on 52k and both front and rear came back fine on the VW health check. Check all the tyres are matching and are a good quality brand, run a mile if it's on budgets, if the previous owner is skimping on tyres what else are they trying to save a few quid on.
This is just my personal preference but I'd always try to avoid a lease car when buying used. Avoid car supermarkets too. I always try to buy from a forum member if possible because you know it's going to be well cared for.
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Ours had rear disks and pads replaced at 23k.
I don't think it's a sign of being driven hard, more to do with auto hold and rear disks getting scored.
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See here
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/what-we-check-and-why/cambelt-change
Gti doesn't have a belt, it's a chain
Of course it does. Not sure what I was thinking there :undecided:
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Ours had rear disks and pads replaced at 23k.
I don't think it's a sign of being driven hard, more to do with auto hold and rear disks getting scored.
Quite the opposite, probably not driven hard enough.
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Mk7 is chain cam, MK 5 and 6 were belt.
See here
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/what-we-check-and-why/cambelt-change
Gti doesn't have a belt, it's a chain
Of course it does. Not sure what I was thinking there :undecided:
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Mk7 is chain cam, MK 5 and 6 were belt.
See here
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/what-we-check-and-why/cambelt-change
Gti doesn't have a belt, it's a chain
Of course it does. Not sure what I was thinking there :undecided:
I thought Mk6 was also chain (except the Ed35)? Hence the issues with chain failures?
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=262793.0