2018 Golf TCR and dealer information ?

[AGB]

Didn't realise that VW were not doing factory extensions any more but it makes sense if they wish to drive sales of new cars and finance agreements. VAG group is suffering from the financial impact of the diesel cheat fines (nearly $3bn in the US alone) and that's why the rally team was pulled, why Porsche withdrew from WEC and so on. I'm sure a factor would have been the cumulative financial risk to the business in supporting the volume of 3-5 year old VW models. They will know take up and the problems they're getting under claims so maybe it wasn't seen as viable. They may have to rethink that strategy depending on the terms and economic impact of Brexit though. People may seek cheaper marques from new or retain their cars or even look to second hand cars and I doubt many would feel comfortable not having access to manufacturer warranty support if they wanted peace of mind.

I doubt VW were losing money over extended warranties. They still offer them on VWs in other markets (Germany being the prime example), and if they're priced right, there's no money to be lost.

Unless VWs are horrendously unreliable after 3 years now, not everyone taking out the warranty is going to be dipping into it - for everyone that bought a warranty extension, I would hope that only 5-10% have a need to claim on it.

It's either an administrative faff for VWUK, or maybe there's not enough margin in it for VWUK vs other options?

I think it's a dangerous game for VW UK to be playing. I think we're going to see more people who've bought outright keep their cars longer, and if there's a sting in the tail for keeping the car 5 years, people will look elsewhere for reassurance. 5 year standard warranties are becoming more mainstream now (even Alfa do it!).

Knowing that I intend to keep my 2 Polo GTI+ for more than 3 years, I'd have been tempted to switch to a new Audi A1 S-line with the GTI engine instead and buy the warranty extension.

I'm not saying that they're losing money with the warranties but they will be auditing every aspect of the business to find cost savings. I agree that those claiming will be a small number but doubtless they've done a cost analysis and determined it's worth saving or not worth administering due to poor take up. Maybe in general, people don't take them out because they perceive the car to be reliable and that it's an unnecessary cost.

I doubt that I am going to replace any of my cars but the customer service attitude at VW and Porsche at both brand and dealer level utterly stinks.

[mcmaddy]

New car warranty 3years, some VW dealerships are offering used car warranty of 2 years.

[AGB]

My guess is that most Vw trade in the UK is three year pcp. The extended warranty will be underwritten by a UK insurer, maybe even actually fully provided by one. For this deal to work, the insurer will be looking for volume and I don't think Vw UK customers are providing this volume because of our love for pcp

Volume might play a part for pulling it (a VW UK decision, as VW GmbH are still making it available for other markets), but the factory extension is (was) provided by VW directly- you could only spec it prior to delivery of your car. I recently had an extended warranty claim on the Golf - there was no authorisation required through a third party for the VW confirmed fault (complete loss of DAB signal). Work was authorised straight away and parts ordered immediately.

I wouldn't have though any more people buy Audis for longterm use than VWs, yet you can still get a factory warranty extension for your soon to be delivered Audi. Same parts, same likelihood of failure on that Audi.

I'm going right off VW for the way customers are getting treated aftermarket.

1. VW knowingly sold me my Polo with a safety design flaw middle rear seatbelt likely to detach in full occupancy (3 in the back). They were aware of this issue in April 18 and carried on building MQB A0 designated cars with the issue until October 18 (mine included). In the meantime, I was not informed not to use the middle seatbelt until a recall notice was issued in Feb 19.

2. Go to a dealership now and you're warned of the potential to be hit with a £60 diagnostic fee if they can't prove your reported fault. VW UK clearly aren't covering the diagnostic cost for a fault the car doesn't log anymore. The burden of proof lies heavily with the customer. I have an issue now with our Aug 18 Polo GTI+ - about half the time the car is started from cold, the virtual cockpit doesn't fire up, so I'm driving with no indication of speed. I have videoed the fault to safeguard me from the £60 charge when it goes in for diagnosis and fix next week.

3. Ask for a courtesy car now for a warranty claim and many dealership groups are now charging admin fees that amount to full blown rental charges. VW UK clearly aren't supporting the cost of maintaining a courtesy fleet for warranty purposes. My local Looker group want £12 a day "admin fee" for their "free" Up! courtesy cars, plus £5 a day "admin fee" for insurance.

The Lookers Audi dealerships don't charge, so I'd assume that Audi UK still contribute to the courtesy cars for warranty use.

It seems that VAG are trying to widen the gap again between the VW and Audi aftersales experience, not by making Audi better than it was, but by making VW worse than it was.

Have VW tried to get you to take their 'free' diagnostic tool? If you plug that in and give them the data log, you 'might' be able to catch the error with the virtual cockpit. Certainly, they'd have an even harder time trying to make a cost stick if you have video and have used the VWUK directed data logger.

I've had courtesy cars where I've just shown the VW dealer my insurance to prove I have fully comp to drive anything up to a specified value and that covers anything in their range. Not been levied any admin cost and the only request was to return it with similar fuel level. It might vary by group and I know two dealers within the same group that have entirely different positions which is illogical.

[Hertsman]

Needed to test on the reifinitz wheels, as that has the adaptive , sports, suspension

You can spec DCC separately, you don’t have to spec the 19’s to get it.

There’s at least two UK press TCR’s on the standard 18’s with DCC added.

Yep, think what I was thinking was the sports adjustment on the shock absorbers that come with the Reifnitz opposed to the DCC itself being any different - The TCR also rides 5mm lower than the GTi Performance and I think 10mm lower than my present R

So you would imagine in the test on the sports suspension it may have fared a little better in the test though of course its down on BHP also

Never going to be driving mine like that and on a UK road it will be pretty quick enough for me and with a different agility to the present R on them open and twisty roads.

The ride on my R is too cossetted in comfort can actually make you feel sick as wallows, and normal and race are perfectly acceptable and on my GTD comfort on the heavier wheel was more like normal in my R - my hope is comfort in the TCR is close to normal on my R which would be perfect but if falls somewhere between normal and race that be fine also - if sport is very firm on the TCR thats fine to, as if pushing that button I probably looking for flat and firm.

19-inch “Reifnitz” alloy wheels with 235/35 R 19 tyres plus Vmax limit removal and adaptive Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) including running gear that is lower by 20mm compared with the normal running gear (five millimetres less as compared to the GTI running gear) as well as a special sports adjustment of the front axle and rear axle shock absorbers.

Also found this interesting titbit on steering and the ride 

Tweaked EPAS software has brought with it a newfound sense of urgency to the steering, while the 5mm drop on new springs and retuned dampers means the whole car is just a little stiffer and more focused than a GTI Performance. On the road, though, you’re probably going to want to avoid the ‘Sport’ mode for the (optional) adaptive dampers - it makes the ride much too busy. Stick with the individual setting and turn everything up but the suspension, which you’ll want to leave in ‘Normal’.

VW Golf GTI TCR Review: Lovely, But We Were Hoping For More - Features
Body control is then extremely impressive, with the TCR appearing to shrug off moments on the test route close to Portimao where the road forgot to… be road. Even after hitting these dodgy bits of tarmac - which rather alarmingly do appear mid-corner from time to time - this enlivened Golf settles down extremely quickly.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/vw-golf-gti-tcr-review-lovely-but-we-were-hoping-for-more/

[CookieMonsterGTi]

Just working through my spec at the moment. Has anyone gone outside of pure grey, tints, Reifnitz wheels with dcc and pan roof?

From what I read I’m not sold yet on pro nav and dynaudio and wondered what others are considering?

[Hertsman]

Needed to test on the reifinitz wheels, as that has the adaptive , sports, suspension

You can spec DCC separately, you don’t have to spec the 19’s to get it.

There’s at least two UK press TCR’s on the standard 18’s with DCC added.

Yep, think what I was thinking was the sports adjustment on the shock absorbers that come with the Reifnitz opposed to the DCC itself being any different - The TCR also rides 5mm lower than the GTi Performance and I think 10mm lower than my present R

So you would imagine in the test on the sports suspension it may have fared a little better in the test though of course its down on BHP also

Never going to be driving mine like that and on a UK road it will be pretty quick enough for me and with a different agility to the present R on them open and twisty roads.

The ride on my R is too cossetted in comfort can actually make you feel sick as wallows, and normal and race are perfectly acceptable and on my GTD comfort on the heavier wheel was more like normal in my R - my hope is comfort in the TCR is close to normal on my R which would be perfect but if falls somewhere between normal and race that be fine also - if sport is very firm on the TCR thats fine to, as if pushing that button I probably looking for flat and firm.

19-inch “Reifnitz” alloy wheels with 235/35 R 19 tyres plus Vmax limit removal and adaptive Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) including running gear that is lower by 20mm compared with the normal running gear (five millimetres less as compared to the GTI running gear) as well as a special sports adjustment of the front axle and rear axle shock absorbers.

Also found this interesting titbit on steering and the ride 

Tweaked EPAS software has brought with it a newfound sense of urgency to the steering, while the 5mm drop on new springs and retuned dampers means the whole car is just a little stiffer and more focused than a GTI Performance. On the road, though, you’re probably going to want to avoid the ‘Sport’ mode for the (optional) adaptive dampers - it makes the ride much too busy. Stick with the individual setting and turn everything up but the suspension, which you’ll want to leave in ‘Normal’.

Body control is then extremely impressive, with the TCR appearing to shrug off moments on the test route close to Portimao where the road forgot to… be road. Even after hitting these dodgy bits of tarmac - which rather alarmingly do appear mid-corner from time to time - this enlivened Golf settles down extremely quickly.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/vw-golf-gti-tcr-review-lovely-but-we-were-hoping-for-more/

[Hertsman]

Just working through my spec at the moment. Has anyone gone outside of pure grey, tints, Reifnitz wheels with dcc and pan roof?

From what I read I’m not sold yet on pro nav and dynaudio and wondered what others are considering?

Mine was the signature pure grey reifnitz (+DCC)  climate screen and the must have 90% tints given the rest of the black features

- would not go leather the TCR interior is very much part of the package
- Get hayfever so a sealed bubble is what desire and so no pan roof for me
- having had back to back MK 7 already the standard sound system is more than adequate and in fact is probably beyond that as for example my penthouse and pavement CD sounds pretty good (have high end sonos ad Denon in house)

Also for me coming from a MK 7, the MK 7.5 adds a few nice additions also - so for me, the TCR have specced is pretty much loaded.

[kmpowell]

the standard sound system is more than adequate and in fact is probably beyond that as for example my penthouse and pavement CD sounds pretty good (have high end sonos ad Denon in house)

I'm sorry, everybody is entitled to their own opinion but this is not true, the difference is night & day.

The standard stereo is 8x normal paper-cone speakers with a standard 4x20w (80w max power) output driven from the main headunit (both Discover or Discover Pro).

Dynaudio is 400w (max power) sent over 9x speakers (8 speakers plus the sub), powered via a separate Dynaudio amp, not the headhunt. The front and rear speakers are 2-way sets (dual soft-dome tweeters and magnesium mid drivers), and the sub in the boot is a coil dual-voice.

I've rattled on about this many a time, but if you enjoy music and/or spend a lot of time in the car listening to music, then the Dynaudio really is a no brainer. Once you have it set-up (through the specific Dynaudio software menus in the headhunit) to your taste and sound type, it really does wipe the floor with the standard system, not to mention IMO easily beats BOSE and HK offerings I've had in other cars. The only system it's not beaten is the 1200w Meridian System I had in my Range Rover Sport, but that was 3x the power (and price!).

If you just listen to the radio around town, then it might not be for you, but was first on my ticklist as I love music and spend lots of time in the car travelling with it on.

[TurboTrev]

No one going for the black roof?

[Hertsman]

the standard sound system is more than adequate and in fact is probably beyond that as for example my penthouse and pavement CD sounds pretty good (have high end sonos ad Denon in house)

I'm sorry, everybody is entitled to their own opinion but this is not true, the difference is night & day.

The standard stereo is 8x normal paper-cone speakers with a standard 4x20w (80w max power) output driven from the main headunit (both Discover or Discover Pro).

Dynaudio is 400w (max power) sent over 9x speakers (8 speakers plus the sub), powered via a separate Dynaudio amp, not the headhunt. The front and rear speakers are 2-way sets (dual soft-dome tweeters and magnesium mid drivers), and the sub in the boot is a coil dual-voice.

I've rattled on about this many a time, but if you enjoy music and/or spend a lot of time in the car listening to music, then the Dynaudio really is a no brainer. Once you have it set-up (through the specific Dynaudio software menus in the headhunit) to your taste and sound type, it really does wipe the floor with the standard system, not to mention IMO easily beats BOSE and HK offerings I've had in other cars. The only system it's not beaten is the 1200w Meridian System I had in my Range Rover Sport, but that was 3x the power (and price!).

If you just listen to the radio around town, then it might not be for you, but was first on my ticklist as I love music and spend lots of time in the car travelling with it on.

Did not actually say there was not a difference as have never heard the Dynaudio to compare, but do have a high end Denon with Mission speakers that played the very same CD on which now collects dust sadly (cannot bear to part with though) and have Sonos Play 1 (2 of), 3 and 5 as the main house sounds fed by paid for HQ Deezer, and all my headphones are top end, so like you love my music and the quality of  - And I said the standard is pretty good and that CD which holds up pretty well in the car environment when compare to the outlay for the Dynaudio

You are quite right though that your driving demographic plays a part as do not do that many long journeys and less so alone and passengers (usually with own headphones in!) are not conducive to upping the sound.

So not saying the Dynaudio is not good, sure it is, was more saying the standard is not rubbish as it is not and if your demographic of driving is compromised where cannot crank it up regularly and get the value it might be a saving to be had - If crunch many miles solo then of course justification increases.