GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk8 => Topic started by: ar899 on 31 January 2022, 08:52
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Just over a week ago, I finally got a decent test drive in a Mark 8 GTI. Was a standard car, DSG and no options.
One negative issue (to me) that stood out was the exhaust note. On a 70 mph motorway cruise, there was a constant drone from the exhaust - at least that's what it sounded like rather than anything artificial piped in. I found it a bit wearing and probably not something I could live with on the 3-4 hour motorway trips I take now and again. Also quite intrusive around town. I tried Comfort, ECO and anything else I could find but didn't seem to make any difference.
Now I understand the 'It's a performance car with loud exhausts so what do you expect?' point of view (and indeed there is another current topic discussing ways of making more noise) but nearly every review you read says that it can act like a 'normal Golf' when you want it to be and 'you wouldn't know its a performance car' blah blah blah. I didn't really find that.
Just wondering what other Mk 8 owners views/experiences of this are?
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I find that the tyre roar / road noise can be a bit irritating, depending on the road surface. I’m not sure if that’s down to the tyres or reduced noise insulation in the MK8 or both but I don’t remember my previous Golf’s having this issue as noticeably.
As for exhaust drone, no, not really. Particularly if you put the car into Comfort mode and leave the gearbox in “D”. It’s pretty sedate then imo. Too sedate I feel for anything other than the motorway so I mostly use S mode or the paddles.
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I suspect you are just noticing the difference vs whatever you are driving now. What are you currently in?
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Thanks Joe, Fred
It's not that I'm coming from an S Class :grin:
My motoring history is a series of small cars with small engines that have been worked hard on motorway journeys (currently a standard Polo). So I'm used to a fair bit of engine/road noise but yes, I'm not accustomed to performance cars. I was just hoping that the GTI would have been a bit more relaxing in the cruise.
You must have noticed quite a difference coming from GTDs, Fred?
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The 7th cog in the DSG also helps a lot. I had a MK7 R DSG (6 speed) and at motorway cruising speed it did drone a bit due to the revs being up near 3k. The 7th gear at least ensures that you're cruising at about 2k revs.
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Thanks Joe, Fred
It's not that I'm coming from an S Class :grin:
My motoring history is a series of small cars with small engines that have been worked hard on motorway journeys (currently a standard Polo). So I'm used to a fair bit of engine/road noise but yes, I'm not accustomed to performance cars. I was just hoping that the GTI would have been a bit more relaxing in the cruise.
You must have noticed quite a difference coming from GTDs, Fred?
Yes its different to the GTD... in 2 ways:
1) The GTD had most of the noise coming from the oil burner up front - which whilst not fully agricultural, certainly had diesel clatter
2) The Mk7/Mk7.5 had a lot more sound deadening material - the arch liners were thicker and even the parcel shelf!
I didn't ever drive a Mk7 GTI, but yes, the Mk8 does sound more like a performance car.
Trust me though, if it sounded like my friend's Lotus it would have gone a long time ago! I don't find it a problem on long journeys. The bloody rattles are much more annoying :grin: :grin: :grin:
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To add to the excellent points above, is it definitely exhaust and not tyre noise?
Bridgestones can drone like hell.
The mk8 is definitely more vocal than the mk7 owing to feedback from focus committees and internet influencers (and the odd real journalist) leading VW to make the mk8 louder and sharper/harder than the mk7.
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I recently had opportunity to take my (7.5) gti on an extended motorway run- something which I don’t often do, as we would normally be doing long runs with the family in the seat alhambra- it’s a 184 ps engine with 6 speed dsg.
It was a reminder for me that, no matter how refined the hot hatch has become, it’s still not a type of car ideally suited to cruising for hours on a motorway.
Far more noise- engine and tyres- than our mpv.
It’s not something that really bothers you on shorter journeys, but after a couple of hours, i did start to wish I’d taken the mpv. I really didn’t expect that.
It wasn’t as easy to hold a conversation in the gti.
You also have to drop to 5th gear every so often to find a bit more torque for getting past slower traffic- but maybe that’s just my style of driving.
The gti is perfectly suited to fast A roads, back roads, and around town.
If I was doing a lot of motorway mileage, I’d choose something else.
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Honestly, I do some really long journeys... if it was a problem, it would have gone to WBAC.
I've driven very much more noisy cars - and I don't mean loud exhausts, I mean ones that are just noisy... or old transit vans!
Those are tiresome, but I don't find the Mk8 GTI tiresome at all and I drive around in "individual mode" with the exhaust sound set to sport (which is actually an external noise, not the soundaktor!). It makes more noise if you knock the gears into S mode, but in D, its fine.
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Strange isn't it how we differ, I'm regularly on motorways and the only bit that annoys me is the concrete part of the M25 around Surrey. We take the car for our holiday transport nearly all the time, love it!
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Thanks Joe, Fred
It's not that I'm coming from an S Class :grin:
My motoring history is a series of small cars with small engines that have been worked hard on motorway journeys (currently a standard Polo). So I'm used to a fair bit of engine/road noise but yes, I'm not accustomed to performance cars. I was just hoping that the GTI would have been a bit more relaxing in the cruise.
You must have noticed quite a difference coming from GTDs, Fred?
Yes its different to the GTD... in 2 ways:
1) The GTD had most of the noise coming from the oil burner up front - which whilst not fully agricultural, certainly had diesel clatter
2) The Mk7/Mk7.5 had a lot more sound deadening material - the arch liners were thicker and even the parcel shelf!
I didn't ever drive a Mk7 GTI, but yes, the Mk8 does sound more like a performance car.
Trust me though, if it sounded like my friend's Lotus it would have gone a long time ago! I don't find it a problem on long journeys. The bloody rattles are much more annoying :grin: :grin: :grin:
Interesting point about the 7/7.5 having more sound deadening - I have seen the reviews on cost cutting but don't think I heard about that one!
My last long termer was French so am used to rattles :laugh:. Renault do make excellent engines I would have to add though.
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To add to the excellent points above, is it definitely exhaust and not tyre noise?
Bridgestones can drone like hell.
The mk8 is definitely more vocal than the mk7 owing to feedback from focus committees and internet influencers (and the odd real journalist) leading VW to make the mk8 louder and sharper/harder than the mk7.
Pretty sure it was the exhaust as was the same noise I could hear around town. I thought I had read complaints from some that the noise in the Mk 8 was toned down a bit due to new noise regulations but maybe not then?!
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I recently had opportunity to take my (7.5) gti on an extended motorway run- something which I don’t often do, as we would normally be doing long runs with the family in the seat alhambra- it’s a 184 ps engine with 6 speed dsg.
It was a reminder for me that, no matter how refined the hot hatch has become, it’s still not a type of car ideally suited to cruising for hours on a motorway.
Far more noise- engine and tyres- than our mpv.
It’s not something that really bothers you on shorter journeys, but after a couple of hours, i did start to wish I’d taken the mpv. I really didn’t expect that.
It wasn’t as easy to hold a conversation in the gti.
You also have to drop to 5th gear every so often to find a bit more torque for getting past slower traffic- but maybe that’s just my style of driving.
The gti is perfectly suited to fast A roads, back roads, and around town.
If I was doing a lot of motorway mileage, I’d choose something else.
Thanks for that feedback - you may be right, I may have to look elsewhere though I do like a hatch! As Fred & Watts have posted, it is interesting to hear differing views.
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I don't wish to give the impression that it's a bad car for the motorway- not at all.
Perhaps I hadn't appreciated what a great car the Alhambra is for long motorway journeys- I was actually really looking forward to using the golf on a long run- for a change, we didn't have kids with us and had a choice of car.
Much of this is really about expectations.
If I consider my car history, I started with hot hatches- then had 2 alfa saloons and 2 BMWs- during the years that I was doing heavy motorway mileage. The 205 became a bit tiring on long runs between Manchester, Birmingham and London.
Now I have the luxury of choosing the appropriate car for whatever use.
But the golf ( i'm talking 7.5, I appreciate OP is mainly interested in mk8) is a perfectly good car for long runs- just not as good as an oil burning bus!
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I think the Mk8 is quieter than my mk7.5 was on the motorway. As you say it’s what your used to. The wife’s Skoda Kodiaq is quieter than my GTI. I’d still happily do the jaunt down to Birmingham with Work in mine though
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I asked Mrs G as she moans about everything... Yes my car is noisy on the motorway but its road noise not exhaust drone. Apparently.
So that's that settled, she's always right :laugh:
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I asked Mrs G as she moans about everything... Yes my car is noisy on the motorway but its road noise not exhaust drone. Apparently.
So that's that settled, she's always right :laugh:
I just came back from a brief motorway blast this morning- and was about to post exactly this point.
It’s the tyre noise I’m hearing. Engine was quiet as anything
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Yeah as I mentioned in my first reply, I find its the tyre noise thats the most intrusive. I definitely find it very apparent when I hop from the wife's car (a T-Roc) into the GTI.
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I read the mk8 has less sound insolation as a way of reducing cost - how much truth I'd in that I don't know.
What tyres have people with 19s got?
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S005 on mine
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S005 on mine
Same here
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hankook ventus s1 evo 3.
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hankook ventus s1 evo 3.
How do you find them, in terms of grip and handling feel?
I was rather disappointed when I’d seen the 45’s started arriving with them on rather than the Goodyear super sports.
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AR899, I think it depends a lot on what you intend on doing with the car. I did a lot of company mileage with the (mk7.5) GTD and whilst I agree regarding the road noise from the Bridgestones, the majority of the time I was on a motorway and on my own, so the music went on and with the Dynaudio system everything was fine. Yet when I found myself off the motorway in the Lake District or north wales, a lot of fun was there to be had, it was a perfect car for what I was doing at the time (mostly long boring motorway trips and fun “enough” when I wanted it to be).
If I was still doing high mileage, I would have probably gone down the GTD route again, but now my needs are mainly the 14 mile daily commute in between the weekend fun, so a clubsport suits better… by my “man maths” :whistle:
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hankook ventus s1 evo 3.
How do you find them, in terms of grip and handling feel?
I was rather disappointed when I’d seen the 45’s started arriving with them on rather than the Goodyear super sports.
No complaints at all tbh other than the road noise, but I'm not sure if they're any worse than other tyres in that regard. The Hankooks actually rate pretty highly in group tests afaik.
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My last motorway trip was back in December and was around 350 miles (plus bits of A road and urban driving taking it to over 400 miles) and I didn’t remember the car droning.
I very very seldom do motorway trips so in the interest of science for this thread I took the car up to motorway speeds at around 5am this morning for a brief stretch.
No exhaust drone at all in my Clubsport but plenty of tyre roar (Michelin PS4S 235/35/19) though nothing excessive for the class of car.
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Maybe 'drone' was the wrong word to use. On my test drive I found the constant noise (from the rear of the car) quite annoying and am pretty sure it was the exhaust. I'm not used to 'performance exhausts' in any way so it may be something that you guys are used to and don't notice or that you notice tyre noise more?
I'm not complaining that a performance car sounds like one - I just thought that, in say Comfort or ECO mode, it would have been a bit quieter.
About half my annual mileage is on A roads/motorways but there are a few weeks in between these trips. If I was on the m/way every week then I'd definitely consider a GTD but I think my driving pattern probably doesn't suit a DPF.
And want to add many thanks for all the helpful advice on this - even taking test drives to provide feedback. I've not got much experience of other forums but doubt there is one as helpful and informative as this one. :smiley:
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AR899, I think it depends a lot on what you intend on doing with the car. I did a lot of company mileage with the (mk7.5) GTD and whilst I agree regarding the road noise from the Bridgestones, the majority of the time I was on a motorway and on my own, so the music went on and with the Dynaudio system everything was fine. Yet when I found myself off the motorway in the Lake District or north wales, a lot of fun was there to be had, it was a perfect car for what I was doing at the time (mostly long boring motorway trips and fun “enough” when I wanted it to be).
If I was still doing high mileage, I would have probably gone down the GTD route again, but now my needs are mainly the 14 mile daily commute in between the weekend fun, so a clubsport suits better… by my “man maths” :whistle:
I like the man maths analogy, weirdly though I have a CS and the boring motorway stuff returns 40+mpg but the commute to the office (8miles by back roads) is only 29 mpg average but by god its fun!!!