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Quote from: MrEdition50 on 08 May 2026, 22:33

Hey garwen, this is now my car delivery is Tuesday/Wednesday next week number 19 I’ve ordered the AV steering wheel and will be putting the black warmenau’s on for summer and the red alloys will be winter wheels,

Apologies for going off topic, but something to consider with your plan to run the red / black Queenstown alloys on your car during the winter months;

• The red / black Queenstown alloys are diamond cut (the finish on the red sections is described as a red glaze by VW - essentially a red tinted lacquer over the diamond cut sections). The finish on diamond cut alloys isn’t renowned for good durability when subjected to winter road conditions (road salt, grit, snow, slush) and they often succumb to unsightly white worm corrosion.
• To get rid of white worm corrosion requires a professional refurb which probably costs in the region of £125 + VAT per wheel these days, and AFAIK not all alloy wheel refurb companies will do the colour tinted lacquer finish.

The black Warmenau’s have a painted / powder coated finish which is highly durable and should be able to withstand winter road use without issue. If I had a two sets of alloys - one set with a diamond cut finish and the other with a painted / powder coated finish - I know which I would fit for winter use and it wouldn’t be the diamond cut set.

As a matter of interest, many aftermarket alloy wheel retailers will include a set of filters on their websites to help narrow down the search criteria. If one of those filters is ‘winter use’ then it’s highly unlikely any selection of alloys intended for winter use will include diamond cut wheels because of the poor durability of finish when compared to alloys with a painted / powder coated finish.

Ah good advice! Maybe I’ll not use them in the winter then! Maybe just for shows 

Your car looks fab Joe, I love the paint and wheel combo. Must have been a tough decision to order the ED50.

Thanks Paul 
Yeah the current car is so nice, it doesn’t make any logical sense to change it. But I justified it to myself somehow. I’ve been in GTI’s for 20 years and I always really wanted an “edition” model but the timing was never right on previous occasions. And seeing as this could be the last ICE Edition GTI, I said it’s now or never.

Great to hear Joe I can see your point re your position coming from a clubsport, mine is a lot different going back to GTIs from years of family wagons aka Allspace Tiguans. Good to see one with performance pack on anyway and I'd say in your case the true difference will be when driving.

After 7 and a half years I have finally had to order a new battery.

Car didn’t start on Friday. I jumped it and gave it a long run, but that hasn’t worked, it was dead again yesterday morning.

Ordered a Bosch EFB from an online company called batteries on the web.

I’m only using the car once a week now, after pretty regular use for the first few years but I’m pleased to have got over 7 years from the original.

Joe now that you've seen the car in the flesh are you under or overwhelmed or what are your thoughts. Any further information gained from Vw Ireland relating to number of vehicles they hope to
Bring into Ireland.

Donster, the car was fantastic looking to be fair. The red paintwork really stood out, TR is such a great colour, you wouldn't lose it in a carpark! The black Warmanaus really set it off too, they work well with the red brake calipers. The Akra exhaust really sets off the rear end too, looks mega, even if it doesn't sound much different to the standard exhaust.

They gave me the keys too and I sat into it and started it up. The Alcantara wheel is very nice. I'm a little on the fence to be honest on the seats, I think the seats in my current car are arguably as nice - and maybe nicer in some respects! E.g. my CS seats are almost all the "art velours" material whereas on the 50, the seat base and most of the seat back are a hard scratchy fabric, albeit with the distinctive "50" pattern.

They've also done some other strange things in the interior. They seem to have given it the "Black" treatment - the bits that are bright silver on the standard GTI (steering wheel trim, interior door handles) are all black or very dark grey. But then the main piece of trim that runs across the dash and into the door cards is silver, whereas thats a dark "carbon effect" grey on the standard car!

Overall, very nice, but was I really blown away? No. But I'm too spoiled, my current 8.5 is so fresh and pristine. I parked right next to the 50 and my own car was getting as much attention as the 50 was.


As for asking questions, the stand was being run by a group of young women from the marketing dept in VW Ireland, they were sound and very accommodating but they've no more insight into the car's availability than I have. They did say it's been very popular though, lots of them sold / on order.