MXResonance's GTI PP DSG OEM+ Build Thread/Review

[MXResonance]

Hello fellow forum members!

I have owned my new GTI PP for 4 days now so I thought it was about time I posted up my review and the start of my build thread.

Photos of the car can be found at the following link -
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=259354.3040

Review
To give a bit of background on my car history I owned a Mk5 Golf GTI Edition 30 around 4 years ago, I then changed to a Audi A4 S Line TDI (143bhp) for the last 3 years, but circumstances have now changed which allowed me to come back to the GTI family.

I will start off with the exterior, I chose to have the standard white paint, I have always wanted a white car and the GTI suits the colour so it was a no brainer to me. I have seen plenty of photos of the GTI, but once I had seen mine in the flesh I could appreciate how well it had been designed; all the lines on the car look spot on and the front end is fantastic. A friend of mine told me the car looks angry which tells me that the front end has plenty of character, the xenon's with the red line going through them adds to this effect.
The ride height of the GTI looks spot on as well IMO, the wheels sit perfectly within the arch, the only thing which could be improved on is putting on some spacers, but only 10 to 15mm.

Now onto the interior, I am a huge fan of gadgets and the latest technology with a modern design so the GTI has struck a chord with me straight away, the Discover Nav touch screen is a joy to use; the responses to each one of my touches is spot on.
The layout of the buttons and the gloss black patterned surround really set the centre console apart from other manufactures, each of the buttons has a firm feel to them and a nice clicking sensation when using them which gives the GTI the premium experience I wanted it to have.
The seats are very good as well, I am used to the tartan design from the ED30 and like it a lot, the seats hug me nice and tightly which gives me confidence to push the car hard round corners and that I will not move an inch in them.

Over to the driving experience, one word... WOW, this car is a beast! I thought the power and the response would be on par with the MK5 ED30, but it just blows it out of the water; the handling on the car going into the corner or following the racing line is just sublime. The power response through the DSG box is just a dream and will only get better with time, I have noticed the DSG box sometimes gets a bit confused when I put my foot down in normal mode, but the car is still learning my driving style and hasn't cover 100 miles yet.

The car as met every one of my expectations and exceeded them in spectacular fashion, every time I get into the car I have a childish grin on my face and can't wait for the car to reach temp so I can put my foot down and unleash the beast!

My review isn't full of complete praise there are a few cons which I have picked up on, luckily only minor stuff to deal with.

Cons -
The service schedule was incorrectly set up on the car (variable instead of fixed)
Drivers side seat belt was twisted at the bottom connector (now fixed with some expert finger skills)
The car came with a set of Tombstones
The rear car mats were fitted the wrong way round (how is this even possible! lol)


OEM+ Build Thread
My plan over the next few weeks/months is to upgrade my GTI to give it a OEM+ feel, I don't want to go overboard and ruin the cars looks or make it into a chav mobile; just correct some of the things which VW left out. Links to all my upgrades will be at the bottom of this post, if you have any questions please drop a comment in the thread and I will do my best to answer them.


Link List
Boot light LED
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291093994962
Reversing LED
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351388083718
Footwell LED - RED
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161592009073
Static cornering light upgrade
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004LXX42I
Plate Surrounds
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272000677443
Pressed Metal Plates
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pressed-Metal-Number-Plates-100-UK-Legal-Pair-GOLF-POLO-BEETLE-GTI-TDI-VW-DUB-/301718659820
New Reversing LED
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400857806459

[Watts]

MX - good comprehensive review! If your experience echoes mine then your praise can only escalate. I'm amazed daily by mine, it's a fantastic car and I'm building a strong bond.

Oddly, just like you, I discovered a few days ago that the rear mats in my car were also fitted to the wrong sides!

Looking forward to seeing your mods with interest.

[Bungleaio]

Nice review, it took me a few minutes to realise what tombstones were. Are they really that bad?

What mods have you got on the cards?

[p3asa]

That's funny as my rear mats were also on the wrong side. I couldn't quite work out at first why they didn't fit the shape properly. Plus my seatbelt was also twisted!!

[MXResonance]

Nice review, it took me a few minutes to realise what tombstones were. Are they really that bad?

What mods have you got on the cards?

To be totally honest I haven't used them enough to get a good feel for them, just been feeding off many bad experiences from other forum members.

And as for what mods I have in the pipeline I can only say "Good things come to those who wait"   P.S. check my thread for a teaser

That's funny as my rear mats were also on the wrong side. I couldn't quite work out at first why they didn't fit the shape properly. Plus my seatbelt was also twisted!!

It looks like we have found a common issue with the VW production line in Wolfsburg!

[TwoSheds]

That's funny as my rear mats were also on the wrong side. I couldn't quite work out at first why they didn't fit the shape properly. Plus my seatbelt was also twisted!!

It looks like we have found a common issue with the VW production line in Wolfsburg!
[/quote]

The carpet mats come boxed in the boot from the factory.

Placed in position at the dealers...

[Greerso]

Have to agree it's a great car and looks fantastic in white (and red ) - you're so right about the stance of the car it just looks right and the dynamic line now below the door handles adds to the sense of purpose.  I didn't go for PP and will probably never drive that hard to justify it but the car is just so well built and feels really planted.

Just over a week of ownership and 300 miles up I couldn't wait to get out of work to drive home   

Look forward to seeing your mods 

[MXResonance]

Build Thread Update

One of my biggest bugs with VW is the fact they have made some of the internal lights LED, but not all of them. For example in the GTI the footwell lights, vanity and reading lights are all LED, but the boot light and the glove box light are both halogen design; obviously this was done for some sort of cost saving reason, but it annoys the hell out of me!

So one of my first purchases was LED lights to upgrade the interior lights and some of the exterior ones as well, photos below of the modifications.

Rear Reversing lights



Boot light


Static cornering lights
Another issue I spotted fairly early on was that the static cornering lights use halogen H7 bulbs so that when they come on they produce a horrible yellow light which looks completely wrong compared with the crisp white light produced by the Xenon's.

I have bought some Osram Cool Blue Hyper H7 bulbs rated at 5000k which match the Xenon's much better.

Static cornering lights - Before


Static cornering lights - After




Footwell light mod
After spending some time on the forum I found a thread were someone had changed their footwell lights to have red LED's instead of the standard white ones, I really like the look of the mod so decided to try it out for myself. Link below to original post -
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=262034.0

To complete this mod you will need to order two standard halogen footwell bulb holders part number 7L0-947-415, this is because the GTI comes with LED footwell lights as standard which cannot be swapped out.

Once you have the bulb holders you can order some red LED's or any other colour from eBay and fit them into the bulb holders and just carry out a straight swap with the standard LED units.

Footwell lights

[Exonian]

Great thread and it'll be interesting to see how this car develops.

I upgraded the cornering lights on my GTI almost as soon as I took delivery but haven't gotten round to slotting some new bulbs in the newer car yet after nearly four months! God I'm getting disorganised! Mind you, I had lots more space to mess about with the car at my old house and was forever outside either cleaning or fiddling about with it. Your pics have inspired me to dig the cornering light bulbs out of my garage at the weekend and get them fitted! In fact I might even get some new ones as yours look even closer a match than my old ones do to the xenons.

I'm 50/50 on changing my footwell lights from the white.

The LED boot light looks a must do though. I hardly ever use the boot but now know that an LED light will make the void much more attractive!!!

[BigD]

Nice, definitely doing the cornering lights.

What bulbs did you use for reversing lights/boot/glovebox? I did have a look in the manual but no details.

Thanks in advance

EDIT just saw the link list 😂