Thoughts on the R

[Booth11]

Does an alarm go off triggering a small firework display and popping of streamers when your fuel light comes on? 

That only happens when I pass the 1000 miles between refill mark. (Which has only happened once.) Amongst all the rumours that are flying about, I'm concerned that this feature may be disabled if the dealers ever get it back in to perform the emissions scandal software changes.

 

That is a worry.  You'll just have take matters into your own hands and rig up a little homemade system, or make sure your kids are in the car at all times, ready to make merriment when 1,000 mpt comes up.

[Booth11]

I mentioned in my initial review of my R, that I found the interior a bit lacking in colour.  Well today I have rectified that a little.

Swapped the white footwell standard LED lights for some blue ones. Because the standard ones are sealed units and you can't just swap the bulbs over like you could on the Mk6, I ordered 2 LED Glovebox light units (TPS – part no. 7L0 947 415 @ £11 each).  Thanks muchly to JBGTI on here for the info. 

I opened them up, removed the tungsten bulbs and replaced with blue LEDs from ebay. As with this type of LED you need to check you have the polarity correct before closing up the light unit again, so try it connected up and if the bulb doesn’t work one way, turn it round and try the other way.

The driver’s side was very easy, 2 minute job. The electrical wire on the drivers side is quite long so easy to access. The passenger side, however was more tricky.  The wire is extremely short and the connector sits just inside the hole, but there is no scope at all to pull it further out. It’s fine getting the original light unit out but getting the replacement unit back into the connector is very fiddly and needs two hands. Helps if you have slim fingers, but if you have chunky digits, you may struggle. You could always remove additional trim (I didn't). And because it’s so tricky, I strongly recommend testing the passenger LED out on the driver’s side first BEFORE putting it in the passenger side.

A few installation pics:

Remove standard white light LED unit


Fit Replacement light unit and blue LED




[





The result (with footwells set to 80%)



These are daytime pics but should look really good at night.  Will post a night shot later.

I know loads have done this mini mod (did it on my 6GTI), but IMO, I think it really adds to the ambience and injects adds a bit of much needed colour. 

[Exonian]

An excellent walk through of the mod Ms B, in fact it's so good you ought to extract that post and put it as a thread in the hints and tips section before it gets buried in this thread.
 




PS. I can't believe you let a naked screwdriver anywhere near your virgin leather 
One sneeze and your leather would have looked like Mr Cow had sat on a huge bit of barbed wire before Mr Volkswagen murdered him and stole his skin...
Don't tell me, you have a special cream for fixing that in your detailing selection 

 

[Booth11]

An excellent walk through of the mod Ms B, in fact it's so good you ought to extract that post and put it as a thread in the hints and tips section before it gets buried in this thread.
 

Will do if it will be helpful for others. I'll sort it tonight. 

PS. I can't believe you let a naked screwdriver anywhere near your virgin leather 
One sneeze and your leather would have looked like Mr Cow had sat on a huge bit of barbed wire before Mr Volkswagen murdered him and stole his skin...

That crossed my mind more than once.  I was very careful, although I got very wet as I did this in the rain kneeling on the very uncomfortable driveway (ok I had a kneeling pad). The lengths I go to for a bloody car. 

Don't tell me, you have a special cream for fixing that in your detailing selection 

I have a special cream for everything! 

[JB GTI]

If you like it now, just wait until tonight !! 

[vidman2]

I mentioned in my initial review of my R, that I found the interior a bit lacking in colour.  Well today I have rectified that a little.

Swapped the white footwell standard LED lights for some blue ones. Because the standard ones are sealed units and you can't just swap the bulbs over like you could on the Mk6, I ordered 2 LED Glovebox light units (TPS – part no. 7L0 947 415 @ £11 each).  Thanks muchly to JBGTI on here for the info. 

I opened them up, removed the tungsten bulbs and replaced with blue LEDs from ebay. As with this type of LED you need to check you have the polarity correct before closing up the light unit again, so try it connected up and if the bulb doesn’t work one way, turn it round and try the other way.

The driver’s side was very easy, 2 minute job. The electrical wire on the drivers side is quite long so easy to access. The passenger side, however was more tricky.  The wire is extremely short and the connector sits just inside the hole, but there is no scope at all to pull it further out. It’s fine getting the original light unit out but getting the replacement unit back into the connector is very fiddly and needs two hands. Helps if you have slim fingers, but if you have chunky digits, you may struggle. You could always remove additional trim (I didn't). And because it’s so tricky, I strongly recommend testing the passenger LED out on the driver’s side first BEFORE putting it in the passenger side.

A few installation pics:

Remove standard white light LED unit


Fit Replacement light unit and blue LED




[





The result (with footwells set to 80%)



These are daytime pics but should look really good at night.  Will post a night shot later.

I know loads have done this mini mod (did it on my 6GTI), but IMO, I think it really adds to the ambience and injects adds a bit of much needed colour. 

[Booth11]

If you like it now, just wait until tonight !! 

I'm willing it to get dark!    it's working.  Brace yourself for a night pic. 

[Booth11]

Blue LED footwells at night  Look great with the blue door strips.

Driver’s side




Passenger side

[dubber36]

Arrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh. Why can't people edit their quotes when there are loads of pictures in them that we have already seem further up the page???  And breathe 

[JB GTI]

Blue LED footwells at night  Look great with the blue door strips.

Driver’s side

Looking good 
You need one of these now