Am I the only one left...

[Booth11]

Booth I've got a brand new set of Bosch aerotwins for sale! Would have been cheaper than ordering a set. Anyone else wanting aerotwins I've got a brand new set boxed for sale.

Damn!  Wish I'd known, I would've taken them off your hands no problem. Ah well hopefully someone will step forward.  If anyone is in need of a new set of wiper blades, you can't do better than Bosch Aerotwins (from mcmaddy  )

[Booth11]

So glad someone posted this question as I've been thinking the same thing for ages. 70% of the time this place feels like an R forum or a forum for people wrestling with the idea of switching to one. That's okay but if you're not one of them it can become tiresome. Having said that I do enjoy reading their stories (albeit a lot of them).

Understand what you mean about recent emphasis on R's, but it's up to you to get on here and talk about your GTI/GTDs.........just saying 

[dave7268]

In response to the original post - I am still driving daily my GTI PP and it brings a huge smile to my face every time I get behind the steering. Loving every minute of it and aim to be driving it for several more years yet. 

[GeoBog]

Same here, loving it daily.

[Mrparkuk]

Had the car since 12 August this year. Bought new from stock (7 days from purchase to collection). PP and standard kit only (satnav, keyless, winter etc). Should have opted for the darker rear glass as I think standard too light especially with a C Grey. Loving it in every way. Traded my Mountuned ST2 in ,(loved this car), as 3 doors and 3 growing children. Never owned a golf or indeed a VW, but had a drive in an R and a GTI this summer and realised it was the smart move for me.  Genuinely think my ST had more punch than the golf, especially in 5th / 6th at 50mph. I'm sure the GTI will improve as the miles pile on. The R was just too much money at the time and the GTI has a nicer look IMHO.
Just at 1250 since I have a very modest commute to work each day.

MPG still relatively poor compared to some owners on the forum but that's purely down to short trips and a very tight engine.

Only tweaks so far are some rubber mats (messy boots etc), LED boot light, and some 6000K H7 bulbs in the turny side light things? Colour is a much better match to the Xenons.

Only blip so far is my radio had come on a couple of times but the screen hasn't. An ignition restart has corrected it but I took some video and will take it to the dealers in the half term holidays.

I'd also like to thank the may posters who have entertained and informed me these past months. I've learnt an awful lot and realised I'm not the only car geek / appreciator of fine engineering / technology. (my wife thinks it sad that I have my daily forum fix!)

Will go the REVO route at some point but this car may be a keeper so we'll see how the reliability pans out this winter.

Only see one other GTI locally and maybe a dozen Golf Rs.

Will be sourcing winter tyres and alloys in the next few weeks. I'll post once they are fitted.

[Exonian]

So glad someone posted this question as I've been thinking the same thing for ages. 70% of the time this place feels like an R forum or a forum for people wrestling with the idea of switching to one. That's okay but if you're not one of them it can become tiresome. Having said that I do enjoy reading their stories (albeit a lot of them).

Understand what you mean about recent emphasis on R's, but it's up to you to get on here and talk about your GTI/GTDs.........just saying 

Well said Ms B

Unlike with the mk6 there has been a big migration to the mk7 R
In the mk6 days the R looked better but the GTI seemed to stay in everyone's affection and with the easy retrofits and tuning the mk6 GTI scene stayed very buoyant on here.
There was big GTI love on here in the early mk7 days but with the long waits and a big migration to the GTD added to the TD1 scares and difficulty of retrofits (nav locked to chassis, good standard spec, alloys difficult to better factory fit style wise) seems to have meant those looking to upgrade have simply upgraded  the whole car instead of bits of it!
This time next year all the talk should/will be about the Clubsport but in the meantime it would be good if GTI and GTD owners posted up their modifications and experiences and turned the forum away from its current R bias.
Most R owners are ex GTI owners (the ones on this forum that is) so still have a lot of love for the GTI and GTD.

I had my mk7 GTI for 20 months and loved every minute.
I changed the wheels on it twice, messed about with a few electronic modifications, considered a good few more modifications and made the most of my ownership experience.
All of it was documented on here.

One thing I will say is that there isn't a lot of complaining about things going terribly wrong even from early adopters and as a good few of the early adopters have moved on to R's or other VAG cars it says a lot for the brand/reliablility etc.

The only ones I've noticed that have had pretty catastrophic failures (that stick in my mind at least) are those that were modified. This suggests to me there's much less headroom for tuning with a GTI/D now as the car has been designed to be both lighter and cheaper to build.

If it hadn't been for a chance offer of an in stock R I'd still be enjoying my GTI and it would now be 24 months old and in its last year of warranty, so I'd have been tossing the coin up between a Clubsport, R or stage 1 tune.
The stage 1 I'd have done sooner rather than later, being as nothing had gone wrong with it so far, I'd have decided that the mechanicals were as healthy as they could be and it would be safe to hit the remap purchase button.



The R I'm quite happy with as a standard car (give or take), just in case anyone remotely cares.

[monkeyhanger]

Exonian - I might be the only one with a buggered R Turbo that hasn't modified, but it would seem that it was never going to be a catastrophic and shrapnel inducing failure that would goose the whole engine, more to do with the electronics/actuator side of things - same issue happened on a 2001 Polo TDI I had new - that went at about 6k miles where it would either work or not  at the next ignition cycle

Thankfully I don't think there's anyone here dissing the GTI or GTD lately (although in the early days of the MK7 there were a few GTD beaters) - around half of us R owners have come from one or the other, that's what the accessibility of a decent GFV does for you, I don't think there's been much of a penalty for changing from a GTD/GTI to an R for most of us who have chased a decent discount on the R.

One thing I have come to realise is that although it's nice to have that extra clout of the R, realistically you're only a few seconds behind in a GTD to do most things in the car, traction is the main thing the R has in spades over the GTI/GTD, and the main reason I got one.

Prior to the MK7, the R/R32/VR6/G60 variants of the Golf had been niche cars, the R is very much the norm and very accessible now.

[Exonian]

I was thinking more of the GTI owners who ended up with quite knackered cars were ones on here who modified the engine and launched the car quite hard from standstill. I think the GTI engine just throws out so much low end torque once modified the rest of the chassis can't cope with it.

But yes, I agree with you 100%

The R is great, I really enjoy every second spent behind the wheel BUT I'd be just as happy with a GTI or GTD with a few enhancements. Each model has its upsides and downsides.


I wouldn't give you tuppence for a GTE though (metaphorically speaking).

[Greerso]

Cheers Cossieian - I think it was Battleshipgray who got a carbon grey GTI but no sign of him since - come back Battleshipgray and show us some pics 


Mrparkuk - was just posting the link on how to post images - I see you don't need it -    nice

Agree about he mpg but early days yet - driving like me granny and getting 29mpg 

[Mrparkuk]

Cheers Cossieian - I think it was Battleshipgray who got a carbon grey GTI but no sign of him since - come back Battleshipgray and show us some pics 


Mrparkuk - was just posting the link on how to post images - I see you don't need it -    nice

Cheers! Wasn't going to be outsmarted by a laptop!