Penny Pinching

[GTI_Ant]

Collected my new 7.5 R this week.  The removal of the battery cover and the mirror mounting bolt cover is a well known penny pinch but now the under-seat drawers have gone!  Bit annoyed as I found them useful .  It would be interesting to hear from other 7 to 7.5 owners as to whether they have noticed any other items changed or disappeared! It's a bit rubbish that they decided to remove this on the R.

[JoeGTI]

There was a long thread on this before. I think the isofix covers are gone too?

Tight arses indeed.

Does the removal of the underseat drawers allow the seat to lower a bit more by any chance?

[Guzzle]

Hmm, interesting. My 7.5 GTD does have underseat drawers.

[GTI_Ant]

There was a long thread on this before. I think the isofix covers are gone too?

Tight arses indeed.

Does the removal of the underseat drawers allow the seat to lower a bit more by any chance?

Sorry I didn't know this had been covered before.  My friend has a 7.5R delivered just 3 months before mine and he has the under-seat drawers.  It must be deliberate and not a mistake as it has been removed from the manual.

I don-t think the seat goes any lower (I always have on the lowest setting) which is a shame.

[CocoPops]

My GTI PP (built w44/17) did have isofix covers.

[GTI_Ant]

I think they are gradually trimming stuff off in production.  I guess that there is a drive to save costs wherever they can after Dieselgate.

[SRGTD]

Penny pinching isn’t just restricted to the mk7.5 Golf. On the T-Roc and new Polo;

- hard plastic door cards (T-Roc and Polo)
- hard plastic dash (T-Roc)
- no headliner mounted grab handles above the doors (Polo)
- the tailgate catch on the boot sill no longer has the little spring loaded cover (T-Roc and Polo)

Some changes such as use of less tactile, premium feeling plastics are out and out cost cutting, rather than penny pinching IMO. I dare say penny pinching and cost cutting will be a feature across all VW models as model year changes, face lifts and new models are introduced. A few pounds saved per vehicle means increased profits for VW, plus Dieselgate has to be paid for one way or another...............

[Guzzle]

Some of these things matter, some don't. I'd probably still have ordered my Golf without the underseat drawers, but the cheap plastic dashboard did put me off waiting for the T-Roc launch. Penny pinching here and there won't be noticed by most, except for us on here, however just about every review i've seen of the T-Roc mentions the hard plastic interior.

[JoeGTI]

Is that all that unusual though? The T Roc is based off the Polo right? Granted I’ve not been in a new Polo but any Polo I’ve been in before was decidedly low rent compared to the big brother Golf.

[SRGTD]

Is that all that unusual though? The T Roc is based off the Polo right? Granted I’ve not been in a new Polo but any Polo I’ve been in before was decidedly low rent compared to the big brother Golf.

The T-Roc might be based off the new Polo but the top spec T-Roc SEL FWD model with a 2 litre 190 ps engine and 7 speed DSG has a current list price of £31,485 before you add any options, so price-wise, it’s not in the Polo price bracket; it’s in Golf GTI territory (current list price of the 5 door Golf GTI PP with 7 speed DSG is £31,645). Granted, with the top of the range T-Roc you’re getting FWD, but at that price, there’s probably (and not unreasonably?) a customer expectation of an interior that’s on a par with a Golf in terms of tactile, soft touch materials and not hard, scratchy plastic.