UK vs US GTI's

[romeomike]

Hi guys,

Got my new GTI PP coming in a few weeks, and been doing a lot of research about it. The last GTI I had was a fantastic Mk5 years ago. As this forum has been down I have been looking at lots of US forums and they really seem to have a bit of a problem with the car. So I have a few questions:

1. Is the manual as bad as they all seem to make out?
2. Is there a difference in build quality between US cars and UK cars?

Thanks!

[Talk-torque]

1. Reading about “stick shift” on US forums makes me laugh. They seem to regard being able to drive a car with a clutch and a gear stick as being super macho. At the same time, they are not as familiar as most of us on this side of the pond, so clutch control and gear timing isn’t as second nature as we find it. Some folk really struggle. Urban myths abound, and the put downs can be cruel! The Golf manual is a good one, with no particular vices.

2. There does seem to be an occasional problem with Mexican built cars.

[romeomike]

Ah, I suspected that might be part of it! Thanks for helping put my mind to rest. Hate the waiting for my car so over thinking everything.

[Grahamt]

About 6 years ago I was looking to purchase a VW Golf Estate, until I read that all the estates were assembled / built in Mexico. When I was looking to purchase the reliability figures for the estate were much lower than the Golf hatch in europe.  In the end I didn't buy one, got a new Shogun instead for not much more money which pulls the caravan so much better anyway, mind you at the time I didn't really want to pay any extra but glad I did.

10 days ago I took delivery of my new 7.5GTI DSG, only done 450 miles over a variety of roads and conditions and love it.

[Watts]

The manual gearbox is great, the clutch on the other hand can slip especially on modified cars but mine so far has been spot on. There are a few mods that can be done to improve the feel of the shift and they can be very reasonably priced or free if you are that way inclined. With the torque I find gear changes on the motorway rare anyway as it will pick up nicely in 6th from 30.

[Adam T7]

Build quality (so far) on my GTI Performance bought new in December is impeccable.
No manual for me, driven autos for nearly 20 years - love the DSG