Golf 'GTi' or 'R' - 3-Door ?
Discussion
We have a 2017 67 plate Golf R 3 door in indium grey with pan roof, 19" pretorias, cloth, carbon mirror caps etc. Very attractive looking car.
Having done 22,000 miles in this car, my observations are :
Dsg box is terrible, just shocking. See my previous thread. Pan roof looks big externally but don't be fooled - the actual opening is much smaller. It rattles all the time and is therefore quite irritating. The 3 door is also a nuisance because the doors are so long and its difficult to fling a coat / bag etc on the rear seat. Also, the low speed ride is appalling on UK roads. Rock hard, brittle and crashy. Apart from the roof rattling, the interior is also generally quite rattly, presumably due to the rock hard ride.
You can have ours for £21,500 if I haven't put you off. I'll be pleased to see the back of it. For reference, VW have offered £23,500 against a new or pre reg car.
If I could, I would order a 5 door R, manual, no pan roof, 18" wheels and dynamic chassis control. Cant buy a manual now anyway so I certainly wont be getting another VW with that diabolical 7 speed dsg box.
Having done 22,000 miles in this car, my observations are :
Dsg box is terrible, just shocking. See my previous thread. Pan roof looks big externally but don't be fooled - the actual opening is much smaller. It rattles all the time and is therefore quite irritating. The 3 door is also a nuisance because the doors are so long and its difficult to fling a coat / bag etc on the rear seat. Also, the low speed ride is appalling on UK roads. Rock hard, brittle and crashy. Apart from the roof rattling, the interior is also generally quite rattly, presumably due to the rock hard ride.
You can have ours for £21,500 if I haven't put you off. I'll be pleased to see the back of it. For reference, VW have offered £23,500 against a new or pre reg car.
If I could, I would order a 5 door R, manual, no pan roof, 18" wheels and dynamic chassis control. Cant buy a manual now anyway so I certainly wont be getting another VW with that diabolical 7 speed dsg box.
Thanks for the candid reply.
Agree about 19"s and I know the s/r is fairly small, but what do you find so bad about the DSG box?
Both my kids have '17 GTDs, 3-dr, with DSG, and they are both race drivers (literally), and although they sometimes complain, they both prefer it to 'manual'.
Agree about 19"s and I know the s/r is fairly small, but what do you find so bad about the DSG box?
Both my kids have '17 GTDs, 3-dr, with DSG, and they are both race drivers (literally), and although they sometimes complain, they both prefer it to 'manual'.
I started a thread a few months ago about the dsg box and I was quite interested in the response. Well worth reading as a summary of issues with the gearbox. Apologies, I don't know how to link to that thread for you, but hopefully you can find it.
The sunroof is a con! Externally it measures approx. 975 x 800. Internally the opening is 690 x 470. However, the roof doesn't go all the back so the actual area of sky revealed is just 690 x 330. That's only just over 12 inches of rearward opening, and overall less than a third of the external size.
The sunroof is a con! Externally it measures approx. 975 x 800. Internally the opening is 690 x 470. However, the roof doesn't go all the back so the actual area of sky revealed is just 690 x 330. That's only just over 12 inches of rearward opening, and overall less than a third of the external size.
kick buttowski said:
I started a thread a few months ago about the dsg box and I was quite interested in the response. Well worth reading as a summary of issues with the gearbox. Apologies, I don't know how to link to that thread for you, but hopefully you can find it.
The sunroof is a con! Externally it measures approx. 975 x 800. Internally the opening is 690 x 470. However, the roof doesn't go all the back so the actual area of sky revealed is just 690 x 330. That's only just over 12 inches of rearward opening, and overall less than a third of the external size.
Link here The sunroof is a con! Externally it measures approx. 975 x 800. Internally the opening is 690 x 470. However, the roof doesn't go all the back so the actual area of sky revealed is just 690 x 330. That's only just over 12 inches of rearward opening, and overall less than a third of the external size.
kick buttowski said:
We have a 2017 67 plate Golf R 3 door in indium grey with pan roof, 19" pretorias, cloth, carbon mirror caps etc. Very attractive looking car.
Having done 22,000 miles in this car, my observations are :
Dsg box is terrible, just shocking. See my previous thread. Pan roof looks big externally but don't be fooled - the actual opening is much smaller. It rattles all the time and is therefore quite irritating. The 3 door is also a nuisance because the doors are so long and its difficult to fling a coat / bag etc on the rear seat. Also, the low speed ride is appalling on UK roads. Rock hard, brittle and crashy. Apart from the roof rattling, the interior is also generally quite rattly, presumably due to the rock hard ride.
You can have ours for £21,500 if I haven't put you off. I'll be pleased to see the back of it. For reference, VW have offered £23,500 against a new or pre reg car.
If I could, I would order a 5 door R, manual, no pan roof, 18" wheels and dynamic chassis control. Cant buy a manual now anyway so I certainly wont be getting another VW with that diabolical 7 speed dsg box.
You didn't do yourself any favours with 19" wheels and fixed rate dampers, but I agree with your thoughts and experiences.Having done 22,000 miles in this car, my observations are :
Dsg box is terrible, just shocking. See my previous thread. Pan roof looks big externally but don't be fooled - the actual opening is much smaller. It rattles all the time and is therefore quite irritating. The 3 door is also a nuisance because the doors are so long and its difficult to fling a coat / bag etc on the rear seat. Also, the low speed ride is appalling on UK roads. Rock hard, brittle and crashy. Apart from the roof rattling, the interior is also generally quite rattly, presumably due to the rock hard ride.
You can have ours for £21,500 if I haven't put you off. I'll be pleased to see the back of it. For reference, VW have offered £23,500 against a new or pre reg car.
If I could, I would order a 5 door R, manual, no pan roof, 18" wheels and dynamic chassis control. Cant buy a manual now anyway so I certainly wont be getting another VW with that diabolical 7 speed dsg box.
Geneve said:
Although 19" wheels will worsen the ride - particularly in the UK - shouldn't DCC improve it ?
DCC should, but it's a fairly rare to find option. our GTI PP 5 door has it, and as a family chariot it's ideal (on standard 18" wheels too). The ride in 'comfort' is perfectly acceptable on UK roads for anything other than 'pressing on' driving, at which point it gets a bit wibbly-wobbly in comfort!It'll be fairly hard to find a 3 door Mk7.5 Golf GTi or R - VW switched to 5 door only after a fairly short time so there won't be that many about.
Sunroof will cut down the numbers even further, it's not that common as it was fairly expensive and there were some issues around the fragility of the glass (IIRC if you wanted 19" wheels with the sunroof you had to spec dynamic ride control).
DSG is fairly common though and in my opinion, well worth having.
Sunroof will cut down the numbers even further, it's not that common as it was fairly expensive and there were some issues around the fragility of the glass (IIRC if you wanted 19" wheels with the sunroof you had to spec dynamic ride control).
DSG is fairly common though and in my opinion, well worth having.
Lucas Ayde said:
... DSG is fairly common though and in my opinion, well worth having.
I don't hate the DSG box as the earlier poster, but if I could have had a Golf R Estate with a manual box I would have and after 2 years of living with the DSG box, I still would have taken the manual.Unless you live in the centre of a large city, I can't see the benefit of an auto box in a sporty car.
To be honest, if VW made a Golf GTi Estate, I suspect I'd like that better than the R.
The R is 'too much' for most drives, it's never vaguely stretched on the open road - It's comfy, surprisingly economical and the estate is lovely and roomy, but in a couple of years I can't say I've even started to exploit its performance more than 5% of the time...
If you're looking at a 3 or 5 door hatch, you might find the GTi more involving.
M
Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 8th May 15:27
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