So I've had my GTI for a bit over six months now and thought it was time to post an update.
First of all, I've been racking up the kilometres quickly. Normally I wouldn't care, but it's a lease! So far I've got 22k on it. We can thank a bunch of road trips for that:
- Halifax x2
- Montebello QC
- Kingston ON
- New York City
- Portland ME
- Prince Edward Island
Possibly a couple others that I'm forgetting about. I love road trips but this is abnormal and from now on we'll probably not rack up the kilometers as quickly.
In terms of repairs and maintenance, the GTI has only had a couple of small issues so far. At 12k I took it in to the dealer to replace the oil sensor under warranty. At that time they checked the alignment and found the rear was off a bit so I spent $105 to get a rear alignment. At this time I also swapped the winter wheels and tires for the OEM 18" wheels, which was great because I took delivery of the car with winter steelies. The only other expense was the 15k service which was $132.
One big improvement over my old Mazda 6 wagon is fuel economy. It typically got 10-12 L/100 km or 20 MPG. The GTI, on the other hand, has averaged 8.04 L/100 km over 22k and over the last three months and 11k I've averaged 7.67 L/100 km. My best tank so far was 6.39 L/100 km. The GTI has certainly met my expectations in this regard.
All in all, the GTI is a great car. It strikes a great balance in terms of handling, power, efficiency, comfort, ride quality, and fun to drive factor. I have no doubt that cars like the WRX and Focus ST are more hardcore but as a daily driver/road trip I think the GTI is hard to beat.
I really like the styling of the GTI. It's a bit understated but not boring with its five spoke wheels and red accents. The interior looks great as well, with red stitching and LED accent lighting on the door sills and door trim.
In Canada the five door model only comes in top Autobahn trim which has a lot of standard equipment: moonroof, heated seats, rain sensing wipers, auto high beams, adaptive xenons, rear view camera, Fender stereo, satellite radio, dual zone auto climate control, etc, etc, etc. Mine also has the $1095 leather package with power driver's seat and $695 tech package with forward collision warning and navigation. I don't have the performance package which has 10 more hp, bigger brakes, adaptive suspension, and some other goodies. It wasn't available when I got my car, but I'm ok with not having it.
The car's weak point is probably the infotainment system. The screen is 5.8" which is a bit small by today's standards. The size is fine but the resolution isn't great and the interface is slow. It also uses VW's proprietary MDI cables instead of simply having a USB port or two. The navigation is a bit slow and isn't as good as Google Maps. For example, Google routed me around cities like Montreal and Charlottetown while the GTI wanted me to go through them.
It's mainly a moot point for '16 though, as the Autobahn gets a new 6.5" screen with nav as standard that is higher resolution and is much more responsive based on a YouTube video I saw of it in a Golf R. The interface looks mostly the same but it also includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There's also a new tech package with an 8" screen and a better interface (that tech package also includes adaptive cruise and some other safety features).
The rest of my complaints are minor issues:
- The rear view camera is disabled over 10 km/h. Dumb.
- When you plug in your smartphone the radio automatically switches to it from whatever source is currently playing.
- The leather in VWs tends to stretch on the lower cushion and it's the same thing in the GTI.
Overall I'm very happy with the car. On to the pics:
