Hard to believe that my three year lease ends today. In about an hour I'm dropping the GTI off at the dealership. If I can make it there on summer performance tires in the snow and freezing rain.
I never regretted this car. I still think that the GTI gives you the best combination of performance, handling, comfort, and practicality for the price. I won't argue that some of its competitors are perhaps more raw and fun to drive but the GTI offers the total package.
There's so much talk of FGCs on this forum and I'm happy to say that the GTI was extremely reliable. I had one minor issue early on with faulty wiring for the oil temperature sensor that was promptly fixed under warranty. I also had a rattle in the sunroof taken care of once, and it has started rattling again in the last few months. Other than that I only experienced one minor glitch where the cruise control didn't work and the infotainment was a bit wonky until I turned the car off for a few minutes and back on, but I was never able to reproduce that. My only expenses have been the maintenance services performed at 15k intervals and one wheel alignment. I think in total I spent around $600 in maintenance (including the alignment). I also had to buy new tires this spring.
Combine that with an average fuel consumption of 7.9 L/100 km and the cost of ownership was very, very reasonable.
Living with the car I did have a few complaints. The gearing is a bit long, and even from a roll starting in second gear is not as effortless as it is in most cars. Shorter gearing would be an improvement. The infotainment screen is a bit small and the system is subpar but that was quickly fixed with the 2016 model (and the 2018 model is further improved).
I will also admit that the GTI is a touch boring. It's just so refined. I can appreciate that it's hard to strike a balance between making a quiet, comfortable car that at the same time is fun to drive and has a lot of personality.
The GTI has a lot of nice features that I grew to appreciate. The auto high beams worked really well, and I miss that in my new car. The headlights in general were awesome, with static and dynamic cornering lights and LED DRLs. The interior was very nice and now that I'm without them I've really come to appreciate features like lined storage compartments that prevent your stuff from rattling.
My new Clubman JCW highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the GTI. The MINI has a ton more personality, but it also doesn't seem quite as refined as the VW and it's missing some seemingly minor but much appreciated details that the GTI has. And while they're not direct competitors (since the JCW is a lot more expensive and has AWD), they're almost exactly the same size and have very similar performance. The GTI wins out in cost of ownership with better fuel economy and lower insurance rates but the JCW is more fun to drive.
I could never fault someone for choosing a GTI though. It's an objectively fantastic car. I'm not sure I'm going to miss it since I like to have variety but driving it to work this morning I definitely appreciated how good it was.
