It's not a secret

"BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather" (bugeyedacura)
11/15/2015 at 20:56 • Filed to: None

I love Volkswagen. I especially love what they’re doing right now with their cars. I got to help welcome another driver to the VW family tonight (my wife’s best friend and the maid of honor from our wedding) and it’s because Volkswagen is finally getting it:

The modern Volkswagen line is finally adding more value features to their cars. They have always built quality automobiles, and even rebuilt their reliability in the past 10 years. But what they have missed time and time again up until the last 2 years or so was the value proposition. While most drivers really appreciated the solid feel and construction, option lists were just always light for the price.

So what did VW do? They’ve added content. Sometimes to whole lines (Tiguan, Golf) and sometimes in certain models that represent the best bang for the buck in the line. For the Jetta, that is the Sport (the one my wife’s friend purchased). It packages a Jetta SE with Nav, a Backup camera, the Connectivity package from the 2011-2014 model years and a slew of drivability and aesthetic tweaks. It does all this for roughly 22-23K. The Beetle Classic does a lot of the same thing, and the Passat Limited as well.

Now just make nice with the EPA so they’ll quit throwing a fit about the Diesels -_-.

DISCUSSION (52)

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:00

Volkswagen has really stepped their game up in the last decade. That’s for sure.

They’ve also been willing to take risks for much longer than that though. Ex: V10, Diesel SUV, W8 Passat, W12 Phaeton, Phaeton in general, Vr6.

pjhusa > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:00

“Solid feel and construction”

In my friend’s Passat, every button on the dash is peeling.

And I was the one who told *ahem* MULTIPLE people to buy one.

C62030 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:02

I don’t care how unreliable and heavy it is - if they make an electric Phaeton like they’re rumored to, I will love them forever.

not for canada - australian in disguise > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:04

Meh, even with Dieselgate, I still do quite like the gas powered VWs and Audis. Especially with stuff like the Golf R400 coming out.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
11/15/2015 at 21:04

Dat wookie doe

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > pjhusa
11/15/2015 at 21:05

Happens in every car. I bet the door closed with a solid thunk and would Fuck up a Honda in a collision.

pjhusa > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:06

it still works. in a way.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > C62030
11/15/2015 at 21:07

Fully electric? Because I just want one with the Touareg Hybrid Powertrain.

C62030 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:11

Let me clarify: I just want another dang Phaeton. I love the old one so much, even though it was about as reliable as an Italian spacecraft.

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:13

I honestly think #dieselgate is really just news outlets and the EPA making a mountain out of a mole hill. And now VW isn’t allowed to sell some of their best models (the TDIs) as a result.

That said, I totally agree with everything you say. The GTI (and Golf range in general) is fantastic, and I think it is literally the best all-around car on the market today. The Passat is getting old but is still a front runner in its class. The Touareg is totally underappreciated, and the Jetta, with the new refresh, is also among the best in its segment. And VW still offers a fair amount of their cars with manuals.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:20

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Van Man, rocks the Man Van
11/15/2015 at 21:34

The Passat is getting old in the sense of a lack of updates, but the 2016 model is getting that. I saw an SE on the floor today and it’s striking without being over the top. I’m actually really excited to see the new R-Line.

Don’t even get me started on how underappreciated the Tiguan and Touareg are...

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:40

R-line looks great. I wish you could get it on higher trims though.

My grandfather has a Touareg TDI with a 6-speed stick and cloth seats. Awesome car.

pjhusa > Van Man, rocks the Man Van
11/15/2015 at 21:51

cloth? always thought that leather was standard.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 21:55

cough camshafts cough cough

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > pjhusa
11/15/2015 at 22:11

Euro-spec model. That’s part of what makes it a unicorn.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
11/15/2015 at 22:12

It was a bad batch. It happens, and in this case it’s a very rare instance. Every car has recalls on it these days. They recalled it for driver safety, not because it was overly common.

pjhusa > Van Man, rocks the Man Van
11/15/2015 at 22:17

How? Military?

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 22:18

as the other big VW fanboy, I agree! you know a company is doing something good when you have a person cross shopping a GLI and a jag XE

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > pjhusa
11/15/2015 at 22:21

He lives in Europe.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
11/15/2015 at 22:26

I think it’s very telling how much VW is going head to head with the near-lux brands such as Acura, Buixk, and Infiniti.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 22:29

it’s true, but they just don’t have the image yet IMO. maybe they can use the EPA scandal and work back to being a trustworthy company

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power
11/15/2015 at 22:32

I was hoping theyd do diesel burnouts flipping the bird and become the bad boy brand.

pjhusa > Van Man, rocks the Man Van
11/15/2015 at 22:42

Figures.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 23:22

“They have always built quality automobiles”

Well I suppose *bad* quality is still a form of quality...

http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/volksw…

And as a used car, Consumer Reports doesn’t rate any of their models a good reliability bet:

Kinja'd!!!

At the other end of the scale, you have Toyota:

Kinja'd!!!

Using fancy interior trim materials =/= good quality.

I like VWs too. I just wish there were fewer horror stories and their quality and reliability data was more like Toyota.

Because of this, the only VW I would consider buying would be either a Golf or Jetta, with the 1.9L TDI, manual transmission and few options.

boxrocket > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/15/2015 at 23:42

VW needs to get a bit more daring with their designs. Not to the same level Lexus and Honda/Acura are (that is, ugly at the expense of trying too hard to be unique), but more than the barely-carved bar of soap look VW has now.

Herr Quattro - Has a 4-Motion > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
11/16/2015 at 09:54

the lack of an AWD Manual Passat R Wagon disturbs me...

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/19/2016 at 20:09

Old post, but I recently purchased a new 2016 Jetta 1.8T Sport with the five speed. Slow, but great value! Got it for under 20k also...

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/19/2016 at 21:45

Bring it in for a tune. It will cease to be slow lol.

Fantastic cars, we got my wife’s friend one at my old dealership. The car drives better than anything else at the price point and comes better equipped than 75% out there as well. If I hadn’t fell in love with the Beetle, I’d have chosen the same!

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/19/2016 at 21:52

I’ve thought about the APR tune, but I’ve got some concerns about clutch life. I’m thinking about the Neuspeed power module though.

They really are great cars though. They look, feel, drive and just generally are much better than the competition. So many features, for such a small price. I honestly couldn’t resist. I still can’t believe I snagged is so cheap....

The white parts of the seats however, ooooooh. As you can kinda see in this picture, I managed to experience some dye transfer....

Kinja'd!!!

Have you had any Sport models in at NGP yet?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/19/2016 at 22:21

We’ve seen quite a few customers come through for upgrades to their car. If you’re worried about your clutch, you could always do the 87 Octane tune. It caps the torque to “only” 260.

We even have some guys already stage 2 with their Sports.

We may also have one of our guys with the same car as yours testing an upgraded clutch prototype. But I can neither confirm or deny that last part ;)

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/19/2016 at 22:28

I’m liking what I hear, haha. Happy to hear that somebody is finally working on an upgraded clutch for these cars though!

In a perfect world, I’d like to get the Jetta to similar figures that the 2.7t motor provides stock. Around 250 hp, 258 foot pounds of torque and a 0-60 time of around six seconds or so.

I’m also hoping for a K04 upgrade kit for the gen 3 motor at some point.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/19/2016 at 22:34

Stage 1 on the 93 Octane tune puts you over the power levels the 2.7T is sitting at. Stage 2 would easily break through the 6 second mark.

Unfortunately the non-mqb gen3s are like a red-heades stepchild when it comes to serious development. What I can tell you is that the IS20 And IS38 can be made to fit with modifications to our engines. Yours would be the IS20 (Mk7 GTI turbo) otherwise it would have serious lag. There’s no real development happening though.

That being said, me and a guy with a Gen3 GLI are gonna start working on getting the IS38s on our engines soon. Once we figure out how, getting the IS20 on 1.8Ts is our next step.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/19/2016 at 22:42

That tempts me even further! But with the 87 tune would the figures be in the same ballpark? I’m not too sure about warranty though, the salesman said that it wouldn’t void the warranty, but if something goes wrong directly related to the tune then that’s on me.

I’m hoping as time goes on, more stuff starts coming out for the gen 3. Like, Unitronic hasn’t even been able to pull a tune off and they’ve had well over a year to work on it.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/19/2016 at 23:26

Kinja'd!!!

The torque numbers are there, but the horsepower is still lagging. That said, the gearing on the Jetta is light years ahead, and the car is at least 600lbs lighter if not more. The speed reading on stage 1 with an automatic is down to 6.7, should be better with the manual.

And the only way they can deny your warranty claim is to prove the tune caused it. That being said, anything goes on the engine, they’ll point to your tune. The 87 tune puts less stress on the engine, so it’s also safer in that regard.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/19/2016 at 23:35

Good to know, I’ll definitely consider the 87 tune for when I get extra bored of the slowness :)

I’d be fine with around 6.7, Volkswagen claims the 0-60 time is 8.4 stock. Which I’m not sure is 100% correct, but it does feel pretty sluggish considering.

Also, what do you consider the “break in” period for these cars? I’m at about 1,000 miles so far and I can’t wait to unleash it a bit more.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/20/2016 at 00:43

New cars don’t really have the break-in period they used to. I’d give it to about 1500 and let her rip. Just for reference, throttle on these things are always deeper than you think. Some of the sluggishness might be the throttle calibration. Once you get past the break-in rip it a few times like you’re angry at the go-pedal. You may be surprised. Because I think manual models should be in the power half of the 7s for these from the factory.

Anything else besides power I can help you out with? I know the platform well, as my car is basically a coupe version.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/20/2016 at 08:52

Ah, thanks! I’ve floored it once probably in second to get up to speed on a merge and probably five or so times overtaking on the highway. This car doesn’t seem to want to go over 70 without being pushed...

This is my first new car so should I just keep it under 4k?

I really do appreciate the help though man, I’d love to drop by NGP some time also!

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/20/2016 at 13:13

You’ll be fine pushing it. It’s not gonna hurt the car. I been beating the shit outta mine since day 1 lol. Just know it will get better after some miles.

Did you get the light package?

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/20/2016 at 13:27

Ah, great!

Unfortunately I didn’t. Not too many dealers had them from the look of things. I’m thinking of getting some aftermarket ones though.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/20/2016 at 18:18

http://store.blackforestindustries.com/lighting51.htm…

The Mk7 style would be different. Haven’t seen those before.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/20/2016 at 19:06

Those look nice!

Done anything to the Beetle recently?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/20/2016 at 20:38

Finally got the clutch in it at the beginning of the year. That’s about it. Gotta do that door-fix mod next lol. Also going to need new tires soon. Looking to upgrade those in a big way.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/20/2016 at 20:43

Like the sound of that!

What do you think of black VMR V701s?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/21/2016 at 19:42

They are nice looking. A lot of our clients have them. They remind me of the VW Racingline wheels.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/21/2016 at 20:13

I think the VW centercaps fit them also.

I've got the mod bug big time now, haha.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/21/2016 at 22:40

Any suspension plans?

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/21/2016 at 23:25

As of right now, not really. I’ve heard the sport suspension is the same as that in the GLI and I’m happy with the ride height and quality. Maybe along the line at some point though.

Next is definitely wheels or something though. Any must haves?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/22/2016 at 21:19

Definitely an upgraded rear sway bar. These cars aren’t wobbly, but they do still lean. The rear sway will flatten your cornering without negatively affecting ride.

Also, a dogbone insert is essential. I have the billet 034 piece and love it. It helps hold things in place during avceleration, and doesn’t transmit NVH at idle or crusing.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/23/2016 at 00:09

I’ve heard the stock ones are pretty thin, so I’ll definitely consider that. Any brands you’d reccomend?

That dogbone insert sounds like a great idea, to the giant wish list with that haha.

I’m also thinking about doing an intake of some sort, but if I do get a tune I’d like it to be of the same brand.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jkm7680
03/23/2016 at 19:12

We usually recommend the Superpro piece for the RSB. We did APR, and that’s what I have, but theyve discontinued it.

And the doggone mount insert is cheap and easy to install, fwiw.

jkm7680 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
03/23/2016 at 23:38

Ah, that sounds pretty good!

I’m pretty excited to start doing stuff now, haha.