GTI owner gives out his short but honest thoughts on new Golf

"Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner" (gavinharter30) 10/25/2019 at 09:45 • Filed to: None

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LOOKS:

Uhhhhhhh... its certainly an interesting look... i hate it. The MK7.5 looks way sleeker and sharper than this. This design looks too rounded, like a throwback to the mk5 which was, lets be honest, not the best looking Golf.

TECH:

As promised, the new Golf has much more tech than before, including Amazon Alexa voice control, and an app that can recognize your smartphone as a key. That’s great and all and i’d be okay with that in my car.

PERFORMANCE:

Performance wise, it is about the same as the mk7, but I am not expecting the GTE to come to this side of the pond. No GTI or R yet, but horsepower wise, I am expecting 260hp, and 340hp respectively. (UPDATE I just found this statement. VW also says that the new shifter allows the DSG to “engage reverse while still traveling forward at low speeds to make maneuvering easier.” How the hell...)  

OVERALL:

To be quite honest, I’m not a fan. They had the potential to knock this one out of the park on terms of design and performance and they traded it for smartphone keys and more tech. If that is the way the Golf is headed, I’m off the boat.

BeaterGT > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:01

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“Amazon Alexa voice control”

That's a big nope. 

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:01

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ooh, it’s time for a Hot Take from me. GTIs, Ranked:

8. This one, when they inevitably release a hybrid version of the GTI, thus DiLlUtInG tHe BaDgE’s HeRiTaGe

7.Mk4. Sorry. I don’t like em, they’re floppy and rust too easily. 1.8ts are cool though, might buy a parts car so I can swap one into my Mk3 when the ABA pops, which it never will

6. Mk6. Blah.

5. Mk3. The only engines (in the US) were the ABA and the VR6. One is slow. The other is heavy.

4. Mk5. They’re good! Little melted soap on the looks, though.

3. Mk7. Also very good. Somehow better with an autobox, which is weird.

2. Mk1. The original is not the best, because...

1. Mk2. They look and handle better.

0. When I said the original wasn’t the best? I lied. Feast your eyes on the first VAG product to bear the GTI name, the Audi Fox GTI.

Any car that can do this is lovely. Plus, factory sticker package!

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:04

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The Mk5 R32 is the best looking Golf ever .

Idk what you’re on about.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo 10/25/2019 at 10:07

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I was talking about regular Golfs

412GTI > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:08

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I feel that it’s a pretty decent refresh and am looking forward to the GTI/R reveal.

Look: It’s certainly softer than the MK7 we both own and while I initially prefer the 7/7.5 design, I think I’ll grow to like this just fine. In a world of over designed Honda Civics & Toyota Corolla’s, I like the smooth, refined German look of this. I’ll reserve final judgement til the GTI comes out, but I honestly don’t think it’s that much of a step back.

Tech: Give ‘em what the people want and it looks like they have. Personally, I’m a fan of the new interior infotainment..well for the most part, I will miss the super easy HVAC control on our cars. The infotainment looks waaay better integrated than any of the current Japanese or Korean compacts.

Performance: Happy to see more integration of the 48v mild-hybrid system. I’ve witnessed how it performs on current Audi’s and if it’s like that, it’ll be a good system. Hoping for more power on the GTI/R.

Overall: I’m content with it. Excited? Perhaps not, but they didn’t do anything to truly offend me as a current MK7 owner. I think the GTI/R will follow suit, offering slight performance upgrades but nothing that innovative. Maybe that’s not quite good enough, but hell the MK7 is still damn good even after all these years.

Let’s just hope they fix the sunroof leaking (which is why I’m grateful to not have one)

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > BeaterGT 10/25/2019 at 10:08

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Exactly.

Car time is natural for conversations with passengers couped up in a box on wheels, with time on their hands.

Do you really want one of the biggest vendors in the world listening to all of that, making ad profiles based on it, and selling off the analytics to whomever...

“ There is no free lunch. If you aren’t paying the bill, you are on the menu.”

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 10/25/2019 at 10:09

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Audi Fox GTI best

Mk7 is great, and to be honest i can see why it would be better with an auto. You cannot feel the clutch bite point in the manual and it throws me off

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:12

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I would just like to say ...it is a Golf. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just a Golf.

You are flogging yourself needlessly if  you believe anything otherwise.

BeaterGT > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 10/25/2019 at 10:12

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Pig 1: I can’t believe how much free food the they give us.

Pig 2: You’re an idiot.

Not to mention the whole focus on driving instead of the inevitable battle of a voice command being misinterpreted.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:15

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Yes.

I will not be rushing to trade in my 2016 SE with plaid seats.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 10/25/2019 at 10:15

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Well I like to flog myself needlessly

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 10/25/2019 at 10:16

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THE PLAID IS THE BEST PART OF THE CAR PROVE ME WRONG /s

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:20

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I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:35

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It’s so good. I also only recently realized that the Audi Fox is built on the B1 platform, which was tweaked for the Brazilian production of the Gol, which was sold in the US in 2 and 4 door sedans and 2 door wagons as the Fox, which can be had for like, really cheap if you know where to look.

So like, basically, the Fox wagon is a wagon version of an Audi Fox GTI. Basically.

The Ghost of Oppo > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 10/25/2019 at 10:39

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I’ve never actually heard the second part of the free lunch idiom.  That’s too true.  

The Ghost of Oppo > BeaterGT 10/25/2019 at 10:40

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Also t he Internet of Things ‘ app that can recognize your smartphone as a key’ sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

BeaterGT > The Ghost of Oppo 10/25/2019 at 10:48

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That moment when you get locked out of your phone and subsequently, your car.

It's this generation's key fob battery dying. 

nermal > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 10:54

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I guess that if you want a sporty luddite car but don’t want to go back to the “ mullet n hi-tops” look , your options are a custom ordered 2-series, a 370z or an STI. It seems as though everything else is going to the hyper-connected route over the next few years like the MK8 .

Sad!

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > BeaterGT 10/25/2019 at 11:10

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If it’s like the Alexa integration in my Corolla it’s just that you can unlock/lock doors, remote start, etc using an echo. There’s no Alexa in the car itself. 

MrSnrub > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 11:23

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As a fellow GTI owner, I suspect like 90% of the GTI owners saying they hate this will end up buying one. Every time a new version of a popular car comes out everyone hates it, because they changed it and now it sucks. If there’s one thing car enthusiasts hate it’s change.

Personally, I like the exterior. I have a thing for low-set, thin headlights so the front end appeals to me. The rear end can look a bit poofy from some angles, but from others I like the slightly lowered roofline and the larger spoiler. Overall I don’t know if I like it more   than the Mk7, which is a great design, but I like it.

I’m not as sure about the interior. I’d really prefer physical climate controls, so that’s annoying, and overall it maybe doesn’t seem quite as upscale as the Mk7. On the other hand, even the smallest screen is 8" which is pretty nice. I’ll need to see it in person to decide how much I like it.

Kinja keeps eating the picture, but I posted a quick photoshop of the GTE to extrapolate what the GTI might look like: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/behold-the-official-car-of-oppo-2022-1839308200 . I could see myself driving one, as long as it has plaid seats.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 11:34

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An app that recognizes your phone as a key....

No way that could easy be hacked. Nope 

dieseldub > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 11:34

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From that front quarter angle, the headlights are sort of giving me Chris Bangle-E60 flashbacks. Never was a fan.

At the same time, it’s not HORRIBLE. Just not something that makes you immediately go “That’s awesome, I gotta have that!”

Like it or not, the tech stuff is how everything is going to go. It’s get with the program and keep up with the changing tech, or risk falling behind and looking staid.

I’m sure underneath it’s largely the same MQB platform as the previous gen. And realistically, the basic chassis design shares a ton of similarities back to the mk5 still...

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 10/25/2019 at 12:21

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cue that one scene from fast and furious

His Stigness > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner 10/25/2019 at 13:03

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As a MKVI and MKVII.5 owner I like it. Yes, the looks are a little softer than the MKVII.5, but I don’t dislike it. Every generation of Golf is an evolution, especially platform updates. The MKVIII is an evolution of MQB just as the MKVI was an evolution of PQ35. If you look at the MKV to the MKVI, and the MKVI to the MKVII you can see the biggest leaps in design happen on new platforms.

As for everything else, I’m excited about the interior and the cool new tech upgrades. I’m sure they’ll bring over the Golf R, and I plan on getting one, so I’m excited.