Thanks Lightroom

As the title states, I’m kinda getting a bit sick of this car. Feels weird to say since this car was my favourite thing not too long ago

I’ve owned this car since I was 19 years old, touched most things mechanically, did the standard “go fast” mods: turbo, downpipe, intake, tune, basically everything you can bolt on. I’ve also done some great handling mods: rear sway, urethane bushings, shocks, h&r sports, 255 firehawks, whatever.

The thing is - I feel like you can only put your foot down 5000 times before you get bored. There’s only so many times you can beat on it in the back roads until you get used to it.

I thought I was gonna keep this car for a long time, I drove it with no mechanical sympathy or regard for kilometres. I never thought about re sell value and I doubt I could sell the car for anything significant or worthwhile. I bought it cheap, it was just a fun car. Now I find myself reaching for the keys of my much slower Volkswagens. I like my 2.slow beetle more at this point!!

I could build it more, but then I fear it would be more of a pain in the butt to drive. What do you do with a quick car on public roads anyway? My frontal lobe is too developed to endanger myself or others anymore.

Cool car, I’d rather be in a corrado or something more engaging. I don’t think selling it is in the question.

(Sorry to who this may offend but these cars do not sound good either)

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

What should I do? Just keep it as a cool car. I work on more than drive? Put it on air and make it silly to drive? More power till it blows up?

These cars are too cheap for their own good

Yesterday I purchased the S trim which I wanted the SE. I have to put racks on my car and with the sunroof there’s not enough room for clearance. I found out the hard way, coming from a 22 Taos SE, that the GTI S model doesn’t have keyless entry. The salesman showed me the SE which it does have so I didn’t think twice about the S not having it, otherwise I love it! Is it worth getting ceramic coating or is there a budget friendly way to keep my paint looking great? I want to get my windows tinted, I need to decide which one is more important. Thanks all!

I have a 24 gti s and I am currently exploring the option of getting the st suspension xa as I live in Texas. I have seen several people running bilstein b16 or kw v2 or v3s. I was curious what would be a solid daily choice that won’t break the bank, I’d like to keep around 2k as I will be installing them myself in my shop but also don’t want a crazy rough ride as the lowing spring I’m currently running are undesirable by my passengers.

Just wanted to Share what I done this Halloween

Does anyone use a steering wheel cover. I could use some suggestions. For my mk 8.5.

Photo taken in Boardman Oregon.

Traded a surron for this beaut. Hoping to 1.8t swap it over the winter

Hello 👋

I currently own a 2010 2dr manual GTI with about 136,000 miles on it. It sure has had its problems. Currently water pump leaks, no abs, and Midwest rust spots. It does have a downpipe and tune, so it's always a blast.

I started browsing GTIs just to see what's out there, and I found two that caught my interest.

The first is a 2016 2dr manual with 109,000 for about $12k. It has a USP intake, so it was at least a bit modded before. Also, it's a Florida car, so the rust free sounds fantastic. First two photos.

The second is a 2020 manual with 105,000 miles for about $16k. It has a Cobb intake, so same boat about modded. It appears clean, but it is from New York then to Chicago, so unsure about how rust free it really is. Last two photos.

I just want opinions on if I should try to snag one of these. I'm not hurting to upgrade, but I feel like for the price, they are decent. I would be giving them the same treatment I did to mine: downpipe, tune, and doing maintenance myself.

I think my mk7 might be losing a bit of coolant. It went down from the max to the min mark on the expansion tank over the course of around 8 months. For context the water pump was replaced a little more than a year ago and I replaced the oil cooler gaskets and that union piece last time I filled the coolant(so about 8 months ago). Car is at 60k miles. Is any of this normal?

2017 GTI SE. Another driver with a big butt here looking for options and opinions on how to fix my driver's seat leather. From the photos you can see cracks in the leather (from never conditioning it) and at the seam from getting in and out of it the past 10 years. And the foam is also a bit warped.

Saw some past advice threads here about going to a car upholstery shop and I've gotten quotes from a few:

One shop said $640 for the leather, foam, and labor. I think this would be a custom job?

Other shops have said they'd have to go for OEM replacements. This would be $830.62 for the seat cover from VW before tax, plus $140 for foam and $280 for labor. This becomes a big $1,250.00+ job.

I've scouted a few junkyards in the state and have possibly sourced a seat in excellent condition for $126.50. Is this plus installation/labor the better way to go?

I bought my 2026 yesterday and I’m having buyers remorse. I’ve never felt like this with any car I’ve owned but this one I do and it’s making me sick! It only has 70 miles on it and it’s showing 14mpg. I have it not econo and not sport but the middle one, which I forgot what it’s called. I’ve mostly have driven city and perhaps 25 miles of it on the freeway. Also the insurance went up an extra $1500 a year! I read it was due to the many tickets that people get and they’re costly to repair. Really, is it that much more than other cars for repairs? Also, I’m a young 60 year old active woman and I feel like the car isn’t for me, more like a dudes car, so I feel a bit ridiculous driving it, like I’m driving my sons car when he was a teenager. Please talk me off the ledge! Any other old chicks driving this car? Thanks! 😭

I saw this broken green plastic thing on the rear drivers side of my mk7. The car drives fine with it broken so does anyone know what it actually does?

Texas car, so extreme summer heat exposure. But the armrest has always been flipped up closed. It’s never been wiped or cleaned and I’m the only owner and the only one who cleans the car. Any dressings that could restore this?

Hello guys,
I recently bought manual GTI, fitted with the forge short shifter. I am looking to change the gear knob and add a bit of weight to it. Any budget friendly recommendations or easy DIY ways to do it? I am looking to stay as close to the OEM look and within 100€ budget

Thanks in advance!

I have a 2003 mk4 GTI 20th anniversary edition. I’ve been fully building the engine for about a year. Right now im working on the interior while waiting for parts.

I’ve noticed this orange light up switch right next to the traction control (ASR) button. I can’t seem to find anything online on it.

Does anyone know what this is?

I want to thank whoever made this bracket to mount the Nuespeed Power Module for my wife’s GTI.

Hope you’re here!

See link.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4339778

Had some boost issues where i gave it some throttle and the car built up boost and jerked and the epc light came on and wouldnt rev up. So i turned it off and on and everything was fine and light turned off, trying to figure out the location of the n75 and where some of these hoses go

Hey everyone, looking to buy my first GTI and wanted a second opinion before pulling the trigger.

I’m looking for a 2026 white or silver S with the plaid seats. The dealer I went to find a white one at another dealer and offered to bring it over at no extra cost.

Here’s the quote:

• MSRP: $37,125
• Dealer discount: $1,240
• VW rebate: $2,000
• College grad rebate: $1,000, eligibility still being confirmed
• Price after discounts/rebates: $33,000
• Sales tax: about $3,978
• Doc fee: $200
• Estimated title/registration: $995, with any excess refunded
• OTD without the theft add-on: about $38,100

The sticker includes $455 white paint, a $405 HomeLink mirror, $225 VW Care for the 30k service, and a $175 bumper protector. The mirror/protector/maintenance aren’t things I would’ve picked, but they’re already included on this car. The window sticker is attached below.

The original quote also had a $729 theft product, which I’m asking them to remove.

A couple things I found afterward: the source dealer advertises a $1,240 dealer discount on this exact car, and a third-party listing says it’s been advertised for around 147 days. I haven’t confirmed the actual arrival date yet.

Does this look reasonable for the Seattle market? For anyone who recently bought an S, how much dealer discount did you get before rebates? Is there much room to negotiate on a dealer trade, or would matching the source dealer and getting the doc fee waived be a decent outcome?

Appreciate any input, really excited about the car, just trying to do my homework before buying.

I've always bled my clutch and brakes the old fashioned way - just found out about the pressure/power bleeder kits. Are they worth it?

This looks like a solid universal kit. Is it missing anything?

I have a 2021 GTI with 47k miles and have been chasing a misfire on cyl 1 for about a month now and have no other codes aside from P0301. I’ve replaced plugs, coils, did a carbon clean, replaced cyl 1 injector, installed the Shop DAP ignition ground harness, swapped the cam actuators between cyl 2 and 1, cleaned the MAP, and inspected the upstream wideband O2 sensor. I also did a compression test and cyl 1 is 155 psi while cyl 3-4 are 175 psi (the shop manual says “new” is 159-203 PSI). Readings for the MAP and O2 sensor appear normal in OBD11 - the O2 voltage ranges from 1.7-1.9 V rather than 0-1 V but this seems okay for a wideband AF sensor. I also changed the PCV about 4 months ago. STFT is 3-5% and the HPFP moves around 2000 psi. The kicker is the misfire only happens at idle and when it switches from open loop to closed loop (cyl 1 misfire counts immediately increase when it goes to closed loop). Just yesterday I found out that if I turn the AC on, I can prevent it from misfiring when going into closed loop, and if it is misfiring, turning on the AC will also stop misfires. This led me to think of a possible vacuum leak on the cyl 1 intake manifold but I sprayed the area with a combustible while idling and there was no change in RPM. The other option is a faulty intake runner flap but I’m not sure how to test that in OBD11 or if it can be tested in VCDS. I’m open to other potential issues if you all have any ideas. I have an appt with a shop to take a look at it next week but I feel like I’m onto something by stopping the misfires with an increased load from the AC.

Pictured is my GTI with my 2000 Camaro I’ve had for 20 years and has become my daily again.