New Degree, New Job...New Car? Jake's MKVI GTI

Jacobfox

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 24, 2005
Messages
3,544
Location
Madison, WI
Car(s)
VW GTI 4-Door (MKVI)
After much procrastinating (I'm moving, starting a job, being lazy...get off my back you damn kids), I finally have some pictures to post of my new car. It's a 2011 VW GTI 4-door in Carbon Steel Grey Metallic. I ended up getting the car with the 6-speed DSG box, as I have a highway commute twice a day and I'd prefer not to spend my time rowing gears in traffic. It seemed like the best of both worlds. I also got the Sunroof trim level, which comes with iPod connectivity over USB, a touchscreen six-speaker sound system, a sunroof (relatively unimportant compared to the stereo), Sirius satellite radio (Radio One is far more interesting than US top-40) and heated fabric seats (yes, that is apparently possible). It's a great little car, I've had it about a month and I've already put more than 1500 miles on it from driving to and from Chicago. It manages about 33.3 mpg on the highway, too, even if I'm revving the nuts off of it, which is pretty good for cruising at 80. Without further ado, some pics. Please excuse the crap quality, half were taken on the way to the airport or at the airport, and the other half were taken in my dark-ass garage at work.

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Heated fabric seats are a weird thing to you? Never heard that one before. :lol:

Oh and nice car bro... ;)
 
Great!

One of the few VW cars I?d like to own.
:thumbsup:
 
Nice Golf you have there. Congrats!

... and a sunroof can't be unimportant. :D
 
Yeah! +1 for the cloth seats, the GTI just shouldn't come with leather if you ask me... ;-)
 
Yeah! +1 for the cloth seats, the GTI just shouldn't come with leather if you ask me... ;-)

True.jpg

Seems wrong if it doesn't have tartan cloth all over it. :D
 
Grantz! looks good in Steel Grey. +1 for going with Cloth.

Next step, get rid of those Detroit Wheels (never Liked them on the Old Model) and put BBS's on
8j0601025p1h7-1.jpg


Original VW Part :D 8J0 601 025 P 1H7 would fit better to the Lines of the Car ;)
 
Couple of things:
1. Cloth heated seats are pretty uncommon here. In fact, the dealer mentioned that the only car in the US that has them is, in fact, the GTI. Presumably something to do with fire hazards or something that's probably unimportant.
2. I do have to pick up a set of winter wheels so I might end up going with something like the audi wheels pictured above. Probably something 16" and cheaper, though, given that they'll be sucking road salt all winter.
3. The cloth is brilliant. The autobahn pack, which is what gets you the leather and sportier seats, is brilliant, because it really upgrades some of the fit and finish in the cabin, but it was just far too expensive. I already went more than 3k over budget after tax, so it would have been another 3 on top of that. Just couldn't justify it.
4. The gearbox is pretty excellent. Does a good job in auto mode, but is snappy and responsive with immediate changes in manual. Not my first experience with this box (my dad's old Audi A3 had it), but it's still a revelation compared to a slushbox.
5. Damn Sirius stopped broadcasting Radio One today. Thinking of writing an angry letter.
6. I still get a goofy grin on my face every time I drive this car. On the way into work, there's a fast little back road with a dipping off camber curve taken at 50-ish and I've been loving how the car just hooks up and holds. Love it.
 
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Over here, afaik, the only sportier seats than the normal cloth ones are recaros, which are nice, but as you said: Way too expensive...
As far as Winter tires go: I got the 17" version of the 18" Detroit or Hufeisen rims. They aren't polished and clear coated, so the salt in the winter doesn't seem to have an imapct on them. Paid 400? on ebay for them, although 1 has had a minor damage thats not really visible... Maybe they will get even cheaper, as they are the standard rims on the Polo GTI...
 
Couple of things:
1. Cloth heated seats are pretty uncommon here. In fact, the dealer mentioned that the only car in the US that has them is, in fact, the GTI. Presumably something to do with fire hazards or something that's probably unimportant.

Your dealer is wrong. Every car in the Subaru lineup with cloth seats can be fitted with heaters as part of the Cold Weather Package. My mom's Outback has them; she thinks they're brilliant because she doesn't like leather seats.

6. I still get a goofy grin on my face every time I drive this car. On the way into work, there's a fast little back road with a dipping off camber curve taken at 50-ish and I've been loving how the car just hooks up and holds. Love it.

There's nothing that can be said more than this. That line, actually, is exactly why I chose my MINI over the MkV I was looking at. When driving the MkV, it felt a little too big for my taste. That, and the clutch was ultra-light and had no feel, something I found out was common across VWs. Don't get me wrong, the big 2 liter pulled fiercely, and the sunroof was very nice, but when I drove the MINI I knew. I'm sure it was the same way with your GTI. And months later, I still get a smile driving my car. Plus, as an autocrosser, the MINI was sunroofless and had an LSD, so to have better traction and less weight high-up on the car, that's a no brainer.

Until I realized that a MINI is D-Stock but a GTI is way down in G-Stock. Bummer about that. You should take your car autocrossing, though. The GTI are really good cars for racing!
 
Couple of things:
1. Cloth heated seats are pretty uncommon here. In fact, the dealer mentioned that the only car in the US that has them is, in fact, the GTI. Presumably something to do with fire hazards or something that's probably unimportant.

afaik every decent car sold in Europe the last 15 years has had heated cloth seats.
 
Nice ride! I wish I had your engine for the tuneability. Any plans to modify it?
 
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