The new "Mk7" Volkswagen GTI can probably be considered the new standard of refinement in the segment, and makes a great daily driver. But how about when you drive it fast?
subrosasalvador2011 Not from what I've seen. All I see is that it turns into a bit of a monster on the highway. The torque steer management on the GTI is fantastic.
Gabriel Fuoco yeah whoever paid upwards of 30k for the gti is str8 foolish. The diff and brakes are not worth the extra 10k and if you are going into that 30k range for a gti, you might as well throw the additional 10k and get the r!
+Alex G Agreed, I'm a enthusiast driver myself, but I use my bike a lot for short distance, and I love to bike, not performance biking like those persons we see in the video, but I still love to go fast and downhill. I also walk a lot in city and hiking and stuff. So I really hate those pseudo-feud between the three category, if all of them respect the rules and courtesy logic there's no problem. But Butthead Car drivers are often also buttheaded cyclist and vice versa.
as a modified 330hp car driver, motorcyclist, and cyclist, i can say safety of other public road users is what everyone should put above all else. if you aren't, you shouldn't be behind the wheel. cyclists use lane choice just like a motorcyclist and the one around the blind turn was absolutely right
I second that, I’m a cyclist and race bikes as well as enjoy cars. And we’re all out there to enjoy the roads. However the cyclists who don’t respect the roads and ride all over the place ruins it for those of us who do
Matt you're a great role model for car enthusiasts, I love cycling and driving and I wish more people were as happy to share enjoying the road as you are.
I bought a 2017 VW GTI S 6spd manual for $23k out the door, brand new with 4 miles on it. Golf R's at the same time, brand new were $41k. That's an $18k difference guys! And for what? AWD, and a couple other things? That's an insane jump for the R. Since I've bought my GTI, I've put $11k into it. That includes coil-over, wheels/tires, EQT turbo (IS38 hybrid) tuned by Frank Mabo, Stage 2 clutch, brakes, and so many other goodies (some performance, some sound system, some aesthetics). If someone went my route, they could easily only be around $7k into the car with the power and suspension mods that I have. Lets say somebody did do that. That puts them in the $30k range for their GTI, that's waaaay faster, and can handle waaaay better than a stock Golf R, and the GTI owner is saving around $10k still!! Yes, the Golf R owner could also do the same mods, but then they are into the car at $50k+, which gives the GTI an even better price to car savings ratio compared to the R. Like $20k in savings!! Spend another $20k on the GTI, and it would be mental!! I don't know about you, but for the price of a bone stock R, it just ain't worth it. Yes, it will come out of corners better with the AWD, but hell, with that $20k savings on the GTI, you could put in AWD on it, and still be way cheaper. Part of the reason why the R is the price it is is because of its name, and I get that, but between these two cars, the best route to go is the base S model GTI. That's if you plan on building it. If you plan on keeping it stock, the Autobahn GTI is the best bang for your buck.
@@lilasiankid214 Go drive an R. Not to hate on the Gti at all in fact its great. The way i could launch a Golf R and power through wet corners in AWD was insane though it really leaves a lot to be desired with the FWD. My buddy got his GolfR around20k used and it was an unreal driving performance. Its the only car that made me consider getting rid out my Subaru outback Xt
The reason why the DSG is "confused" when you downshift when you're coasting is because the DSG is only that fast because the next gear is already engaged. However, the gearbox has to predict which the next gear is gonna be. If you're just coasting along, the gearbox thinks you're not using any power, so you will surely shift up soon. When you shift down instead, it first has to engage the next lower gear before it can shift. This is normal and happens on all DCTs. The only difference will be how the car predicts the next gear.
Not completely certain about your explanation. From my understanding, as the dual clutch has two clutches, there is a clutch for the even gears and the other clutch for the odd gear. Therefore, if I was coasting along in gear 4, both 3 and 5 would be 'primed' by the second clutch. I'm probably wrong about this though.
Sarin Murlidar When you are accelerating in let us say, 2nd gear, 3rd is already selected but 3rd's clutch is disengaged. Pull the paddle to upshift, and the clutches just swap. The even clutch disengages, the odd clutch engages. When braking in 2nd, the gearbox selects first. Press the downshift paddle and the odd and even clutch swap. The dual clutch gearboxes are fast since all you are doing is engaging one clutch, and disengaging the other.
TheSmokingTire My brothers Scirocco seems to handle this pretty well. I assume it's the same transmission. When you start driving it might be somewhat confused but as soon as you have a little bit of distance behind you it seems to know it pretty well. What I've found is that it's much more accurate if you're shifting on brake pressure though. I don't know how everything is programmed but I can only assume that the car assumes you'll shift down when breaking.
Sarin Murlidar Watch the "Engineering Explained" Video on this. Only one gear is preselected. TheSmokingTire PDK works exactly the same way though. Maybe the "bad guess" shifting is faster and feels better some way and/or the prediction algorithm works better or aligns better with your driving style. It still works the same way and can only preselect one gear.
Sean D Haha sad but true. Unfortunately disconnecting the Sondaktor will then require you to get a better exhaust or a nice downpipe. Stock exhaust is too quiet...too much sound deadening makes it very hard to hear from inside. What you can still hear in spirited driving with your windows down is what us DSG owners call 'DSG farts' when you upshift the car makes popping sounds that are pretty nice. I can't wait to get a slightly louder exhaust.
***** Yeah that's true, although I'm quite sure that VAG pipe in the engine noise as well, my GTI doesn't use the stereo. BMW's is the worse though by far, sounds the least bit convincing.
Yes, ST might be faster but it has cheap interior and not than comfort seats. Many people just miss the point of GTI. GTI might not the best powerful and best handling in the segment. But it has better and comfort interior than others, like focus/fiesta ST. And bigger than mini cooper S. All around is a better multi-purpose car, this is the point of GTI.
3:10-3:50 great explanation.. hope people heed the advice. too many people believe the GTI can be upgraded to an R, just like people think the wrx can easily be upgraded to an STi
zed4me Well the difference between the R and the GTi in the last generation was almost not worth it, so many people may still believe that the R is simply overrated at that price. But as he said the new R is definitely well above the new GTI specially with a simple tune.
Oh a massive difference agreed, i have Falken FK510's on my MK4 and theyre honestly way stickier than i thought they would be, mated to some 17x8 Enkei RPF1's
@@BenDover-io9vg So I guess All Season Tires are a no-no for a GTI? I live in an area with hot summers but not so harsh winters, although from time to time we get some serious snow. So... no?
@@inertboi I wouldn't rule out all all-season tires cause there's good ones out there.. but the Pirelli P7s that came stock on a lot of our cars are hot garbage. You would need to pay me to drive on those. I've been on the cost friendly Indy 500 summer tires and the difference in grip, noise, handling, predictability, and driving feel is astronomical. It even grips in rain conditions. If you have good conditions for most of the year then summer tires are a no brainer. People in snow areas offen run a second winter set of wheels (usually steelies) with winter tires. It's law in many places actually. Good all seasons are a good compromise I suppose but I never bothered researching cause I don't need to lol. I'm in SoCal for reference.
@@BenDover-io9vg Lucky you, I'm jelly. I live in an area where winters are required by law. If I lived in a hot climate, of course summer tires would be a no brainer. I was just wondering if all seasons would be any good in snowy conditions, especially considering it's a performance FWD car. Perhaps it would be dumb to own such car and save money on tires. It's just that owning two sets of rims and tires and changing them twice a year is an annoying and time consuming (also costly) chore.
Great point explaining the realistic limitation of getting additional power down in the GTI. It's just true. I've driven and been in mild to highly modified fwd cars and traction gets difficult quickly.
David, truly outstanding reviews of this and the R. i am beyond impressed with how you can do copiously address every single concern of line with such relevance. Through an odd twist, I'm ending up with a fully loaded 16 autobahn next week but couldn't get the R directly. I have the choice of selling it brand new for around 29-30 and sticking in another 6 or so for the R. For depreciation avoidance alone, it appears worth the painful move. My guess' that you could keep the R 4 years, put 75k on it and not lose a ton. Outstanding driving of yours and how you can talk so intelligently while driving so adeptly(?), has inspired me each time I watch these 2 videos. We visit malibu often and love some of those back roads.
TheSmokingTire I am a cyclist and a car lover. Think you for always making a point in your reviews for being aware of cyclist on the road and not just complaining about them being on the road. And not to start any arguments I love when I see some one having on on a canyon road and I try to always move out of the way and let them have fun.
GTI's have a long, legendary pedigree. Good value, and you can't go wrong with one! Great daily driver too. I like my MK7 a lot, but also loved my MK4 24V VR6 GTI and my MK4 '337' GTI.
I love the active match revving system they put in the new MK7 DSG's. Plus with the launch feature and now a sport mode they are so much better than the MK6. The tunes also make so much more power with the new motor and turbo. I just wish I would have held out another year and got one. I still love my stage 2 MK6 though.
You held the traction button down for a second, that means you turned traction control off. Stability control can't be turned off completely (due to the electonric LSD i believe) but you were in normal stability control, not "sport ESC" - which requries holding the button for 5 secs
Any chance of coming out with a top 5 cars you've driven for the year / reasons why you'd choose want to drive them? Reasonably of course, not meaning to pick the most expensive super car you've driven, because people like to relate but yeah haha lol, best wishes from Pittsburgh!
Hey Matt! @thesmokingtire, what setting do you use for you V1, Ive been just using the all bands setting but is it worth going into the advanced settings?? Thanks! love the videos
The amount of respect Matt shows to cyclists and home owners it be be applauded. Cyclist should respect car drivers, car drivers respect them. There is enough space for everyone - enjoy :-) And oh, another great video
I just bought a MK7 GTI. I test drove a fully loaded 4 door with DSG, leather and nav and everything and I did not like the way the car steered, it felt less engaging and it was less fun to drive than the basic model. A fully loaded GTI is wrong to me, a hot hatch should be simple! So I bought a two door manual with the 18 inch wheels. To my surprise they came wrapped in super sticky pirelli tires right from the dealership. I drive the car like a total hooligan and the tires don't squeal like the car you tested. I put on the sport mode and select the sport setting of the esc which allows just the right amount of slip. In tight corners, the back of the car rotates under heavy steering input, its great fun.
Well, that was fun! Reminded me of a good reason I got my used FR-S, and that I shouldn't feel too bad that I got the auto with paddle shifters instead of a stick, which I sometimes miss. I wondered what you were going to do about that Lexus. He was moving along a little better after you came on the scene. Where is this? Southern LA county? OC?
Very good testing drive video. Telling truths when u drive gti and r. Good driving on the country roads. Also respect other traffickers on the testing roads. Very matured driver and nice jobs done. Mk 7 Golf deserves" car of the year " "world car of the year"at each continent around the world since 2013.
I'm sure you could care less Matt. But my friend has a brand new gti that he bought for 24k. Its a base stick car with no other options. He bought an intake,downpipe, and better diverter valve for it. With an Apr tune he just made 300whp and 365 wtq on a mustang dyno. The car is a riot to drive and he's only into it 25k roughly. I feel that's a better value than the golf r. My personal opinion tho. Great review
***** It may be, and I'm sure it's a lot of fun. But I feel like the benefits of the AWD system in pulling out of corners can not be overcome by any mod you can do to the FWD car, especially when you're talking about that much power.
Very curious to hear your thoughts on a stock 2016 Jetta GLI (i know you've done other MKVI's that have been modded, but curious on how you feel the stock GLI is against the GTI)
I have a question. Do all of the MK7 Gti's in the US come with the CPLA 211hp engine or do all of them even the non performance pack one's come with the CHHB. CPLA has the honeywell turbo and the CHHB has the IS20 turbo. I am very curious because I have not found any info on it
Hi Matt, appreciate your videos. Did you notice that the GTI has less turbo lag as compared to the R? I suppose you wouldn't notice it driving down the Latigo and keeping in between 3,000 to 6,000 revs. But uphill and from low revs it should be noticeable as the R has a bigger turbo and needs more time to spool up. What tire make were on the GTI, Bridgestones? I had those and they were pretty horrible so I swapped them for Conti Sport Contact5 which made a big improvement.
Hi Matt, Can you tell me why you think the S3 is better than the golf R? All the reviews I've read or watched say the opposite when it comes to performance. Just want to know your reasons as I respect your point of view. Thanks in advance.
Having owned a handful of VW's all with DSG I agree with you. It can definitely be temperamental and finicky. Have to say from my 2006 GTI to my 14' GLI the DSG has definitely evolved and is much more refined. With that being said there's always room for improvement, but its still one of the better autos out there available today.
Matt, what frame rate are you filming these at? The last couple of One Takes and this one have playback that looks like it's running at 29.95 fps when it should be 23.95 for smooth and true playback if that is what you filmed it at. Either your timeline isn't matched up to the footage when editing or you're exporting them at a higher frame rate than they should be but it looks wonky, you'll want to fix it for future videos, especially since it wasn't an issue in the past. Cheers.
I'm just curious, how fast are you actually going on these turns and such. I know the camera makes is seem like it's faster than what it really is. And you might have already said it, but if you did i missed it. Thanks
Just got mine yesterday, 6 sp autobahn, PP. I can't believe how tall the gearing is, noticeable from my MK6. I was always finding myself cruising over 55 on 4th. It doesn't help that the cabin is relatively quiet, might have to buy an exhaust soon.
Would you prefer this car new or a lightly used BMW 328i (F30)? The price and performance specs are similar and I had trouble deciding between the two. I ultimately chose the BMW but would like to have another opinion.
Audi might be better then Golf R.., which might be better then the GTI.. BUT the price difference is not proportional !! S3 is not worth $18.000 more then the GTI
What model Potenza's where on that? I have the RE003's on my car and so far (they are still pretty new) they don't make anywhere near that much noise when at the limit. Much heavier car and RWD though...
Something tells me that the GTI would have a slight advantage uphill because of its smaller/peppier turbo, and full torque at 1,500rpm. Doesn't the R's IS38 require a bit more spooling? I think that could cause an issue in some situations.
Matt, have you ever driven an Acura RDX Turbo, or an Honda/Acura with the SH-AWD system... I just got a 2007 and this is by far the best handling vehicle I've ever driven, not that I've driven many though... I'm too scared to push it without going 90 mph, ha ha...
Hey. I like your videos. Keep up the good work. One thing...not that big of a deal. Golf R DSG you tested is only 173 lbs heavier than GTI DSG. Not 300 lbs.Unless Car and Driver is wrong. R=3409. GTI =3236. Maybe you had the manual weight?
The tires on this car stock is rubbish (I have a GTI PP) - And about the NAV, in other parts of the world, you can get an 8 inch screen instead, quite pricy though - But looks great (My car was $42.000~ here in Sweden though, not as cheap as in the US) :(
i have just recently got a gti mk7 after having a gti mk6 i have the 2 door manual i feel like the 2 door is a better drive i live in palm springs California let me know if you want to do a review on my car be more than happy to
I'm a fan of these new gti's, with a tune they are no slouches unlike the last one. My bolt on v6 accord stomped app over stage 2 mk6's, and ive raced the mk7 gti (vi on my channel) instock form and beat it, but im sure a stage 1 mk7 would pull me as i am untuned
Matt, another great video! Any chance you would do diesels? I would very much like to hear what you think of the Golf GTD. It has the GTI looks but is more frugal. Not sure though if you get that over in America or not?
I got my mk6 gti because they were available in 3door vs the R (Canadian problems) but I saved probably 10 grand over getting a used R. The way I see it, is even if I were to use that 10 grand for performance mods to the gti, it still wont be AWD, so it will always be restricted. But thats not to say the gti isnt a good time.
First off your a skilled and respectful driver. My issue is with your math. For a $600 tune you can get 75 extra hp to the wheel of a GTI that pulls away from the R. That's just getting started. That $9000 difference in price and haldex are deal breakers for most.
Matt, lately your videos are playing more like stop motion films for some reason? I have an excellent video card, and a 2mbps connection, so don't know what's going on. It only happens TST though. Nothing else on youtube, HD or not.
For me I would pay the extra money for the R. We live in the mountains & the R would be a blast to drive in the snow & just for the added traction of the all wheel drive would be nice. Plus from the factory the R is much quicker then the GTI. However I would wait for the manual. if that released one.
nice interesting ride but man that looked dangerous... also, I was wondering, aren't you at risq of getting cought with dangerous driving with that video as a proof ?
That was enjoyable, now I want to take my 2016 GTI to Latigo Cyn. Having rode it on motorcycle probable 25-30 times rarely do I see a CHP. You do not realize how steep that is until you go up it, motorcycle only way............................ need the HP. I can tell you had the speaker engine noise thing on.
The dsg in my mk6 never seemed to do what everybody talks about in these newer mk7s....maybe I never noticed because I was coming from the focus dct lol
I dont imagine you have the legal ability to drive like this (No, I'm not going to be one of THOSE people) BUT... how do you do it? Do you just get lucky that there are no cops?
***** I was pulled over and ticketed about 20 minutes before I made this video (I was driving a different car without my trusty V1, obviously). It's just a work-related risk.
