Mk7 GTI Mods I REGRET Buying 

Great looking car - it looks brand new, even though a2015. That is what's great about GTI - their styling is mostly timeless, unlike all the other Japanese hatchbacks out there which look ridiculous by the time the warranty has expired.

This is by no means car related but I want the Patagonia jacket! Haha love your videos, a true car enthusiast perspective!

Down pipe and stock cat back is the best sound combination imo

Borla is great, not only on this car. Thanks for being honest about the intake, interesting. My 2017 S 6spd is unmodified except for Neuspeed Rse10 summer tires/wheels - commuter car only.

The wheels look great. I've got 19" Pretorias on my R and run 17 inch rims for winter tires. The 17s are soooo much more comfortable and are still a blast to drive.

Haha yes spot on. All the mods I didn't do. Stock air box with filter, stock catback with downpipe and 18in wheels with 255 rubber.

after I put in a downpipe my aftermarket exhaust catback started being too loud too.. I just went back to stock catback with a downpipe - no drone, and sounded decent

Another thing to consider is that aftermarket cat backs only provides marginal gains, if any. Replace the downpipe first which will produce more power (especially with tune) and will change the sound of the exhaust without being too loud.

Great content bro! Hope to see you back in Durham soon!!!!

love the honesty haha. its hard not to have regrets as you learn more and more with time. awesome looking gti nonetheless!

Thanks for the info, great video!

That car and Seat Leon mk3 both looking really good

I somehow stumbled across this and I felt like I’ve met you before. Turns out I was right after looking at some of your other videos. You parked next to me at Volksbahn. I had the 2 door reflex silver with the Cornholio plate 😂 small world

Modded nearly every car I owned. Bought a 2018 GTI last October. Leaving it stock. Now that I'm 34 I view cars a little differently. I have probably would have saved over $100k if I had kept the same car the last 15 years. So I will be doing that with the GTI. For the price I paid, it's a bargain in style, practicality, and performance. I want it to last 200k+ miles.

Is this the New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Marketing Dept? lol ...just teasing because I LOVE New Hampshire. I'm from Michigan, we went there in the summer of '15. It was pure serendipity to learn The Decemberists (band) were playing the night we would be staying there. We listened to them at home while packing for this trip. What an unexpected gift to see them in concert when four hours earlier we had no idea.... :)

Do I love your European tail lights are awesome way better than stock. And your wheels are amazing

I know how you feel but the Santiago style wheels are a premium look.

Biggest problem is changing bits on a car without knowing the end goal of what you want. Because you end of with bits that don't gel together and go backwards from the factory setup.

Get a clubsport catback and sell the borla. I remember I told you a bit about the borla with a downpipe when I first got it and then you got a dp after. Totally changed the sound of the car and I think it is the perfect sound

Tx for the info. esp on the exhaust and intake.

Than’s for the heads up on the intake. I’m going to get a K&N filter (for now). I do love the wheels. To back I can only find them on foreign sites like in the UK.

Dude I just got the same car, I’m from Nashua btw cool seeing a fellow NH person.

Yes, break-out snow filter, drill holes in front (do not cut-out entire plastic) and K&N Filter.

I have the AWE Track Edition, no regrets and LOVE it. Unitronic DP and does not drone.

Just curious how the GTI does in the snow?

Holy shit that little sound clip of the apr dp w/ borla cb sounds narly!! Do you have any extra clips of it before the resonators ? I would love to hear them I have the borla and want to get a apr downpipe

Where do I buy santiago rims euro spec? Directly from my dealership? I can't believe vw never sold gti with the 19" option.

Aftermarket Intake is not a must unless u go to stage3 upwards with bigger turbo then u can see the difference The combination btw stock catback and aftermarket catless downpipe will give the best sweet sound for me but some cut the stock resonator out to be more loud and fart

Do you have spacers on and where did u get the Santiago replicas? Nice build btw

I have a full turbo back milltek with cts turbo intake. It is tuned to 350hp and love it! It's the dsg version and no pops and bangs tune.. Because I don't want to sound like a driving popcorn machine Everytime I let off the gas xD

One of my regrets is purchasing a super fast hatch without All-Wheel Drive 😁. Next car will be an S3 or an STI.

is the front lip an issue im woried about damaging one if i get it. I was looking at the aero fab v2.

CTS probably has the best exhaust to pair to a DP because almost everyone on VW Vortex says the Gen 2 turbo back is quiet.

I regret the borla exhaust too. I put the stock exhaust back on. I’m pretty reluctant to try another exhaust again. I probably lowered my car 3x but now I have it where I want it. I’m keeping my stock wheels on, I’m not feeling any of the aftermarket wheels even though some from rotiform and Rohanna are nice. I don’t entirely regret the apr intake, but knowing what I know now I’d go a different route. Modding can be difficult because there is regret and wonder what could be different. Still fun though.

SO,...If you were just going to do a downpipe and nothing more what kind of down pipe would it be? and would it be with a resonator or not? I drive to Florida from NC 4 or 5 times a year (12 hours) and I don't want my ears ringing for days afterwards.

If you ever change your intake, i’d suggest you going for the Eventuri intakes. I have on my BMW M5 f10 and from 575hp stock bumpt it up to 587

I got borla too, its loud when you want it to be, but can also be very quiet.

Do your rear doors leak water inside to the foot well?

Do you remember the size of the tires? I was thinking about getting 19s with a taller tire was to close some gap with my springs.

Greetings from the Nashua area!

Great video. And you are correct on all of your points. Most of the time aftermarket intakes do nothing but empty your wallet and do not increase performance. Aftermarket exhausts usually do have a droning effect which ruins the car ride and sounds very annoying too. As for the 19 inch wheels, they are too big for your car and do not make the car drive better, if anything they make it drive worse. Your car would look and drive much better with 17's with a taller sidewall tire, stock exhaust and stock intake. Be wary about lowering your future car as that can also create its own set of problems too. Takeaway lesson here is that most mods ruin what used to be a good car.

On your battery, did you end up coding/adapting it with obdeleven/vcds?

What does '' euro spec'' mean for wheels, educate me please

Had to downsize from 18" to 17" because of the road conditions in CT and NY. My ass would break if I hit a pothole with 19s on 35 series rubber. I've had many sporty cars and I have never felt pain from hitting a pothole until the GTI.

nice video!

I have a 2016 GTI S basic 6 speed 2 door. No mods, no need. This is a fun quick car that CANNOT be driven slow. 36000 miles and no issues yet. If I was in my twenties it would be upgraded.

Very beautiful wheels dude great car 👌

hey in Wht Mtns too! Nice video-

I highly doubt the apr intake wouldnt offer gains over the stock setup. I know thats not the case on the mk6 but maybe the design changed enough that there are no gains upgrading on an mk7. Gotta watch out for people with agendas online.

Seems like the Vibrant 17950 is the way to go for res, at least according to the forum posts.

Wheels look great! How’s the ride quality? Roads down south are horrible. Not sure how long they would last lol.

good review from fellow 603

Are those oem euro tails? Are they from shop dap? Hard install?

I was very close to pulling the trigger in the Santiago wheels but my car has black Austin wheels and I wanted to keep the black, if it wasn’t for that I would have oem Santiago wheels and probably regret it. Now I’m interested in something like them for cheaper probably and black.

I have an AWE cat back on my Audi A3 (same motor as the gti) it sounds really good but is hardly louder than stock. So I’m looking forward to combine it with a downpipe

Love the car and the wheels kinda bummed about the intake news tho 😕

I like your car wheels ;)

Going with Borla, and yea im used to LOUD.. I come from All Motor straight pipe high compression B20VTEC Civics.

You’re right the intake doesn’t do anything. Both mine and my husband’s gti are the same.

Well it is better than open air because you dont have a heatshield and you would drag hot air to the engine. Keep that one, few horses +- doesnt really matter, it is not like you are racing for cash. I have 2.0 tdi audi c7 that is silent af but has 230bhp

Owning the same VW for 20 years, they are a pain in the ass to maintain and the parts are more expensive then a BMW and they will absolutely not even run on anything but NGK spark plugs!

Any reason for DSG over standard?

HRE wheels are nice, like Vossen or OZ, but not the same price either 👌🏻

Do you have a tune if so what kinda of tune

My only mod regret is the steering wheel cover that a lot of other people have gotten. I couldn't get it on the wheel as it was mis-cut and it ended up ripping. What a waste of money, which sucks because the steering wheel is so soft and skinny.

Does your motor/turbo sound better/louder with the hood insulation out? Btw I have the same GTI, same color, and that color cannot be matched IMHO. Hard to maintain but looks better than any other color. Good choice!

I went all IE (Integrated Engineering) on mine. I have a 2013 MK6 GTI with DSG - Intake - Intake Manifold (Awesome Manifold, has built in bungs for Meth Injection that I use) - Intercooler in stock location (also Forge Twintercooler FMIC) - Downpipe (Stock Cat-Back) - DSG Tune - K04 Turbo Kit - K04 Tune Also - NeuSpeed Hi-Flo Charge Pipes - GoFastBits DV+ on Stock Diverter Valve - Red Audi R8 Coils (lol, I had one OEM go bad and just went with those) - Koni Yellow Shocks/Struts - H&R Sport Springs and H&R 28/24mm Sway Bars - 034 Density-Line Rear Upper Control Arms, Density-Line Rear Toe Links, Billet Dogbone Mount, Stainless Subframe Locking Collar Kit, Front/Rear Sway bar End Links, Billet Aluminum Upper/Lower Dogbone Mount insert, Density-Line Motor/Trans Mounts - SuperPro Supaloy Front Control Arms and Complete Rear Poly Suspension Bushings - VW/Audi TT-RS Front Upper Strut Mounts/Bearings - Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 225/40ZR18's. Amazing tires. Have yet to dyno it but according to IE, I should be around 350-Hp/350-Tq at the wheels. (IE Says they made 332-Hp/325-Tq without intake manfiold, and minus Charge Pipes) I cant believe how planted the car is now after all the suspension mods, it is amazing how fast I can take some corners.

Thanks bro

Am I missing something here? A loud exhaust is cool, sometimes, except when you speed on local roads pass a cop and he knows exactly which car it was because your exhaust is stupid loud. That's one reason why the active exhausts with valves, etc. are cool.

1:13 aww man is there an intake that performs better than stock w an upgraded filter?

Awesome content! Do you recommend a particular shop in NH to work on my GTI? I'd like to get an after market clutch and APR Stage 1. Thanks!!

Spending that much on an intake system and does nothing for you.. Id throw the thing at them 😂😂

Apr will probably do more when paired with a downpipe and intercooler

How can you dont like that wheels? It looks great on your car.

NH here as well with a 2016 Golf TSI automatic.

That cold air intakes don’t work is well known.

With that Walmart battery I would keep the hood closed, put a OEM Battery in your car, it will look better under the hood next to your intake

Stock intakes these days are far better than any aftermarket. Most just give a better sound and no real performance gains.

Intakes don't actually increase hp... they may help free some up if thr systems restrictive.. also getting as much cooler air as possible (colder motor is a happy one) but they're really just for sound.. get one with a heat shield and have it be open so you get the sounds.

The original santiagos are for a 225 tyre not 235...in sa we get them from the factory with 225 tyres 👍

where did you get those rims haha?

if you didn't do what you did, then you wouldn't know what you do now. great vid...nice car pal Q. have you seen people fit a club sport s exhaust to this car? I have a scirocco 2010 1.4 gt, looking to forge engine and maybe resonator delete THEN and only then will I map it via APR. aim for 222bhp

Nice

is this the same motor they use in the new 2020 JETTA GTI?

If you put in a second resonator it will be much quieter

Did you ever had a problem during winter or snow for the GTi? because its front wheel drive? and please what is exact size of you tires?

Aye representing NH lol

Hi . I live in Australia and have a Golf R had it remapped a with APR. dont complain about the prices of apr parts because here they take the piss.i have just got a price this week for an intercooler.$1800 plus $1000 fitting. $1200 for the air intake.and i have to have the cooling because the average temp here is 90 degrees every day so you may not get the spec. but you cant have everything. nice looking GTI. get an R!,

Was that loud??

Показал бы какой глушитель снизу и как сделано

What did you think installing new intakes they only work if you heavy modify your engine

Dont air intakes always make the performance worse without a tune?

Can you not use the work route

that test doesn't really prove much and the results aren't confirmed on the dyno, apr intake has proven gains when it comes to dyno and actual use. bunch of guys were breaking the test down and explaining why it was pointless.

what kind of wing is that on your spoiler?

Yeah my Santiago wheels are 235’s. I’m in the UK.

im happy stock. but a dump pipe tune would be only mod

Are your taillights replica as well or are they OEM?

Where in N.H. are you?

19" wheels in the winter? Save them and put winter tires on your stock wheels