ScottVoiers
New member
- Location
- Cleveland, OH
If you don't like reading stories or reading, period, just fast-forward to the end and proceed to make fun of me for being a long-winded douche.
Hi everyone. This is my first real post here on golfmk7 and I wanted to tell my story: It will probably end up being somewhat lengthly but I'm going to be thorough; the reason being because I remember the days when I used to lurk on here, imagining what it would feel like to buy a Golf R of my own. Reading other peoples' experiences was really fun for me because I could mentally put myself in their shoes and feel second-hand what it was like to buy a new car.
Growing up, like most of you, I was a huge car junkie. From as early as I can remember, I was buying every car magazine I could find off the shelf at Borders Books and reading them cover-to-cover. It didn't matter whether it was economy cars, cheap performance cars, or supercars, I loved them all because I could envision myself at one point or another during my lifetime owning one. As a kid, I always imagined buying my first car and loving it for the fact that it gave me the freedom to go anywhere I wanted. I pictured my second car being one of those "cheap speed" cars always raved about in the auto mags. I also hoped that one day I would be in a position to purchase one of the kind of cars that was featured in magazine cover shots; Ferraris, Porsches, etc.
In addition to reading the magazines, I made sure to never miss an auto show. From age 10 all the way to the present day(I'm 27), I have never missed the Cleveland Auto Show. More recently, my obsession really kicked into high-gear and I would attend the show multiple times during its two-week run, even making a "pilgrimage" to the North American International Auto Show last year (I got to sit in a Focus RS at that show!). I would sit in almost every car and think that it seemed it would be a lifetime before I could ever actually buy one for myself. On top of this, on weekends I would visit all the dealerships local to my university and look at cars I was considering purchasing. I don't think there was a Ford, VW, Subaru, or Cadillac dealer within 50 miles that didn't see my rattle-can '06 Focus slowly rolling through the lot at some point.
My most recent car which I’ve had since 2009
Anyone who has ever been through the higher-education process knows that it is a real test in patience. I have watched over the years as close friends from high school and college have gotten their degrees and begun the advancement in corporate life. Some (but not all) had nice apartments, new cars, and even bought houses. In my final year in professional school, I was unsure if I would even be able to buy groceries for that week. I begun writing articles online and begging family members for loans to pay the bills. I can't count the number of all-nighters I had pulled, the number of mind-melting standardized tests I had taken, and the number of times I felt like I was almost worthless as I progressed down my chosen path. It was 9 long years since graduating from high school, struggling to get a degree in a highly competitive field, before I had anything to show for it. I'm a patient guy, but this really pushed me to my mental limit.
In the months leading up to my graduation from school, I began to plan on which car I would end up getting. I knew that I had a short list of criteria which absolutely had to be met for a certain car to be considered. These included: 1) Manual transmission, 2) Rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, 3) Approx. 300 horsepower or more, 4) At least 4 doors, 5) Able to be leased for approx $500/month or less. [As a quick aside, the reason for the lease instead of the financing is because it works out better for tax purposes. I do have the option to purchase the car at lease-end so it really doesn’t make sense for me to finance a car.]. My list of possible cars ended up including the Golf R, Focus RS, Subaru WRX STI, Chevy SS, and Cadillac ATS-V. Keep in mind that although these cars have MRSPs ranging from $40,000 all the way to $70,000, lease payments can me more comparable than you might think due to incentives, lower or higher interest rates, residuals, etc. My real dream car was the ATS-V for most of this period and I had given it some serious consideration due to the crazy deals being offered by GM financial. Base ATS-V sedans were being advertised at $529 a month with a few thousand due at signing. After equipping the car appropriately and reducing the down payment however, monthly rates ballooned to well over $600/month which was definitely outside my budget. Two other cars that fell outside my budget included the Chevy SS (wasn’t too upset about this one since I wasn’t a huge fan of its styling anyway) and the Focus RS. The RS thing really peeved me because I thought it was ridiculous how Ford basically doesn’t lease the thing. Anyone who follows Matt Farrah knows that payments for an RS can exceed $650 a month (yes, thats for a frickin’ lease). As much as I liked the look of the RS and the phenomenal reviews it was getting, $650 was just too high of a price to pay for a focus (and an outgoing model at that).
After ruling out all other options, I was left with two possible options; Golf R and Subaru WRX STI. I had a chance to test drive a Golf R in DSG as well as a base WRX in 6-speed. Unfortunately the local Subaru dealer wasn’t too excited about the idea of a kid test driving their STIs and to this day I’ve not driven one. What I can say about the WRX however is that I was disappointed with the build quality of the car. Lots of people gripe about its interior, but I am a real stickler about the details. I remember the way it felt to pull the lever that folds the rear seats (flimsy) as well as the way so much of the car’s wiring was visible in the trunk and how bad it looked. The disappointment continued into the cockpit where the LCD screens were haphazardly scattered and the chrome door latches seemed like they came from a 90s compact car. I also couldn’t understand how such a new car could have such a terrible infotainment system. Not only does it not offer Apple Carplay compatibility, it is supposed to have recently been revamped (Starlink) yet remains slow and frustrating. On the road, the WRX felt spirited enough but certainly not any more special than the Golf R I’d driven.
I took the time at the VW dealer as well as the Subaru dealer to talk numbers and get some lease offers. It turned out that the Subaru dealer actually wanted a higher lease payment for the STI than the VW dealer wanted for the R. Additionally, the Subaru dealer seemed to have no clue when the 2018 STIs would arrive. At this point I was 100% on the R. I really really loved the cabin of the R and felt that the fit-and-finish of the car was second to none in the class. Even after spending some time in the RS at the Detroit auto show as well as sitting in lots of Focus STs, the R was simply a class above. Here are some of the little details that I really appreciate in the Golf line: 1) The genius of the logo-integrated hatch lever and the associated back-up camera, 2) The solid sound and feel when you close the doors of the Golf, 3) Apple carplay integration, 4) The Fender audio system which IMO is class-leading, 5) The sophisticated look of the gauges. While the STI gauges were equally as nice, the RS gauges look a bit juvenile and have a disagreeable color scheme. 6) Surface quality and button feel. While not as satisfying in a tactile sense as the S3, the button feel and quality of materials exceeds the RS and STI.
The last step in this process for me was locating the car I wanted at the closest possible dealer. I first stopped at Ganley Westside VW in North Olmsted Ohio. They didn’t have the color I wanted but they were closest to home and could have the R delivered from another dealer. Unfortunately, I felt that the offer they made regarding lease payments was not acceptable. They wanted something close to $565/month at full MSRP and seemed unwilling to budge on the offer. I left and went back home. A week or so later, I decided to make a trip to VW of Brunswick, another local dealer. They did happen to have two manual Golf Rs in Lapiz blue which was super exciting. I went into this dealer with a price in mind that I was willing to pay and was ready to walk. What resulted was a negotiation that got me an offer at invoice for the car. I was very happy with this offer, signed on the dotted line, got the keys, and told them to give me the car as-is and to not wash, detail, or otherwise touch it. Here is where things get a little bit interesting.
Brunswick VW in Ohio
The weather in the area was pretty nasty at the time and every car on the lot was coated in a thick layer of dirt, snow, ice, and salt. While I did look at the car before purchasing, it would have been nearly impossible to anticipate what happened after washing it. While being given the usual new-car inservice by my salesperson at VW, he casually mentioned something regarding the auto show after we had found a bag full of VW goodies in the trunk. I was a bit distracted at the time and didn’t ask any questions. Later on that night I arrived home, pulled the car into the garage, and rinsed it off with warm water to remove all the ice and debris. What I discovered was a car absolutely and completely COVERED in swirls, scratches, and smudges. This was much more than the kind of damage you’d expect for a car that had been washed by the dealer a few times. In addition, I looked closer at the seats and realized they were showing some signs of frequent use, especially on the side bolsters. I quickly recalled what had happened during the inservice at the dealer and it clicked: This was an auto show car. Although it only had 30 miles on it, I was now aware that I had in fact sat in this very car when visiting the Cleveland Auto Show a few weeks prior! Anyone who has ever been to an auto show has seen the guys whose job it is to walk around with “dusters” and “clean” the cars throughout the show…
Once I recovered from the initial horror of picturing thousands of careless people jumping in and out of my brand new car over the course of an entire auto show, I gathered my thoughts and came up with a plan. Since I had gotten the car at dealer invoice, I was not going to make a big fuss about it with the dealer. I did ask the salesperson a couple days later if the car was in fact an auto show car and he said it was. He also said that he had mentioned this to me earlier, but he was aware that it wasn’t mentioned until after I had already signed the lease for the car. I happen to be an Obsessed Garage subscriber on YouTube and have been for a long time. I had been planning on getting into auto detailing anyway and thought this would be a good opportunity to give it a shot on a car that needed some serious care.
This pic really doesn’t do justice the swirling and marring of the paint. Just the fact you can see anything in this photo with such dim lighting illustrates how bad it was.
At some point I’ll get further into the details about how I corrected the paint, but suffice it to say I managed to get the car back to showroom quality after spending approximately 20 long hours obsessing over it. Right now I couldn’t be happier and I’m glad I had this learning experience so I know better what to look for in future car purchased. I also am looking at the positive side of things regarding the damaged paint because it did give me the opportunity to correct damaged paint which is a very satisfying process (once its done).
Detailing Supplies
Car after paint correction
Hood of car after correction, same spot as the swirled-out section before
I’m absolutely in love with my Golf R. This is a big deal for me because I’ve dreamed about owning a car like this since I was a little kid and the day has finally come. I’ll try to make some videos about the car and hopefully have the chance to compare it better to its rivals in the future.
Hi everyone. This is my first real post here on golfmk7 and I wanted to tell my story: It will probably end up being somewhat lengthly but I'm going to be thorough; the reason being because I remember the days when I used to lurk on here, imagining what it would feel like to buy a Golf R of my own. Reading other peoples' experiences was really fun for me because I could mentally put myself in their shoes and feel second-hand what it was like to buy a new car.
Growing up, like most of you, I was a huge car junkie. From as early as I can remember, I was buying every car magazine I could find off the shelf at Borders Books and reading them cover-to-cover. It didn't matter whether it was economy cars, cheap performance cars, or supercars, I loved them all because I could envision myself at one point or another during my lifetime owning one. As a kid, I always imagined buying my first car and loving it for the fact that it gave me the freedom to go anywhere I wanted. I pictured my second car being one of those "cheap speed" cars always raved about in the auto mags. I also hoped that one day I would be in a position to purchase one of the kind of cars that was featured in magazine cover shots; Ferraris, Porsches, etc.
In addition to reading the magazines, I made sure to never miss an auto show. From age 10 all the way to the present day(I'm 27), I have never missed the Cleveland Auto Show. More recently, my obsession really kicked into high-gear and I would attend the show multiple times during its two-week run, even making a "pilgrimage" to the North American International Auto Show last year (I got to sit in a Focus RS at that show!). I would sit in almost every car and think that it seemed it would be a lifetime before I could ever actually buy one for myself. On top of this, on weekends I would visit all the dealerships local to my university and look at cars I was considering purchasing. I don't think there was a Ford, VW, Subaru, or Cadillac dealer within 50 miles that didn't see my rattle-can '06 Focus slowly rolling through the lot at some point.
My most recent car which I’ve had since 2009
Anyone who has ever been through the higher-education process knows that it is a real test in patience. I have watched over the years as close friends from high school and college have gotten their degrees and begun the advancement in corporate life. Some (but not all) had nice apartments, new cars, and even bought houses. In my final year in professional school, I was unsure if I would even be able to buy groceries for that week. I begun writing articles online and begging family members for loans to pay the bills. I can't count the number of all-nighters I had pulled, the number of mind-melting standardized tests I had taken, and the number of times I felt like I was almost worthless as I progressed down my chosen path. It was 9 long years since graduating from high school, struggling to get a degree in a highly competitive field, before I had anything to show for it. I'm a patient guy, but this really pushed me to my mental limit.
In the months leading up to my graduation from school, I began to plan on which car I would end up getting. I knew that I had a short list of criteria which absolutely had to be met for a certain car to be considered. These included: 1) Manual transmission, 2) Rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, 3) Approx. 300 horsepower or more, 4) At least 4 doors, 5) Able to be leased for approx $500/month or less. [As a quick aside, the reason for the lease instead of the financing is because it works out better for tax purposes. I do have the option to purchase the car at lease-end so it really doesn’t make sense for me to finance a car.]. My list of possible cars ended up including the Golf R, Focus RS, Subaru WRX STI, Chevy SS, and Cadillac ATS-V. Keep in mind that although these cars have MRSPs ranging from $40,000 all the way to $70,000, lease payments can me more comparable than you might think due to incentives, lower or higher interest rates, residuals, etc. My real dream car was the ATS-V for most of this period and I had given it some serious consideration due to the crazy deals being offered by GM financial. Base ATS-V sedans were being advertised at $529 a month with a few thousand due at signing. After equipping the car appropriately and reducing the down payment however, monthly rates ballooned to well over $600/month which was definitely outside my budget. Two other cars that fell outside my budget included the Chevy SS (wasn’t too upset about this one since I wasn’t a huge fan of its styling anyway) and the Focus RS. The RS thing really peeved me because I thought it was ridiculous how Ford basically doesn’t lease the thing. Anyone who follows Matt Farrah knows that payments for an RS can exceed $650 a month (yes, thats for a frickin’ lease). As much as I liked the look of the RS and the phenomenal reviews it was getting, $650 was just too high of a price to pay for a focus (and an outgoing model at that).
After ruling out all other options, I was left with two possible options; Golf R and Subaru WRX STI. I had a chance to test drive a Golf R in DSG as well as a base WRX in 6-speed. Unfortunately the local Subaru dealer wasn’t too excited about the idea of a kid test driving their STIs and to this day I’ve not driven one. What I can say about the WRX however is that I was disappointed with the build quality of the car. Lots of people gripe about its interior, but I am a real stickler about the details. I remember the way it felt to pull the lever that folds the rear seats (flimsy) as well as the way so much of the car’s wiring was visible in the trunk and how bad it looked. The disappointment continued into the cockpit where the LCD screens were haphazardly scattered and the chrome door latches seemed like they came from a 90s compact car. I also couldn’t understand how such a new car could have such a terrible infotainment system. Not only does it not offer Apple Carplay compatibility, it is supposed to have recently been revamped (Starlink) yet remains slow and frustrating. On the road, the WRX felt spirited enough but certainly not any more special than the Golf R I’d driven.
I took the time at the VW dealer as well as the Subaru dealer to talk numbers and get some lease offers. It turned out that the Subaru dealer actually wanted a higher lease payment for the STI than the VW dealer wanted for the R. Additionally, the Subaru dealer seemed to have no clue when the 2018 STIs would arrive. At this point I was 100% on the R. I really really loved the cabin of the R and felt that the fit-and-finish of the car was second to none in the class. Even after spending some time in the RS at the Detroit auto show as well as sitting in lots of Focus STs, the R was simply a class above. Here are some of the little details that I really appreciate in the Golf line: 1) The genius of the logo-integrated hatch lever and the associated back-up camera, 2) The solid sound and feel when you close the doors of the Golf, 3) Apple carplay integration, 4) The Fender audio system which IMO is class-leading, 5) The sophisticated look of the gauges. While the STI gauges were equally as nice, the RS gauges look a bit juvenile and have a disagreeable color scheme. 6) Surface quality and button feel. While not as satisfying in a tactile sense as the S3, the button feel and quality of materials exceeds the RS and STI.
The last step in this process for me was locating the car I wanted at the closest possible dealer. I first stopped at Ganley Westside VW in North Olmsted Ohio. They didn’t have the color I wanted but they were closest to home and could have the R delivered from another dealer. Unfortunately, I felt that the offer they made regarding lease payments was not acceptable. They wanted something close to $565/month at full MSRP and seemed unwilling to budge on the offer. I left and went back home. A week or so later, I decided to make a trip to VW of Brunswick, another local dealer. They did happen to have two manual Golf Rs in Lapiz blue which was super exciting. I went into this dealer with a price in mind that I was willing to pay and was ready to walk. What resulted was a negotiation that got me an offer at invoice for the car. I was very happy with this offer, signed on the dotted line, got the keys, and told them to give me the car as-is and to not wash, detail, or otherwise touch it. Here is where things get a little bit interesting.
Brunswick VW in Ohio
The weather in the area was pretty nasty at the time and every car on the lot was coated in a thick layer of dirt, snow, ice, and salt. While I did look at the car before purchasing, it would have been nearly impossible to anticipate what happened after washing it. While being given the usual new-car inservice by my salesperson at VW, he casually mentioned something regarding the auto show after we had found a bag full of VW goodies in the trunk. I was a bit distracted at the time and didn’t ask any questions. Later on that night I arrived home, pulled the car into the garage, and rinsed it off with warm water to remove all the ice and debris. What I discovered was a car absolutely and completely COVERED in swirls, scratches, and smudges. This was much more than the kind of damage you’d expect for a car that had been washed by the dealer a few times. In addition, I looked closer at the seats and realized they were showing some signs of frequent use, especially on the side bolsters. I quickly recalled what had happened during the inservice at the dealer and it clicked: This was an auto show car. Although it only had 30 miles on it, I was now aware that I had in fact sat in this very car when visiting the Cleveland Auto Show a few weeks prior! Anyone who has ever been to an auto show has seen the guys whose job it is to walk around with “dusters” and “clean” the cars throughout the show…
Once I recovered from the initial horror of picturing thousands of careless people jumping in and out of my brand new car over the course of an entire auto show, I gathered my thoughts and came up with a plan. Since I had gotten the car at dealer invoice, I was not going to make a big fuss about it with the dealer. I did ask the salesperson a couple days later if the car was in fact an auto show car and he said it was. He also said that he had mentioned this to me earlier, but he was aware that it wasn’t mentioned until after I had already signed the lease for the car. I happen to be an Obsessed Garage subscriber on YouTube and have been for a long time. I had been planning on getting into auto detailing anyway and thought this would be a good opportunity to give it a shot on a car that needed some serious care.
This pic really doesn’t do justice the swirling and marring of the paint. Just the fact you can see anything in this photo with such dim lighting illustrates how bad it was.
At some point I’ll get further into the details about how I corrected the paint, but suffice it to say I managed to get the car back to showroom quality after spending approximately 20 long hours obsessing over it. Right now I couldn’t be happier and I’m glad I had this learning experience so I know better what to look for in future car purchased. I also am looking at the positive side of things regarding the damaged paint because it did give me the opportunity to correct damaged paint which is a very satisfying process (once its done).
Detailing Supplies
Car after paint correction
Hood of car after correction, same spot as the swirled-out section before
I’m absolutely in love with my Golf R. This is a big deal for me because I’ve dreamed about owning a car like this since I was a little kid and the day has finally come. I’ll try to make some videos about the car and hopefully have the chance to compare it better to its rivals in the future.
