My Evo X and GTI SE

I don't have very many posts here. I joined awhile back. I've had five Evos over the past 14 years and a GTI among some other cars.

Most of my posts were on golfmk6, as my base GTI was a 2013 manual car. I went APR stage 1, than upgraded to stage 2, and the clutch on my 9000 mile car decided to start slipping at this power level. The fact the car wouldn't put down the power in a corner modded due to FWD anyway was maddening, so I removed the mods, and traded that car in on another Evo.

My GTI was flawless daily driver with so many great attributes. I just didn't feel it's the best car to throw a ton of mods at. Fast forward to today, almost four years later, and we traded my wife's truck in on a 2017 GTI SE with DSG. I could not be more ecstatic! First of all, the DSG can handle stage 1 power with ease, and the mk7 is so fantastic.

Being her car, it's probably going to stay mostly stock sans tuning and minor things, but with the DSG, LSD, uprated brakes, sunroof, leather, and rocking stock stereo, it's one heck of a better car than my mk6 was! This will be our primary family car. We got it in Night Blue.


Still at the dealership.


At home in the garage. The BRZ is a good friend's car who is out of the country most of the time, so I get the honor of babysitting it and driving it sparingly.


Here's a corrected for atmospherics dyno graph for the Evolution X. Motor is unopened, but it has full external bolt on mods, including fuel system upgrade, and a larger turbocharger running on E85. Stock clutch with nary a hint of slip at 200whp+ beyond my mk6, lol.


Evo is riding on Ohlins coilovers and 9.5" wide wheels running 265/35/18, planning on 275s next set in hopes of taming first gear wheelspin a bit.

Thanks much for looking!

Beautiful X. Here's mine. Miss her much.

Yours was also beautiful, sir! Thanks for posting it up.

5150 custom AP tune in progress on the GTI. Car is otherwise stock sans Soundaktor disconnect.

Driving impressions:
I like the DSG, and am very happy she got it, because we wouldn't have a GTI otherwise. She won't drive a manual, so this is the next best thing. Her past cars have all been traditional torque convertor automatics, and one CVT. So this is a gigantic step up.

Having said that, if it were my car, I still prefer a manual even with imminent clutch replacement. Logging the DSG is a pain, because you can't go WOT or even moderate throttle at sane RPM without it downshifting. The shift points are also set for the stock ROM, as it still wants to upshift at 6800rpm, well beyond a tuned car's stock turbo and IC efficiency ranges.

The DSG is also strangely geared. It'll do low 90s in third, than like 138 in fourth. Pretty big gap.

As intelligent and great as the DSG transmission is, the driver still clearly knows better about what gear is the correct one to be in at any given time. It takes away just a bit from being the interstate gap finder a manual GTI is.

Let's take a break from the transmission and talk about this car as a commuter. The MQB delivers. Absolutely sublime ride, comfort, ergonomics, and view. I think this car kicks the crap out of many cars costing more than twice as much in that regard. The best way to sum that up, the GTI is just a great place to be when navigating any road.

Man, I love the Mk 7. After spending a lot of time with this car, I think I want an R. Too bad they're all over 40k new now .

Noise did you get your 5150 tune yet? The MK7 support from Cobb tuners is awesome but makes it a bitch to decide who to use. I have a PP GTI with intake and can't decide between MAP, Freektune, and 5150. I hear they all have great stage 1 OTS maps.

I have it and love it! Check it out, you def won't be disappointed with 5150. Its fast and seamless.