kairojya's 17 GTI Sport

2017 GTI Sport
Deep Black Pearl
DSG

I traded in my 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 for the GTI this past Saturday. For more details, check here: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26339

I'm very happy with the car so far. It's much more comfortable and less-worrying to use every day than the GT350 was, but it's still fun to drive and has plenty of performance (and room to grow). It's going to be very affordable for me to modify as well. I'll post updates to this thread in the future.

Here are some photos from this weekend when I got the car:












Here's some of my favorite photos of past cars I've had (I still have the Miata):

Nice ride and man that is a crazy awesome group of old cars!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I dropped the car off today (just over 300 miles on it) to have PPF installed on the front end. It's going to have XPEL Ultimate clear film put on over the front bumper, front fenders, hood, headlights, and mirror caps. It has a 10 year warranty through XPEL and a lifetime warranty through the installer. I intended on doing PPF on the front end or the entire car on the GT350. Some medical expenses came up right after I bought the car and I decided not to do it. In hindsight I'm glad now since I didn't end up keeping the car that long (check my other thread linked in the first post for more details as to why).

Here's the car before PPF! Hard to tell in the pic but I received the car with a healthy dose of dealer installed swirl marks. The entire front end will be paint corrected before the film goes on, and it'll stay looking great with simple easy cleaning for years to come (the rest of the car will take more work though).



The place I'm having install the PPF typically does high end cars, and also stores and sells them on consignment (mainly Porsche). Here's some of my favorites I found:

cbaumy34 said:

Nice ride and man that is a crazy awesome group of old cars!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Thanks! They are, and despite the high cost (mainly depreciation) of some of them in the end, I'm still happy I was able to experience them. Even in that company of cars, I still really like the GTI. In the future I hope to keep or have something similar to the GTI, and have a more special car (like the GTR, GT350) as a car I only drive for fun or go to events with. For me at least, owning a special/expensive car like those and using it every day made it less special, and came with a lot of stress.

I could've used my Miata as my daily but it's in pretty rough shape and not safe compared to modern cars (no air bags, no traction control - not that it needs it, no stability control, no ABS, etc). I've had it for nearly 10 years and it's been in my family since it was new in 1990. I've been hanging onto it to use it as a spec racing car in the future, or in the very least a track day car whenever I get around to putting enough safety equipment in it.

kairojya said:

Thanks! They are, and despite the high cost (mainly depreciation) of some of them in the end, I'm still happy I was able to experience them. Even in that company of cars, I still really like the GTI. In the future I hope to keep or have something similar to the GTI, and have a more special car (like the GTR, GT350) as a car I only drive for fun or go to events with. For me at least, owning a special/expensive car like those and using it every day made it less special, and came with a lot of stress.

I could've used my Miata as my daily but it's in pretty rough shape and not safe compared to modern cars (no air bags, no traction control - not that it needs it, no stability control, no ABS, etc). I've had it for nearly 10 years and it's been in my family since it was new in 1990. I've been hanging onto it to use it as a spec racing car in the future, or in the very least a track day car whenever I get around to putting enough safety equipment in it.

Click to expand...

Very solid mindset sir. Kind my dream as well. At the moment I have the mk7 as the daily and a mk2 that will be my project/special/auto x car. Works great dsg on the daily and 5spd on the mk2.


Definitely look forward to see what you do with this and the miata or any of the potential future cars.

Cheers [emoji106]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

cbaumy34 said:

Very solid mindset sir. Kind my dream as well. At the moment I have the mk7 as the daily and a mk2 that will be my project/special/auto x car. Works great dsg on the daily and 5spd on the mk2.


Definitely look forward to see what you do with this and the miata or any of the potential future cars.

Cheers [emoji106]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Thank you, your cars sound like a great pair!

I picked up the car today from having XPEL Ultimate PPF installed on the entire front. It's a bit dirty from the weather, and I'm not supposed to wash it for a few days, but unless you're looking for it, you can't tell the film is there.







I'll follow up in the future with my impressions on it after I get some more miles and all the little imperfections are worked out (will require some sunlight/heat).


I then took my car to get tinted from a place I used for my GT350 with great results. I got Wincos ceramic IR rejection tint, 30% front 20% rear. The same as I did on the GT350. This past summer, here in Texas, I could really tell the difference the tint made on cabin temps with the car sitting in the sun all day while I was at work. I haven't seen the car yet in the daylight but it looks pretty good so far!




The PPF has a 10yr warranty through XPEL, but the installer honors a lifetime warranty (granted, as long as they're in business). The tint has a lifetime warranty through any certified installer. I'm not sure about the tint, but the PPF is covered by insurance (at least, most insurance companies) once it's installed on the car, which is comforting considering how expensive it is.

The car is filthy, I have to wait awhile for the PPF to settle before washing the front end and we're having a cold front anyway (22F tonight, in Texas).

Here's how the tint looks at least!

Looks awesome, if you don't mind asking you, how much did you paid for the car out the door? I'm looking at getting the exact same car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TurboJuan said:

Looks awesome, if you don't mind asking you, how much did you paid for the car out the door? I'm looking at getting the exact same car.

Click to expand...

Thanks! It was $30,235.00 MSRP with monster mats and the cargo mat (dealer options, meh). I got it for $27,235.00 and paid $354.42 in fees/title. I didn't pay sales tax since my trade in was worth more (and I already paid sales tax on that value when buying that car).

After checking the forums I realize I probably could've got the car for another $2k less, but I was very happy with the trade in value they gave me for my GT350. I had 3 other dealers of various makes (including CarMax) appraise the GT350 and nobody came within $4k of what my GTI's dealer gave me, even after I tried to get the other dealers to compete lol.

I'm very happy with the car at this price. My 2014 Scion FRS was roughly the same price as I paid for the GTI, and I like the GTI a bit more. It doesn't have the same handling or steering feel as the FRS but the GTI is turbo, I missed having a turbo car, and much more practical and comfortable!

Welcome to the forum / GTI Club!

Great progress so far!

wow man a GTR and a GT350!! Hope this GTI serves you well. And i'm with you on the daily a fun car that won't add much stress and have a special car for weekends/autoX/track. I have an e36 M3 that serves that purpose but hope to eventually work my way up to GTR/911/Cayman (one day far in the future type dreams lol)

E90 Skye said:

wow man a GTR and a GT350!! Hope this GTI serves you well. And i'm with you on the daily a fun car that won't add much stress and have a special car for weekends/autoX/track. I have an e36 M3 that serves that purpose but hope to eventually work my way up to GTR/911/Cayman (one day far in the future type dreams lol)

Click to expand...

Thank you. I've been keeping my Miata for years now as I want it to someday be a dedicated track car. The thought of dumping money into it and only using it a handful of times per year always makes me end up putting that money into either a "better" street car or something else. It's a bit frustrating, but not a terrible problem to have I guess.

I hope to have a 911 of some sort as my next car, someday. I like the GTI a lot, it may become my long-term daily car and I'll sometime add a 911 though I'm sure I'd want to drive the 911 every day .... ugh. For now I'll just enjoy the GTI. I hope to do some small mods this year, and make it out to MSR Cresson for a few track days this year.

Awesome cars. Hope you enjoy the GTI.

Any mods planned?

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

Zacr81 said:

Awesome cars. Hope you enjoy the GTI.

Any mods planned?

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Thanks! I've been enjoying the GTI a lot in stock form the past few months. I plan to do some mild things as I want to comfortably use this car everyday. I think I'll do the turbo intake muffler delete soon as I want more turbo noises. Eventually I'll do wheels and tires, maybe some suspension upgrades, more exhaust noise (but not too loud), and a tune of some sort (perhaps Cobb).