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Wanting to buy a MK7 GTD but need to know a few things

Diater

New member
Location
Netherlands
Car(s)
MK7 GTD
Hey,

I'm a pretty young, but hard working guy. As of a year ago I bought myself a vw golf mk6 1.4i (not the TSI version, mind you). It gets me from A to B nicely, but since I'm driving quite a good distance (157km per trip) it's not exactly do-able on petrol.
I wanted to swap to a GTI, but that's an even worse decision even though I'd love to have one. I made the decision to go for a GTD but I really need to know a few things before I get one.

I like cars, and I also like it when there's a bit of noise that comes out of the car. Just a plain diesel without any sound is so.. meh. I was wondering if it's possible to get more noise out of the exhaust without getting rid of the catalysator etc. I don't want to go through an entire hassle just so that a year later it won't pass the emissions test

Are stage 1 tunes considered a waste of money? I asked a bunch of co-workers this question and the debate still goes on. One half claims that a stage 1 tune would obviously provide more power but also make it less efficient for fuel.
The other half claims that after a stage 1 tune shouldn't hurt much at all and the cost efficiency for owning a diesel should stay the same

I'm just really curious. I've tried looking through YouTube if there any TDI powered cars that have modified exhausts but most if not all videos I found, all of them were catless that left a huge cloud of smoke behind after they pull. There's no way I could go through with that for an entire year
I also don't know whether getting an exhaust without deleting the cat would make any noise difference at all

Any help is much appreciated!
 

Dervdave

Ready to race!
Location
uk
Car(s)
Golf MK7 GTD
Just get one, remap it and worry about everything else later :):D
 

das_gtd

New member
Location
SK
If you want to have some decent sound do not buy diesel. Not 4 cylinder. To get at least some sound from GTD buy one with soundaktor. I know it's not real sound and you can hear it only from inside. But if you lower volume on it to 70-80% it's okay for a diesel car.

If you want to tune it, do it with some sense if you want to keep it reliable.
I spoke with one of the best tuners of diesels in country and he told me that 2.0TDI 135kw has to be tuned very precisely. So no tuning boxes or universal maps.
Ofc more power = higher fuel consumption, more wear on running gear.
If you decide to take DSG version, save some money and get DSG remap - better fuel economy, car is more nimble and the best thing - less wear on running gear because engine is almost always running in optimal revs. (No 6th gear when doing 50km/h)

GTD is pretty quick for everyday car so if you have chance, test drive it and you'll see yourself.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Don't know if it's still an option or on what years it was an option since we don't have the GTD in North America but if you option the "sight & sound pack" you also get external sound actor. Gives you louder sound out of the exhaust (in addition to the internal sound actor).
IMG_20200517_161310.jpg
 

Diater

New member
Location
Netherlands
Car(s)
MK7 GTD
If you want to have some decent sound do not buy diesel. Not 4 cylinder. To get at least some sound from GTD buy one with soundaktor. I know it's not real sound and you can hear it only from inside. But if you lower volume on it to 70-80% it's okay for a diesel car.

If you want to tune it, do it with some sense if you want to keep it reliable.
I spoke with one of the best tuners of diesels in country and he told me that 2.0TDI 135kw has to be tuned very precisely. So no tuning boxes or universal maps.
Ofc more power = higher fuel consumption, more wear on running gear.
If you decide to take DSG version, save some money and get DSG remap - better fuel economy, car is more nimble and the best thing - less wear on running gear because engine is almost always running in optimal revs. (No 6th gear when doing 50km/h)

GTD is pretty quick for everyday car so if you have chance, test drive it and you'll see yourself.
Thanks so much for the advice!

I'm definitely thinking of getting the DSG version! Driving 157kms in The Netherlands is bound to be traffic jams, and it's a giant pain in the ass to go through it with a manual I also wanted a DSG because it drives much smoother as well.

I was looking at some of the more respected tuning companies in The Netherlands and already looked into DSG tuning. These tunes are super expensive though. I'm pretty sure the MK7 GTD uses the DQ380 gearbox, right? Their offer to fine tune it for 999 euros. Is it really worth shelling 1k to fine tune a gearbox? They also offer custom tune to the gearbox if that's my wish, so if you really think it's worth if it's tuned very precisely do you know any good tunes for it?

The same company also offers chip tuning from 184bhp and 380 - 400nm to 225bhp and 460nm but they tell me it's "OBD as well as EPM tuned". I don't quite know what that means honestly.
All I'm really looking into is a slight increase in power and I don't really want to increase any risks to the engine by getting a bad tune (if that's even how bad tunes work) while mainting (around) the same amount of fuel consumption

So to get this tuned precisely like you said, what should I be looking out for? Do I need to install any new mods, do I tell the tuning company something in specific, etc?

Also I guess any exhaust mods for a bit more sound are out of the question then?



Don't know if it's still an option or on what years it was an option since we don't have the GTD in North America but if you option the "sight & sound pack" you also get external sound actor. Gives you louder sound out of the exhaust (in addition to the internal sound actor).

I've looked at some YouTube videos I think in Europe these are called "Sport and Sound pack" while yes it does sound nicer the downside is that I can't get a clean GTD from 0 miles driven so I can't spec it to my personal wishes, it'll be way too expensive for me. I'm looking for second hand GTDs with around 50.000 kms driven in total and most of these unfortunately don't have the sport and sound pack which is why I was opting to get something like a milltek exhaust, but if it doesn't increase any noise if it has the catalysator and everything else still added then I don't think it's worth getting a custom exhaust on it except for the looks, right?...
 
Last edited:

das_gtd

New member
Location
SK
I have pre-fl 2016 DSG with DQ250.

At first I've contacted APR (they have shop in our town) regarding DSG remap.
They asked me for 500€ without VAT which is extreme price. (Salary in our country is pretty bad comparing to countries like NL, DE etc.)

So I started looking for some alternatives and found guy with his own small tuning company but man, he is truly a wizard. It was not just copy & paste job when tuning my gearbox.
It took few hours and a couple of test drives but it completely transformed the car. For 250€! This guy also told me that tunes over 220hp and 450nm are not that safe for this engine as they might look.
Especially if you want to make 160kms every day.

Regarding the engine, be sure the tuner knows this engine and it's limitations. Like I said, it has to be tuned & dynoed properly. Not some 5 minute copy & paste job on a parking lot.

Exhaust sound - I don't think it's worth to pour money on this aspect. It's not going to make any difference unless you straight pipe it. And even after that it's going to sound like ass. :D
If you don't like the looks of GTD's exhaust, swap the rear silencer with one from GTI and put some nice tips on it. It's super cheap and it will make huge difference. Here is mine -
 

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Diater

New member
Location
Netherlands
Car(s)
MK7 GTD
I have pre-fl 2016 DSG with DQ250.

At first I've contacted APR (they have shop in our town) regarding DSG remap.
They asked me for 500€ without VAT which is extreme price. (Salary in our country is pretty bad comparing to countries like NL, DE etc.)

So I started looking for some alternatives and found guy with his own small tuning company but man, he is truly a wizard. It was not just copy & paste job when tuning my gearbox.
It took few hours and a couple of test drives but it completely transformed the car. For 250€! This guy also told me that tunes over 220hp and 450nm are not that safe for this engine as they might look.
Especially if you want to make 160kms every day.

Regarding the engine, be sure the tuner knows this engine and it's limitations. Like I said, it has to be tuned & dynoed properly. Not some 5 minute copy & paste job on a parking lot.

Exhaust sound - I don't think it's worth to pour money on this aspect. It's not going to make any difference unless you straight pipe it. And even after that it's going to sound like ass. :D
If you don't like the looks of GTD's exhaust, swap the rear silencer with one from GTI and put some nice tips on it. It's super cheap and it will make huge difference. Here is mine -

Hey, thanks so much for the replies man! Really appreciate it! :)

I took note of all you said and will definitely keep it in mind! I did some more researching and found a respectable tuning company that offers much less than the initial one I found and has lots of great reviews!

Once again, thanks man! Be safe, and keep that good looking GTD safe as well! :)
 
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