Why did you choose the mk7 golf/gti/r?

[3rdOne]

For me my car is second/weekend/fun car. It still needed to be practical and had to have an auto for my wife. Manual would have been nice but if I was to get a car at all I had to make a compromise somewhere. I really like hatches and needed to be a 4 door for the dog. That only really leaves one choice. No Miata or GT86 4 door models, Mini out as way to expensive, used Panamera market is still to rich for me, Subaru has the CVT and really cheap interiors, I am nervous of used BMW repair costs and didn't really want one anyway. And the GTI got so many good reviews. Then it was a choice of an R or GTI. Ended up with the GTI for various reasons and really love it. Of course there are other cars I lust after but the GTI is really a fantastic car.

 

[jimlloyd40]

So, does the WRX and STI mostly come in CVT now? I remember when they were keen on only selling manuals once upon a time.

No they still have the manual trans but because I'm making in city deliveries I wanted a DSG.

 

[GTIfan99]

I had GTI's in the past and a Corrado, the reliability drove me away for almost 20 years. Wanted a regular Golf for a daily, because my STR prepped NC Club had become miserable to drive on the street, but I saw a new mk7.5, and went home with it. I swore it was staying stock, but took the GTI to an autocross a few hours away so I didn't have to drive the Miata. Car did really well. I found myself starting to autocross, then tracking the GTI, and the Miata sat in the garage more and more, and I ended up selling it. I've had a lot of cars, and my current Rabbit Edition is one of my favorites, and right up there with my 93 Corrado, 05 STi, and 987 S for getting the details right and feeling so coherent.

 

[kevinkar]

I like high performance "normal people" cars as well as muscle cars so I have gone from Mustang GT, Camaro Z28 to C6 Corvette with a (reasonably) high performance Volvo V70R thrown in between the Camaro and Corvette.

Because the Corvette was starting to nickel and dime me to death and I did not like the current crop of muscle cars (all way too big and not modern looking at all) and did not want to pay for a new Corvette or the cost of a Porsche, Audi RS something or else, etc. I looked for something that was roughly as fast as the C6, more practical, and easier for my wife to get in and out of (for several years it was not fun watching her painfully struggle.) The Mk7.5 R seemed to check off all the boxes and was reasonably priced.

For now, it works. I wouldn't mind an RS3 but they are still more than I'm willing to pay. So the Golf R is what I got.

 

[GTI Jake]

Natural progression from owning 16 Volkswagen Mk1-6 (except Mk5, because they’re chick cars).

Mk7 is the best performing car for the money in every aspect. My Is38 car beats up on cars that cost twice as much and still averages 30mph doing it. Ultimate all around’er.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Natural progression from owning 16 Volkswagen Mk1-6 (except Mk5, because they’re chick cars).

Mk7 is the best performing car for the money in every aspect. My Is38 car beats up on cars that cost twice as much and still averages 30mpg doing it. Ultimate all around’er.

Ftfy

 

[MSH]

From my senior yr in High School with a ’77 Rabbit that I quickly modified with MSW wheels, Anza Exhaust, and Euro Bumpers I was hooked on VW’s. From there I had many modded mk1’s and mk2’s along the way. I took a long hiatus from VWs for a good 20+ yrs. Got into BMW’s and tracking a well sorted M Coupe quite a bit in our Northern Cal days and then kids happened and no fun cars for a very long time. My wife got sick of hearing me talk about Golf R’s and finally gave me the green light, so picked one up back in April 2019. I thought I would keep it relatively stock….don’t know who I was kidding. I do long to get back to BMW camp with a M2 Comp but in the short term the R won’t be going anywhere. As Jake said as an all-rounder and performance/$ its really tough to beat.

 

[Mr. Conundrum]

I like high performance "normal people" cars as well as muscle cars so I have gone from Mustang GT, Camaro Z28 to C6 Corvette with a (reasonably) high performance Volvo V70R thrown in between the Camaro and Corvette.

Because the Corvette was starting to nickel and dime me to death and I did not like the current crop of muscle cars (all way too big and not modern looking at all) and did not want to pay for a new Corvette or the cost of a Porsche, Audi RS something or else, etc. I looked for something that was roughly as fast as the C6, more practical, and easier for my wife to get in and out of (for several years it was not fun watching her painfully struggle.) The Mk7.5 R seemed to check off all the boxes and was reasonably priced.

For now, it works. I wouldn't mind an RS3 but they are still more than I'm willing to pay. So the Golf R is what I got.

A V70R! A clean, 6mt version of that was my dream car for about a year. It's almost impossible to find a clean one with a stick, though.

 

[Mr. Conundrum]

I came from a 10th gen Civic Si and a modified 2nd gen Fit Sport before that. Tbh, I wanted a Type-R, but the price of those things is more than I wanted to pay.

So, I started looking around for a hot hatch outside of Honda that would/could be in a similar league as the Type-R. I concluded the MK7 GTI was the one. The WRX, the Si, the Focus ST, the ND Miata; nothing I tried was as well rounded as the GTI, while also having it's potential. (Although that Miata really spoke to me; it just isn't practical at all) I always had a soft spot for the Mk6 and MK7 GTI/Rs too.

I've had it a year and like it a lot so far. It really is a great all around'er and the perfect base to build from to your tastes, if you're in to mods.

 

[bentin]

From my senior yr in High School with a ’77 Rabbit that I quickly modified with MSW wheels, Anza Exhaust, and Euro Bumpers I was hooked on VW’s. From there I had many modded mk1’s and mk2’s along the way. I took a long hiatus from VWs for a good 20+ yrs. Got into BMW’s and tracking a well sorted M Coupe quite a bit in our Northern Cal days and then kids happened and no fun cars for a very long time. My wife got sick of hearing me talk about Golf R’s and finally gave me the green light, so picked one up back in April 2019. I thought I would keep it relatively stock….don’t know who I was kidding. I do long to get back to BMW camp with a M2 Comp but in the short term the R won’t be going anywhere. As Jake said as an all-rounder and performance/$ its really tough to beat.

There are a lot of us former M Coupers. The M2C or a 997 GTS are my current rwd emergency plan. The 6 year old will fit fine!

 

[Striker23]

I only have 1 car and I needed one that could do just about everything. For the price it’s hard to beat. Good looks, nice interior, quick and nimble. I’m eqt stg2 and for my 50 mile round trip to work every day I could not ask for much more.

 

[Jumpy]

My GTI is my second car that I've owned. I did lots of research on the best all-around cars in a certain price range, and this was the clear choice.

 

[Chogokin]

I looked at a few besides the GTI. WRX, Focus ST, Toyota 86. These were all round the 30k mark. I just kept coming back to the GTI. I really liked the styling of the 86...but the interior and the lack of power was kind of a turnoff. I think it was the familiarity with VW's and the interior of the GTI that had me circling back. Lol...the most practical of the bunch.

 

[MKSeven]

how much more improved the mk7 platform is over the 6. From a basic standpoint, the mk6 stg1 was like 260hp. Mk7 stg1 brings it to like nearly 320. To put that into perspective (sorry drunk here) the K04 Mk6 was around 350hp and that was a turbo upgrade that required all supporting bolt-ons. The equivalent to K04 on Mk7 is the is38 which I think makes well over 400hp easily. I saw a guy on youtube with that turbo taking down Hellcats. You wouldn't take down a Hellcat with a K04 mk6...

Yeah dude, it's wild how much more power the IS pushes out compared to the k04. While the k04 does bring more power to the table, it certainly is untouchable to the mk7s IS turbos with supporting mods

 

[MKSeven]

My Is38 car beats up on cars that cost twice as much and still averages 30mph doing it.

Honestly, this.