Coming into this kind of late... SE vs S

[Blindeye_03]

So I am going to explore the possibility of getting a 2019 GTI S or SE with DSG since the 2020s are rolling out. I am going to see if I can find a dealer selling their 19s to make room for the 20s.

Is there an easy way to tell if the SE has the DCC when I go to these dealer's websites? Ive talked / chatted to a few and they all think that I'd have to order one to get DCC.


My other conundrum is that the Rabbit would have been the perfect model IMO but since those are gone I am thinking maybe the S isnt so bad. If I got the SE I'd want the DCC. I dont care about the stereo or leather seats..I do like the headlights though.

So looking at the S I'd have to use the physical key instead of the push start and remote, and I would get a smaller headunit but I'd still have android auto (but only ONE USB port... kind of a bummer ) and plaid seats which I do like. The headlights Ive read suck but I can drop $600 on some replica HIDs so that's not too bad.

Anythingn else I'm missing?

 

[7thVW]

I have a 2019 Autobahn with the DCC and DSG. I absolutely love the DCC. I usually drive in comfort mode and when I want to play she goes into sport. The difference is very dramatic. Once you get used to the sequence of modes you can quickly change for fun in the corners.

I am not a fan of cloth seats, personal choice. I dont know if the SE has the same headlights as the Autobahn, but the headlights on the Autobahn are pretty wicked. Good luck. Don't be afraid to call lots of dealers to check on features of the stock vehicles and also to see what is in their pipeline.

 

[Blindeye_03]

I have a 2019 Autobahn with the DCC and DSG. I absolutely love the DCC. I usually drive in comfort mode and when I want to play she goes into sport. The difference is very dramatic. Once you get used to the sequence of modes you can quickly change for fun in the corners.

I am not a fan of cloth seats, personal choice. I dont know if the SE has the same headlights as the Autobahn, but the headlights on the Autobahn are pretty wicked. Good luck. Don't be afraid to call lots of dealers to check on features of the stock vehicles and also to see what is in their pipeline.

The DCC would be nice but it looks like there is a $3000 price difference in my area for just the SE models. Is the DCC worth at least $3-4k (yeah you also get leather, HIDs, and "keyless" push start). How does the standard suspension compare to the DCC modes? Comfort? Normal?

And the only model that gets the crap reflectors is the S but those can be replaced. I did the same thing on my Fiesta ST - I put some euro projectors on it from the German Fiesta ST. Its terrible that cars are still sold with reflector headlights.

 

[KevinC]

I would definitely get an SE over an S, and snagging a leftover '19 is a great idea, seeing as they are virtually identical to the 2020 model, and have a better warranty (6/72 vs 4/50), and there is "trunk money" (incentive $$) to the dealers now to help move them. Use cars.com to search for the "right" car within whatever range you are willing to travel. Good luck.

Replica HIDs?? Don't do it. OEM is 1000% better than any of the Chinese garbage lights or retrofit kits out there.

 

[cblock406]

I was in the same boat, would have bought a rabbit but was too late. I absolutely didn’t want a sunroof and much preferred the cloth over leather. I settled on a silver white S and really like the car. Osram is coming out with a mk7.5 headlight which will be a higher quality than the helix or bec lights, so eagerly waiting for those to come out. Infotainment and sound system suck, but I can live with it for now. Will probably do the helix sub and sound processor this summer. Point being they can be updated with oem and/or close to oem quality parts. I have no regrets getting the S.

 

[sloopercat]

I just went through the same excercise. The autobahn was nice, but not worth $5K more than an SE with the experience package. I was considering just buying an S, found them around $23.5K. The SE with the experience package was less than $3K more. It will be a much easier resale and can probably recover a lot of it when selling. I just paid $26300, plus TTL for one.

 

[dequardo]

I would definitely get an SE over an S, and snagging a leftover '19 is a great idea, seeing as they are virtually identical to the 2020 model, and have a better warranty (6/72 vs 4/50), and there is "trunk money" (incentive $$) to the dealers now to help move them. Use cars.com to search for the "right" car within whatever range you are willing to travel. Good luck.

Replica HIDs?? Don't do it. OEM is 1000% better than any of the Chinese garbage lights or retrofit kits out there.

+1

 

[SuperDuper]

SE with experience package and never look back. I just traded in my '16 S model for a '19 SE. If you want to have a chat about it all, shoot me a PM.

Also, an easy way to tell if the SE has the package is by looking at the speaker grills on the front A-Pillar. They will be the silver Fender Audio tweeker speakers.

 

[Blindeye_03]

SE with experience package and never look back. I just traded in my '16 S model for a '19 SE. If you want to have a chat about it all, shoot me a PM.

Also, an easy way to tell if the SE has the package is by looking at the speaker grills on the front A-Pillar. They will be the silver Fender Audio tweeker speakers.

Nice! ill keep that in mind. Dealers keep telling me the Autobahn is the only model that has DCC. Sigh. I have a friend at VW thats going to help me find a car since the dealers dont seem to know whats going on *surprise*.

 

[dequardo]

Well I have a 19 SE w/DCC.

 

[Blindeye_03]

Well I have a 19 SE w/DCC.

LOL well I know they are full of crap.

 

[vj123]

I have a Rabbit but if i was in the market now SE with Experience package would be my pick. Premium over S is well worth the money.

Here is 2019 order guide with exact difference between trims: https://di-uploads-pod16.dealerinspire.com/emichvw/uploads/2018/11/2019_VW_Golf_GTI_Order_Guide.pdf

 

[zinfamous]

Usually "DCC" is listed on the specs page of most dealer/Autotrader listings. It's actually more common than listing "Experience Package," so either are indicators that you have that. The Red GTI logo is standard for all 2019's, so you can't use that as an indicator in photos.

also, photos are misleading--you will need to confirm with them over the phone the trim and options. They often post generic S or Rabbit photos in SE listings, and vice versa. (cloth seats vs leather = dead giveaway).

If I were you, I would bottom out with Rabbit if you still have them available. ...though I guess you're really just going for the exterior trim for those in the US. ...Canada gets the real slick Rabbit.

edit: ah, just read that rabbits aren't available...is that true everywhere now?

anyway, I wouldn't knock the smaller head unit. I have an SE (back in April), and I think I'd prefer the smaller display with the physical buttons in S or Rabbit. ....I really miss the physical buttons. It's so much better, and it's not like you're ever staring at your display the entire time, anyway (which is why you want physical buttons).

....but DCC is definitely worth it, which is why I was where you sound like you are right now when making that choice---there were a LOT of Rabbits all around me at the time, so I really could pick from many dealerships, but it was the DCC that I was determined to get, and at the time I wanted the Sunroof (just from past years....now I've realized that having been used to not having one for so long, I'm fine without it....especially because it's one of those constant nagging things that you know is going to cost a bit extra money/attention throughout ownership.).

I definitely like the leather, but would have been perfectly fine...maybe preferred? the cloth. Still not sure, but that isn't anything that I regret, so good there.

......and I am more than dedicated to Comfort Mode and the other features that DCC gives (larger RSB, the fact that DCC will silently tweak your set mode to respond to current driving demand). It's well worth it, to me.

 

[zinfamous]

I have a 2019 Autobahn with the DCC and DSG. I absolutely love the DCC. I usually drive in comfort mode and when I want to play she goes into sport. The difference is very dramatic. Once you get used to the sequence of modes you can quickly change for fun in the corners.

I am not a fan of cloth seats, personal choice. I dont know if the SE has the same headlights as the Autobahn, but the headlights on the Autobahn are pretty wicked. Good luck. Don't be afraid to call lots of dealers to check on features of the stock vehicles and also to see what is in their pipeline.

yup, same headlights. Only difference between the two is that Autobhan has A C(ruise) C, lane assist, adjustable climate control, and the nav option.

I could do without the last two, but I definitely wouldn't mind the highway driving aids. Would be fun to try....but honestly, I probably haven't even used simple cruise control, on any car, over the last 20+ years, and I've done some major hauls in that time (at least 2 coast-to-coast, but then the other interstate hauls I do a couple of times a year), so honestly, not sure how much I would use it after the initial novelty. ...It's weird, I guess I just like keeping my foot on the pedal and it's never bothered me, heh. Even if less efficient. :\

 

[zinfamous]

I just went through the same excercise. The autobahn was nice, but not worth $5K more than an SE with the experience package. I was considering just buying an S, found them around $23.5K. The SE with the experience package was less than $3K more. It will be a much easier resale and can probably recover a lot of it when selling. I just paid $26300, plus TTL for one.

?

that's basically what I paid for my SE + ExpP back in April ($29.5k OTD--in MD, so my memory is that normal fees and taxes and title come out to about $4k of that)

....would be nice to be able to find a <4k mile or so SE, buy-back for stalling issue, for around 23-26k, OTD right now. maybe cheaper, actually? I dunno, I'm gonna start looking because I'm curious, lol. I'm in DC area, so tons of VW lots out here.

yup, here's one

Don't think I'd pay $26.5k for that, though, OTD.

This is my exact same car, now, but with 1.3k more miles. Is mine worth 26.5k? no. I think I could get $24k for it, tops. ....maybe I just don't get depreciation? lol, no idea really. But here's what I know about my car, and this is exactly why this person has sold theirs (either to this Toyota dealership, or this one bought it from a VW as a buyback....which they did.) also, that's what the internet prices for all of that was when I bought mine, new, back in April...0 miles. (yes, the baked-seasonal incentives...which never applied to me, so it ends up being the same internet price regardless). What I ended up paying OTD = this current price + TTL+Fs. So, yeah. not worth it.

Owner probably purchased this 1 year ago, maybe 9 months. Ran into the stall issue with that MT. Got the run around from dealers, never got it fixed (honestly luck of the draw at that time), quickly initiated buy-back. VW service then applied the official fix. (I imagine that this could have been done regardless of a CPO tag?).

This toyota dealership bought from auction from any potential VW dealership across the country, had it shipped by truck (though most likely local, right? I just think there are a lot of these out there at this time, so probably big inventory on the auctions for low mile 2019 GTI 6MT...).

and these are perfectly fine cars. Absolutely no reason to worry about it. It seems the official ECU fix really got the engine humming again, (like mine--well, I still haven't gotten the official fix, but I was one of the lucky ones that got an early ECU fix--back in June--that did solve the stalling--however, the newest fix also seems to improve the timing across all engines, so I'm definitely going to schedule that in the next couple of months--this is a free fix until 2027 or something--but again, all used 2019 on sale will have had it applied; almost certainly)

Other tells in this listing:
--you see the fender tag in one of the later photos, on that A pillar in the background. Didn't even need to look at specs, so you know this is SE + Ex P, which means the only thing you have to think about is color at this point, if SE is set for you.
--The color is "Urano Grey" Tha tis not Urano Grey, because only Rabbit gets that. It's obviously an SE, and it's Dark Iron Blue. I know that because that's the color of mine. You expect these little mistakes from non-VW Dealers...but even some VW dealers, tbh. That certainly happens. Anyway, no issue, just common. You know it's DIB, it's an SE + ExP, no wreck title, completely clean. If that's what you want, then offer less, lol.
----further, because it's non-VW, and they listed the color wrong....this might actually be....and autobahn! very hard to tell with pics, so you need to look at specs for anything like ACC, Lane Assist, adaptive climate control, nav...I don't see that, but it still might be the case. Doubt it, but...

I'd look for something like the above listed, if you are looking for SE, at a price ~$23-24k, OTD. That seems reasonable for my area, at least, but it seems that I am in value region for VW, because we have so many lots. So I guess that isn't as reasonable in other parts of the country, heh. ....I do see you are in Kentucky, so consider expanding your search at least into Northern VA or wherever, because that should help a ton in pricing, if you can make it work.