'21 GTI Impressions, Hits, & Misses

[GTIfan99]

On a side note, I sat in and drove a new Velster N PP oday. Honestly, the only really bad part of the interior is door cards. The rest, even though mostly hard plastics, is textured and has some good shapes is not visually unpleasant, but the door cards are terribly in every way. Just a massive sheet of black hard plastic with no real texture, or shapes.

Fantastic handling car and quick, but it's still ugly.

 

[GenX Retread]

Dem headlights tho....

Last night I dropped my sister off up in one of those Ritz Cracker mansion type neighbourhoods, and as I was coming back down the windy road from the Rock Candy Mountain that gives residents that sense of separation from the filthy unwashed masses, I just noticed how far the lights swing left and right, and how far and wide the cornering lights actually cast useful illumination around.

Superb. Equipment like that is way above this car's pay grade.

 

[PRRGG1]

Dem headlights tho....

Last night I dropped my sister off up in one of those Ritz Cracker mansion type neighbourhoods, and as I was coming back down the windy road from the Rock Candy Mountain that gives residents that sense of separation from the filthy unwashed masses, I just noticed how far the lights swing left and right, and how far and wide the cornering lights actually cast useful illumination around.

Superb. Equipment like that is way above this car's pay grade.

I found the same as you a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty cool. I think too that you can program the swivel range (or is it reaction time?) of the lights in Custom mode.

 

[FSTSNAL]

Same situation here except this is my 4th (3rd if you don’t count the mk7 that was totaled a month into ownership) gti. Went autobahn dsg this round as well. Coming from a mk6 dsg base.

my only complaints the tires could be better. Plan to sell factory wheels and tires and should cover most of cost for neuspeed wheels and pilot sport 4s tires. Other complaint is the MIB3. Mine seems to lock up occasionally and I’ll lose the voice for nav once in a while. Also, the changes from most to guessing can fd impacted my ability to upgrade the amp and speakers. The adapters that should work don’t (iDatalink maestro ar) and I can’t use a most adapter. Next test will be pulling signal behind headunit in glovebox and coding to switch to that signal and if not then tapping at the factory amp and summing signals.

 

[FSTSNAL]

Haha...that's a miss. I was looking for that when was installing my boost gauge and radar detector. Good thing is that you can easily find it online.

If you want the full service and wiring manual you can pay I think $32 for 24 hour access on erwin. I did it and downloaded the entire service and wiring manual

 

[GenX Retread]

I found the same as you a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty cool. I think too that you can program the swivel range (or is it reaction time?) of the lights in Custom mode.

I don't remember seeing anything in the menu, but IIRC there are some changes you can make with OBD11 etc.

 

[FSTSNAL]

I don't remember seeing anything in the menu, but IIRC there are some changes you can make with OBD11 etc.

It is through vcds. You basically remove the NAR restrictions.

 

[quality_sound]

What's wrong with the wipers? They are made that way to meet pedestrian safety requirements.

They're actually that way for aerodynamics and aesthetics, the hood height is for pedestrian safety

 

[cb1111]

They're actually that way for aerodynamics and aesthetics, the hood height is for pedestrian safety

You're talking to ME about motor vehicle regs? The hidden wipers and the hood height contribute to meeting pedestrian safety regs. EUR-Lex - 31974L0483 - EN (europa.eu) sets out the European requirements and requires that nothing sharp protrudes.

There are several ways of achieving those requirements.

Mercedes does it by incorporating a lift at the rear of the hood that deploys following an accident and effectively moves the flying pedestrian away from hard engine surfaces and also resolves the wiper issue.

Automotive safety is constantly evolving, but rather than tacking on ugly bumpers (70's), those safety improvements are now subtle - like hidden wipers.

Do you really think that VW would design a confoluted system for wipers "just because"? If it were merely aerodynamics, then they could add little wings to the wipers.

Grilles are getting more upright, there is more room between the front and the hard bits and hoods are getting higher - to provide more clearance between the hood and those hard bits. Some manufacturers, like VW, have also used that to meet the pederstrian safety requirements for wipers.

 

[quality_sound]

You're talking to ME about motor vehicle regs? The hidden wipers and the hood height contribute to meeting pedestrian safety regs. EUR-Lex - 31974L0483 - EN (europa.eu) sets out the European requirements and requires that nothing sharp protrudes.

There are several ways of achieving those requirements.

Mercedes does it by incorporating a lift at the rear of the hood that deploys following an accident and effectively moves the flying pedestrian away from hard engine surfaces and also resolves the wiper issue.

Automotive safety is constantly evolving, but rather than tacking on ugly bumpers (70's), those safety improvements are now subtle - like hidden wipers.

Do you really think that VW would design a confoluted system for wipers "just because"? If it were merely aerodynamics, then they could add little wings to the wipers.

Grilles are getting more upright, there is more room between the front and the hard bits and hoods are getting higher - to provide more clearance between the hood and those hard bits. Some manufacturers, like VW, have also used that to meet the pederstrian safety requirements for wipers.

And you are who, exactly?

Ok...we're not all in Europe.

VW used to have "wings" on their wipers and moved them under the hood line BEFORE pedestrian safety regulations existed.

 

[cb1111]

And you are who, exactly?

Ok...we're not all in Europe.

VW used to have "wings" on their wipers and moved them under the hood line BEFORE pedestrian safety regulations existed.

When did VW move them under the hoodline? When were the first pedestrial safety regs?

Let me talk about regulations for a moment. A manufacturer designs and builds cars to meet the standardized regs in all the countries where they sell those cars unless that reg conflicts with a local regulation - then the cars for that market will be modified accordingly.

Europe has been on the forefront on pedestrian safety. Since no jurisdiction that I know of says "the car must have sharp bits on it to impale pedestrians", then manufacturers build them to the strictest rules.

Manufacturers don't do anything that costs them money for no good reason. Cost cutting measures are almost always universal and aren't limited to one region.

On the Mk5 (IIRC) there was a big outcry because a cubby to the left of the steering had gone missing. "VW is getting cheap" was the matra of the day. It actually turns out that VW had to spend extra money to remove the cubby and replace it with a brace and a new fixed trim piece to meet US anti-submarining regs.

Early 2018 R's in the states had arm rest cubbies that didn't open. "VW is getting cheap" was the mantra then as well. As expected, it turns out that cubby cover didn't meet the US regs that require the cubby to latch in order to preclude the lid from opening in a rollover. This reg is specific to the US/Canada (because Canada essentially mirrors US regs) and, while the GTI cubby latched, the R had a different center console design and had a different armrest design. To meet US regs, they essentially screwed the lid shut.

Getting back to the wipers. In case of an accident, the wipers need to be in a position where they can't injure a pedestrian as they go flying over the hood and bounce off the windshield. Manufacturers have come up with many different ways of doing that - a two-fer to use pyrotechnics to raise the rear of the hood to give more clearance to underhood items AND resolve the wiper issue (MB) or (what most other manufacturers did) is hide the wipers under the hoodline and figure out some way of getting access to them for service. Aerodynamics come into play as well but AFAIK, the driving factor was to keep the wipers from becoming a skewer.

Anybody remember the single arm wipers on Mercedes in the early 90's? Back then, I was working with the company that was doing the AutoCAD design and I remember talking to them about the design criteria - part of that was where the wiper would rest because most pedestrians bounce off the center or driver's side windshield.

Right now, they are trying to figure out how to soften the A pillars.

Who am I? I'm the guy that got VW to authorize repairs for the "frozen driver's door" on the Mk5 and got VW to extend the warranty on the 3rd brake light - oh, and I moved the Mk7 stalling issue through the system once DietCokeFiend did all of the hard work pulling complaints together and writing a world class petition for investigation. That got VW off their duff and devise a solution.

 

[KevinC]

What's wrong with the wipers? They are made that way to meet pedestrian safety requirements.

My M2 wipers sit in a similar position but clear the hood. And apparently aren't in violation of any safety requirements. A minor annoyance on the Golf but certainly not a big deal.

 

[GenX Retread]

Speaking of wipers, the blades on these factory jobs are awful. What do you guys like for replacements?

 

[jimlloyd40]

Speaking of wipers, the blades on these factory jobs are awful. What do you guys like for replacements?

Bosch

 

[Nickmk7]

Speaking of wipers, the blades on these factory jobs are awful. What do you guys like for replacements?

HATE bosch china wipers. Try Valeo