K04 vs GTX2867R - Which one?

[ghost135i]

Hey,

So I recently purchased my MK6 that I will be using as a daily while I continue to work on my other car. Immediately I knew I wanted to make it faster, while maintaining reliability, and have been researching options.

I’ve basically narrowed down to two options.... K04 and the CTS BOSS 500 kit equipped with a gtx2867r. I have some questions though, and would like to hear from owners of both of these options. There’s plenty of information on the K04, but I’ve only found a bit of information from owners of gtx28 equipped cars.

Ideally, I would like to see high 300s at the wheels with 93 octane pump gas. Since this will be a daily driver I’m sort of on the fence about adding a meth kit (which the k04 would need to achieve high 300s). Not sure if I want to deal with that on a daily basis. That’s the reason I’m considering the gtx kit over the k04 currently. Also, because most of my driving is on the highway I’d like to have more topend power.

Here’s my dilemma, I really can’t find much on the reliability of our cars running the 2867r. That’s my main concern. Although I have an addiction to horsepower, I’d be willing to settle with a but less power from a k04 if I will not be able to rely on the internals holding up with the 2867r on pump gas. Can it be a viable turnkey no worry option? Any thoughts and suggestions welcome.

 

[GolNat]

@Francoleon91 runs the GTX3071r maybe he can help. Have you checked out his thread?

https://www.golfmk6.com/forums/inde...ornado-red-big-turbo-gti-build-thread.311459/

I find the K04 to be a lot for back road driving so you doing a lot of highway is good.

Meth has other benefits over power. Cleans the intake valves and also can increase MPG's so keep that in mind. I plan on going meth.

 

[ghost135i]

@Francoleon91 runs the GTX3071r maybe he can help. Have you checked out his thread?

Actually I found him on youtube and talked to him on instagram quite a bit the other day about his build. His experience is super positive, and makes me a lot more inclined to go forward with the BOSS kit. But there’s also someone selling their 3071 on the classifieds right now because they blew their motor after a couple months with it, which is unsettling.

Meth has other benefits over power. Cleans the intake valves and also can increase MPG's so keep that in mind. I plan on going meth.

That’s true... honestly something to think about considering the copious amounts of blow by and carbon buildup we deal with. I’m not worried about buying meth, I don’t mind the cost, I’m more worried about MWI system failure due to clogging etc.. Meth is one of the things I don’t have experience with. My other car runs on ethanol blends. I’d just hate to be in the middle of a long drive then have my meth system clog up and leave me stranded.

 

[Mk6Autobahn]

Yeah I'm planning on eventually running meth for fueling and cooling purposes, there's a lot it can do if you tune it right.

I'm not sure what the ultimate long-term reliability is for running a GTX on stock internals, but the general rule of thumb seems to be about 400 is the magical line. Once you start going above 400 (hp? ft lbs? both? ) that seems to be when things go kaboom or you run into huge cooling issues or other reliability problems.

FYI there's a SneekyTuned mk6 K04 GTI pushing 400whp/430ft lbs with e30 and water/meth (direct port injected). Sadly dude sold it for a mk7 now, but he still has his videos on YT: sauce. Def look through the comments as well, they talk a bit about BT reliability and such. I talked to the owner of ST and he was super cool about explaining most of my questions too, I think I'll be going with them over Stratified now.

 

[ghost135i]

I'm not sure what the ultimate long-term reliability is for running a GTX on stock internals, but the general rule of thumb seems to be about 400 is the magical line. Once you start going above 400 (hp? ft lbs? both? ) that seems to be when things go kaboom or you run into huge cooling issues or other reliability problems.

Seems to be right along with the information I’m seeing too, however there’s

this guy who’s pushing massive power on a stock block. I wouldn’t considering that the normal though, and wouldn’t depend on the same results with my build.

FYI there's a SneekyTuned mk6 K04 GTI pushing 400whp/430ft lbs with e30 and water/meth (direct port injected). Sadly dude sold it for a mk7 now, but he still has his videos on YT: sauce. Def look through the comments as well, they talk a bit about BT reliability and such. I talked to the owner of ST and he was super cool about explaining most of my questions too, I think I'll be going with them over Stratified now.

That’s awesome, however right now I’m not sure if I want to run meth on something that will be seeing longish drives to friends in other states regularly, and road trips yearly. I’m not sure how reliable they really are since I’ve never used it on my other cars and just ran ethanol blends.

I’ll have to talk to ST as well. I’ve been talking to Stratified a bit. Not set on any particular tuner at the moment but I know I want to use cobb as a platform for the sake of monitoring and logging easily.

 

[brat_burner]

If you bought it as a true daily and plan on driving all over I would just K04 and be done with it. What's the other car you're working on?

 

[ghost135i]

If you bought it as a true daily and plan on driving all over I would just K04 and be done with it. What's the other car you're working on?

That’s what I was telling myself initially, but I have an unhealthy addiction to horsepower lol! My other car is the 135i in my picture. It’s equipped with tons of stuff including an EFR 7670. Planning on transitioning it into a track only build.

 

[Mk6Autobahn]

Yeah man, keep your daily simple if you already have a dedicated track car. Doesn't matter what platform, the BT guys always have to do more troubleshooting and repair/maintenance because it's just so much more taxing, as I'm sure you know with the BMW. Why would you want to do that to the GTI as well and take away the reliability?

A huge number of K04 guys are running without a single hiccup. It's still going to be one of the fastest cars on the road at any given moment for 99% of daily use. Also, don't forget it's FWD lol. Traction is already pretty useless into 3rd with "just" a K04.

 

[ghost135i]

Yeah man, keep your daily simple if you already have a dedicated track car. Doesn't matter what platform, the BT guys always have to do more troubleshooting and repair/maintenance because it's just so much more taxing, as I'm sure you know with the BMW. Why would you want to do that to the GTI as well and take away the reliability?

A huge number of K04 guys are running without a single hiccup. It's still going to be one of the fastest cars on the road at any given moment for 99% of daily use. Also, don't forget it's FWD lol. Traction is already pretty useless into 3rd with "just" a K04.

Yeah true honestly looking at the video you sent earlier, that k04 mk6 is no slouch at all, and if I really wanted to I could probably add meth for the extra punch. I’m going to keep thinking about it all. Not planning on pulling the trigger for a few weeks since Black Friday sales are coming up. Just gathering as much information possible right now.

 

[GolNat]

K04 puts you with most of the factory performance cars on the road. Above K04 I'd say an LSD is a must.

Idk if it's the gearing but the car surprises the hell out of me.

Really if I was you and planning on doing all that I'd get a MK7 or not go too crazy with the MK6.

 

[ghost135i]

Really if I was you and planning on doing all that I'd get a MK7 or not go too crazy with the MK6.

Was actually looking at MK7s. The reason I went with the 6 is because I got it for an absolute steal. Great condition and about $3k less than the market value, couldn’t really justify passing it up. If I got the mk7 I’d want to mod that too lol.

 

[GolNat]

Was actually looking at MK7s. The reason I went with the 6 is because I got it for an absolute steal. Great condition and about $3k less than the market value, couldn’t really justify passing it up. If I got the mk7 I’d want to mod that too lol.

Yeah MK6's can be had for a good deal now.

MK7's were out of my price range at the time and I didn't look to much into them but they take to tuning even better. If I had put the same amount of money, blood, sweat and tears into my MK6 into a MK7 I'd be further ahead as far as power is concerned. I might have held off on the mods until MK7's came down in price...but probably not as once you start it just snowballs. I'm still very happy with my MK6 and in a way kinda like that it's the older less common gen around me.

I used to window shop MK7's then I have flashbacks to installing my clutch and having to do that again and I quickly close the browser and move on.

 

[brat_burner]

Pics of GTI?

 

[ghost135i]

Yeah MK6's can be had for a good deal now.

MK7's were out of my price range at the time and I didn't look to much into them but they take to tuning even better. If I had put the same amount of money, blood, sweat and tears into my MK6 into a MK7 I'd be further ahead as far as power is concerned. I might have held off on the mods until MK7's came down in price...but probably not as once you start it just snowballs. I'm still very happy with my MK6 and in a way kinda like that it's the older less common gen around me.

I used to window shop MK7's then I have flashbacks to installing my clutch and having to do that again and I quickly close the browser and move on.

Yeah, the price difference is still fairly large between the MK6 and 7. Even if the Mk6 was more expensive I couldn’t justify the difference while having the other car. I totally relate to having an older gen car too. I love it. Especially when newer gen cars don’t expect you to be modded.

I’ll likely take it easy with the MK6. I do all the work in my garage, so I don’t have to worry about spending money on labor, and it looks like K04s hold a decent amount of value if I ever wanted to sell the car and part out the mods.

 

[ghost135i]

Pics of GTI?

All I have is one lousy picture of the front end since I only have had it for about 2 weeks. I will get more soon, especially when I slap these vland tail lights on and get the windows tinted. Here’s all I have for now.

2013 Autobahn 6 speed