Mk 7 vs Focus ST

[RMinNJ]

I went over the Veloster with a tape measure in the showroom..concluded the large drivers door would not open in my garage. Also could not fit my parents through the back door. No regrets in day to day living with the GTI.
My son has an older FiST and I can say it's fun, shifts better, easy to work on but everything is just cheaply made..starting with the rust forming everywhere.

 

[bentin]

What, in any car sub 50k these days, is not plastic in the interior? My gti is all plastic besides seat, steering wheel, shifter boot, and having driven recent Toyotas their interiors feel pretty nice. They also won't develop nearly the noises and their door seals won't need monthly lubrication.

To me, it's about consistency. My car before the GTI was a Mazda 3. Magazines all praise the interior quality and say it gives the GTI a run for the money.

Utter rubbish. The Mazda had a very nice dash, it was slightly padded, the plastic quality truly was nice. But the center console and door cards were Lego hard. The seats were somehow even lower quality "leather" than my first GTI, and that's some low quality stuff. Buttons just felt a step or two cheaper, the stalks were harder plastic with more stiction. The GTI just has a level of consistency from one surface to another that nearly any car in this class, or one to two steps up is missing. Hell, our Q5 and previous F30 3 series are lacking in comparison to the GTI. Same was true for the previous few BMWs. The Mk6 still has some nicer touches than the Mk7, and the Mk7.5 cheapened out a little further, but also fixed some issues. Oh, and yes, all German cars need Gummi Pflege constantly, the seals are certainly quiet though if they're lubricated.

 

[victorofhavoc]

To me, it's about consistency. My car before the GTI was a Mazda 3. Magazines all praise the interior quality and say it gives the GTI a run for the money.

Utter rubbish. The Mazda had a very nice dash, it was slightly padded, the plastic quality truly was nice. But the center console and door cards were Lego hard. The seats were somehow even lower quality "leather" than my first GTI, and that's some low quality stuff. Buttons just felt a step or two cheaper, the stalks were harder plastic with more stiction. The GTI just has a level of consistency from one surface to another that nearly any car in this class, or one to two steps up is missing. Hell, our Q5 and previous F30 3 series are lacking in comparison to the GTI. Same was true for the previous few BMWs. The Mk6 still has some nicer touches than the Mk7, and the Mk7.5 cheapened out a little further, but also fixed some issues. Oh, and yes, all German cars need Gummi Pflege constantly, the seals are certainly quiet though if they're lubricated.

I don't disagree the GTI has a good interior overall, and it's not edgy or new in appearance so it will age well in design. Nice and boring is a good thing here.

I certainly wouldn't say it's on par with our audi, though. The audi is so far above and beyond that it's hard to believe they're both VAG products. Our audi does not need any lubricant on any seals. It's still as quiet today, with 50k miles, as it was the day we got it.

My friend has an e92 m3 and used to have an m6. He generally appreciates the gti interior and says "it's nicer than expected", but it's certainly not nicer than either bimmer. The audi he says is on another level interior wise, and I do agree with him on all points.

A lot of this is subjective, but the mk5 imo felt more robust, special, and solid than the mk6 and mk7/7.5. The mk7 has so many hard textured plastic around the console and knee area! Also, why in the world did they decide to overlap the dash plastic onto the center console surround plastic, but not actually create a neat join? It literally sits on top and looks/feels like an afterthought POS.

There are many other areas the golf gets right, including the fabric in the glovebox and door pockets! Great touches! The leather in the gti is actually semi-aniline and quite nice compared to other vehicles, but I would have much preferred a high quality pleather interior because it wouldn't take nearly as much upkeep.

 

[bentin]

The center console makes sense if you have a manual and need to do the Super Pin. But yes, it does look chintzy. I stand by the overall quality being higher than our Q5 which feels nicer than friend's Q7's, but I really meant the A4/S4 which are just terrible inside. Some of that is just MMI, which thankfully has largely died now. E92's are actually my low point for BMW interior quality, just absolute junk. Hard plastic every where, those shitty cup holders that pop out of the dash for no reason and the door cards are painful, unless you opted for the full leather option, which is still just vinyl on the doors. The M6 is okay, but there's still a lot of hard plastic and weird texturing going on., my friend's had lots of trim replaced under warranty, very much reminded me of our B5 A4 with the painted trim, what were they thinking? I always said that you bought a BMW to drive and an Audi to sit in, but BMW has lost their way recently and I'm not sure what their selling point is these days.

And what's this about a fabric lined glovebox? I vaguely remember that in my Mk7. I think the now missing under seat drawer was even fabric lined? I've heard that the Mk8 interior plastics are harder, which will be a bit of let down if true. It's bad enough that you stole my volume knob, but don't make it less pleasant on top of that. Oh, and my SE had pleather, not one cow was harmed in there. I assume the AB gets essentially the US R seats?

 

[victorofhavoc]

Yeah I have an autobahn. The adjunct leaflet manual specifically says it's real leather and then details some of the required "monthly" upkeep. I don't know if the se is different but I've heard it's also real leather?

We have a 2017 Q7. The leather, infotainment (especially having a click wheel and no dumb, glossy finicky touchscreen), plastics, wood, fabric, sound system, dash, door cards, rear areas, brakes, and suspension are all far better quality and better designed. The Q7 actually comes with a double wishbone front and is far closer to a sports car in balance and design than the gti/r. The front brakes are also massive 380mm 6 pots that do a great job stopping, even when towing 7k lbs! There are certainly stupid things about it, like why would you put ash trays in the back doors? Who smokes in their car? I only know two people who smoke and even they think smoking in your car is gross, lol. Also, the same stupid plastic trim that's on the outside door edge of the gti/r is on the Q7, and it's so frustrating to grab that to close the door when stepping out and feel that chintzy plastic squeak and creak in your hands on a 78k car.

I have heard there's a big difference between the entry level and top of the line q7, but I only really know the loaded premium plus and prestige models, and there's just no comparison to the autobahn gti...

It's interesting you didn't like the e92. My buddy's has an Alcantara dash, door cards, and everything is basically wrapped in nice materials. It's also pretty quiet when hitting bumps and stuff, still feels solid given the age and not at all like the mk7 limp noodle. His is pretty low mileage though. The cup holders are idiotic and break for sure, and the seat belt assistant literally never works! Haha

 

[GTIfan99]

I don't disagree the GTI has a good interior overall, and it's not edgy or new in appearance so it will age well in design. Nice and boring is a good thing here.

I certainly wouldn't say it's on par with our audi, though. The audi is so far above and beyond that it's hard to believe they're both VAG products. Our audi does not need any lubricant on any seals. It's still as quiet today, with 50k miles, as it was the day we got it.

My friend has an e92 m3 and used to have an m6. He generally appreciates the gti interior and says "it's nicer than expected", but it's certainly not nicer than either bimmer. The audi he says is on another level interior wise, and I do agree with him on all points.

A lot of this is subjective, but the mk5 imo felt more robust, special, and solid than the mk6 and mk7/7.5. The mk7 has so many hard textured plastic around the console and knee area! Also, why in the world did they decide to overlap the dash plastic onto the center console surround plastic, but not actually create a neat join? It literally sits on top and looks/feels like an afterthought POS.

There are many other areas the golf gets right, including the fabric in the glovebox and door pockets! Great touches! The leather in the gti is actually semi-aniline and quite nice compared to other vehicles, but I would have much preferred a high quality pleather interior because it wouldn't take nearly as much upkeep.

You say boring, but I love me some plaid. Has some nice touches that make what would be boring, not boring.

Sat in Veloster N spec. Door cards alone kill the entire interior without even having to touch them.

 

[golfdave]

the seals are certainly quiet though if they're lubricated.

Reported to the Corpus Christi Sea life Center for mammal abuse.......

 

[bentin]

We have a 2017 Q7. The leather, infotainment (especially having a click wheel and no dumb, glossy finicky touchscreen),

Yeah, that's all gone starting in 2020 for the Q7 and 2021 for the Q5, touch screens only. Thank god, I hate our MMI in our 18 Q5, slow, laggy and doesn't have the depth of menus of the VW setup and isn't nearly as intuitive as the latest iDrive setups, but then I'm one of the weirdos looking forward to the Mk8. The one saving grace is the B&O stereo is okay and the digital dash is actually pretty nicely done. I just feel like the Q5 and Q7, even in Prestige trim are at a much lower level of quality than the Q8 and eTron (which we're likely getting next) and aren't all that much nicer than the VW in terms of materials used or build quality. I do feel like both the SUV's get better details than the sedans though as they're probably not getting much money thrown at them since they barely sell anymore, not that I wouldn't wildly prefer she got an A6 Avant over the silly golf cart.

 

[victorofhavoc]

Yeah, that's all gone starting in 2020 for the Q7 and 2021 for the Q5, touch screens only. Thank god, I hate our MMI in our 18 Q5, slow, laggy and doesn't have the depth of menus of the VW setup and isn't nearly as intuitive as the latest iDrive setups, but then I'm one of the weirdos looking forward to the Mk8. The one saving grace is the B&O stereo is okay and the digital dash is actually pretty nicely done. I just feel like the Q5 and Q7, even in Prestige trim are at a much lower level of quality than the Q8 and eTron (which we're likely getting next) and aren't all that much nicer than the VW in terms of materials used or build quality. I do feel like both the SUV's get better details than the sedans though as they're probably not getting much money thrown at them since they barely sell anymore, not that I wouldn't wildly prefer she got an A6 Avant over the silly golf cart.

I drove the 2020 q7 and a6 and said no rather immediately. Not a fan of the new engine... Turbos < superchargers. I really wanted to like the q8 and my neighbor loves his, but space wise it feels small, and the 1 to 2 shift is just sooooo bad, every single time. It just makes you hate the transmission. Is the q5 really that slow? I find the Q7 mmi to be as fast as the selection I make, and it almost never hiccups. We drove a q5 briefly and my wife wasn't a fan. She compared it to her old crosstrek, lmfao!

At the end of the day, every interior is better than a subaru, Ford, or Chevy!

 

[bentin]

I drove the 2020 q7 and a6 and said no rather immediately. Not a fan of the new engine... Turbos < superchargers. I really wanted to like the q8 and my neighbor loves his, but space wise it feels small, and the 1 to 2 shift is just sooooo bad, every single time. It just makes you hate the transmission. Is the q5 really that slow? I find the Q7 mmi to be as fast as the selection I make, and it almost never hiccups. We drove a q5 briefly and my wife wasn't a fan. She compared it to her old crosstrek, lmfao!

At the end of the day, every interior is better than a subaru, Ford, or Chevy!

Ha, okay, you're dealing with the first gen Q7. Those were a level nicer than the current ones, we have a friend with a Tuareg and it's certainly nicer than anything VW currently makes . They had to find a way to lose 600 pounds going to the new one, and some interior quality was certainly lost. But yes, the B9 MMI is slow and goofy, give me a touch screen any day, and thankfully, that's what they've done.

It's the frustrating thing about shopping VW/Audi/Porsche products right now. The Atlas is too big and feels cheap inside, the Tiguan is too small and slow. The Q5 is soft and slow. The SQ5 is just about right, but she's tired of the shape and feels like it's too similar to her car (which of course it is.) The Q8 is nice inside, but like you said, feels small on the inside yet is large on the outside. The eTron works for her, it's certainly nicer inside than all but the Q8, but the range bugs me. The Macan is so dated feeling on the inside and stupid Porsche options just pile up in a hurry and it's easy to end up with a six figure GTS.

I thought I'd managed to talk her into the new S3 and step back from SUV's, but that seems to have died off. Continued efforts to pitch the RS6 at her based on value retention haven't had the success that I'd hoped for. She puts 5-6k miles a year on her car, so something goofy would make sense. All efforts to pitch the upcoming RS3 have met similar disinterest. Now I'm left trying to pitch the Ford Mustang Mach E GT in place of the eTron, even though now we're right back where this thread started and talking about just how cheap Ford interiors can seem.

 

[victorofhavoc]

Lmfao! Sounds like you're almost in the same boat as me!

My friend has the Mach e and loves it, but he also owns 4 mustangs and an F 350 so he's very much a Ford guy. I drove it recently with the one pedal drive thing on by default and absolutely couldn't stand it. Apparently you can go through the TV mounted to the dash and disable the one pedal drive, but you lose regen. The pickup in it is fine, but it fizzles out after 50 mph like most electrics. He also has a cayman gts... Now that's a car! Porsche is the only vehicle that doesn't need modification to hit the track...

I'm waiting to see what they do with the cayenne next. They better give it android auto or it'll be another no go for us. Just give me an electric suv that can tow at least 7500, go 300 mi, won't crap itself in -10 or +100*F weather, and weighs < 6k lbs... Come on Porsche, I know you can do it!

And at this point I think i'm probably going to sell my gti, take my wife's q7 and buy her a carerra vert or a taycan. Not like I drive anywhere... Lol

 

[bentin]

Lmfao! Sounds like you're almost in the same boat as me!

My friend has the Mach e and loves it, but he also owns 4 mustangs and an F 350 so he's very much a Ford guy. I drove it recently with the one pedal drive thing on by default and absolutely couldn't stand it. Apparently you can go through the TV mounted to the dash and disable the one pedal drive, but you lose regen. The pickup in it is fine, but it fizzles out after 50 mph like most electrics. He also has a cayman gts... Now that's a car! Porsche is the only vehicle that doesn't need modification to hit the track...

I'm waiting to see what they do with the cayenne next. They better give it android auto or it'll be another no go for us. Just give me an electric suv that can tow at least 7500, go 300 mi, won't crap itself in -10 or +100*F weather, and weighs < 6k lbs... Come on Porsche, I know you can do it!

And at this point I think i'm probably going to sell my gti, take my wife's q7 and buy her a carerra vert or a taycan. Not like I drive anywhere... Lol

Ha, yep. I like the Taycan, it's just super long. If it were one or two feet shorter, it would be on our list. It's got about the same range as the eTron though and of course weighs a metric shit ton, it's possible to get them over 5k pounds. The Macan is supposed to get the EV treatment next, but I'm sure the Cayenne won't be far behind. I'm with you though, 300 miles of real world range would be a lot better than 200-250, that's just too compromised. The GT version of the Mach E drops from 305 to 255, which makes it a tougher sell against the Audi with a nicer interior and similar range, if not as quick in a straight line.

I will say that the EV crowd down here doesn't have any issues with the heat, as all you're really dealing with is extra pull from running the a/c all the time, but being able to precool the car is pretty nice. Now the flashes of cold do seem to really limit range as the batteries have to be kept warm to work properly. I think that until we get to solid state batteries, that's going to continue to be a real issue for folks at your latitude and north.

 

[Keehs360]

You say boring, but I love me some plaid. Has some nice touches that make what would be boring, not boring.

Sat in Veloster N spec. Door cards alone kill the entire interior without even having to touch them.

Dude if Hyundai tosses in genesis levels of fit and finish into the next veloster n. It’s a wrap

 

[victorofhavoc]

I've seen two tesla "performance" model 3s out on track now. Heat isn't an issue on the street, but on track you're spending more time wot (errr... Wide open amperage?) in 20 mins than you do all year on the street. First time it was 50 degrees and the guy was done for the day after about 15 mins. The battery was so hot it wouldn't charge. Second time was a different guy who seemed far more prepared and he brought his own home made fast charging adapter that needed to plug into multiple sockets. Dude was running around looking for where to plug into! Too funny, but I love to see the dedication. He also had to sit out every other session to wait on it to cool down.

Tesla just needs to go back to ripping off lightweight lotus, but give it a single, simple motor, a carbon tub, and a drop in battery that's good for 50 miles and can be hot swapped. Maybe one day, but for now there aren't much better alternatives to my 5mpg setup... Lol

 

[MonkeyMD]

Reported to the Corpus Christi Sea life Center for mammal abuse.......

Non sequitar

Spent 2 weeks there for a marine biology course.

We found a massive turtle (probably 200+ lbs) that had been hit by a propeller. 4 of us could barely carry it. Called them and 2 people came. Scrawny girl and and a huge dude. After we had been struggling to move it closer, he just squats, hugs it and dead lifts it and marches up the beach with it.

Anyway, they nursed it back to health and released it a few months later.