Mk7 vs 7.5 R

[noluck289]

Making the jump from a gti to a R very soon and i’m unsure if the 7.5 is worth it. Is the 7spd dsg any smoother than the 6spd dsg? It would be a few thousand more for a 7.5 and i’m curious if anyone has gone from one to the other and been happy with it

 

[dtfd]

Outside of what you mentioned, the biggest difference with the R is going to be analog vs digital gauges.

 

[mrmatto]

it's .5 faster

 

[KevinC]

I've owned both. I prefer the facelift cosmetic changes, the LED head/taillights, but that's minor stuff. The digital cockpit is fine but so were the analog gauges in the Mk7. Seats are perforated in the 7.5 and that's a nice change. Can't comment on the different DSG boxes as both of mine have been 6MT.

One big thing you get with the 7.5 is the 6 yr/72k mile b2b warranty. If you find a later car you might still have a lot of factory warranty left, depending on in-service date and mileage.

Can't go wrong either way IMHO - but - I would definitely avoid a '15 model as the MIB1 infotainment is VASTLY inferior to MIB2 which appeared from '16 forward.

 

[scrllock]

Better fuel economy with the 7-speed. If you're building the car for a bunch of power the gearbox can take more torque (limitations besides just clutchpacks). Some 7-speed cars come with a dsg "catch can," some don't.
You can retrofit the cluster. The injectors that come in the 19+ cars suck balls, but you can swap to pre-facelift ones. The primary O2 sensors are different (not swappable) and can be hard to find at times (very minor issue, but still annoying). I believe some other harnesses are slightly different or revised, but nothing else I can think of where you can't use pre-facelift parts.
The o2 sensor thing is due to the 2019 cars using a newer ECU but at this point there's not much difference when it comes to tuning/feature parity.
I haven't been able to find any other significant differences with the DLRA (2019), DJJA (2018) and CYFB (2015-2017). Very early (2015) IS38s might have had more issues, but they're all a crapshoot.

 

[starsmith]

Did the 7.5R get all the little cost-cutting things that the 7.5GTI got? No AC glovebox, under seat drawer, battery cover, etc? And worse/cheaper injectors?

 

[scrllock]

Did the 7.5R get all the little cost-cutting things that the 7.5GTI got? No AC glovebox, under seat drawer, battery cover, etc? And worse/cheaper injectors?

Yes to all of those. On the bright side you don't need a tune revision to use pre-2019 injectors.

 

[noluck289]

Better fuel economy with the 7-speed. If you're building the car for a bunch of power the gearbox can take more torque (limitations besides just clutchpacks). Some 7-speed cars come with a dsg "catch can," some don't.
You can retrofit the cluster. The injectors that come in the 19+ cars suck balls, but you can swap to pre-facelift ones. The primary O2 sensors are different (not swappable) and can be hard to find at times (very minor issue, but still annoying). I believe some other harnesses are slightly different or revised, but nothing else I can think of where you can't use pre-facelift parts.
The o2 sensor thing is due to the 2019 cars using a newer ECU but at this point there's not much difference when it comes to tuning/feature parity.
I haven't been able to find any other significant differences with the DLRA (2019), DJJA (2018) and CYFB (2015-2017). Very early (2015) IS38s might have had more issues, but they're all a crapshoot.

Thank you so much. Curious about how the 7spd will idle at 1100rpm in sport mode, my 6spd dsg never did this, is there any benifit?

 

[scrllock]

Thank you so much. Curious about how the 7spd will idle at 1100rpm in sport mode, my 6spd dsg never did this, is there any benifit?

You can change your idle in the tune to whatever. I don't think my idle is that high in sport, but it helps with vibrations and stiff mounts. Stock I don't think it's noticeable.

 

[KevinC]

Did the 7.5R get all the little cost-cutting things that the 7.5GTI got? No AC glovebox, under seat drawer, battery cover, etc? And worse/cheaper injectors?

NO. My '19 still has AC in the glovebox, R in the US never had an underseat drawer (came with non-power seats only and all US R's got power seats), still has the battery cover, though it only surrounds the battery and doesn't close over the top of it. Worse injectors? Never heard that one. Overhead console still illuminated too, which was cut in the GTI.

 

[scrllock]

NO. My '19 still has AC in the glovebox, R in the US never had an underseat drawer (came with non-power seats only and all US R's got power seats), still has the battery cover, though it only surrounds the battery and doesn't close over the top of it. Worse injectors? Never heard that one. Overhead console still illuminated too, which was cut in the GTI.

How many miles on your R? My first set of continentals (2019+) died at 25k, second set at 35k. Super common to see the teflon seal blow out.

 

[KevinC]

43k miles on the current '19, and my '16 had 50k on it when I sold it. I ditched my Conti's at 20k miles for PS4AS's as I do some winter driving. Those are still going strong and look to have at least 15k left in them, maybe more.

 

[Brian_]

43k miles on the current '19, and my '16 had 50k on it when I sold it. I ditched my Conti's at 20k miles for PS4AS's as I do some winter driving. Those are still going strong and look to have at least 15k left in them, maybe more.

Conti DI fuel injectors, not tires. Have been failing at what seems to be a higher rate than the Bosch injectors on the MK7 & '18 MK7.5.

 

[Green SVT]

56k on my '19. No injector issues.