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What is your opinion about wagons?

What is your opinion about wagons (not just VW, but in general)?


  • Total voters
    69
  • Poll closed .

codypka

Go Kart Champion
Location
New Jersey
Rear leg room is the same. The extra wheelbase contributes to the increased boot size.
That's what I figured.

Reason for asking is I was test fitting our rear facing child seat in my GTI the other day. It's pretty tight. My wife is not gonna be happy with the legroom, and there's no chance I can put that seat on the driver side behind me.
 

maxwell

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pitt
Car(s)
2018 GSW 6MT 4motion
I love wagons, but to this point have never owned one. I do know for a fact if I reach a point in my life that I am forced to get a bigger car for hauling kids and whatnot, it'll be a wagon and not an SUV

Side not, and possibly a dumb question, do the GSW and AT have more rear passenger room than a Golf or GTI? Or are the passenger dimensions the same?
To add to @Dog Dad Wagon the MK7/7.5 GSW and AT are on the same MQB platform. The only difference is about an extra foot graphed on the boot. Otherwise all but identical to golf/GTI/R body. As such, modifying this platform with OEM upgrade parts has been super enjoyable. I am looking forward to getting my golfR take-off brakes mounted up this spring.

I do love the snow, but looking forward to this spring/summer.





Here's a couple of my favorite winter photos from various points in my ownership/modification.
 

codypka

Go Kart Champion
Location
New Jersey
To add to @Dog Dad Wagon the MK7/7.5 GSW and AT are on the same MQB platform. The only difference is about an extra foot graphed on the boot. Otherwise all but identical to golf/GTI/R body. As such, modifying this platform with OEM upgrade parts has been super enjoyable. I am looking forward to getting my golfR take-off brakes mounted up this spring.

I do love the snow, but looking forward to this spring/summer.





Here's a couple of my favorite winter photos from various points in my ownership/modification.

Your car and a bunch of others in this thread are super nice. There's something about the wagon body shape that does it for me
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Location
Go Birds
Car(s)
16 Touareg TDI
Your car and a bunch of others in this thread are super nice. There's something about the wagon body shape that does it for me

Yeah dude like he said, the GSW/Alltrack are nearly identical in terms of the platform to a GTI/R. The differences are as follows:
1. Golf Hatch/GSW/GSW 4Motion have 50mm steel knuckles, whereas the GTI, Alltrack, and Golf R have 55mm aluminum knuckles.
2. GSW 4Mo has base golf brakes, Alltrack has non-PP GTI brakes, GTI PP/Golf R have the same brakes (only the Golf R has electronic rear parking brake, GTI has manual handbrake)
3. Both GSW 4Mo/Alltrack have the same 6 speed manual and DSG transmissions.
4. Both have the 1.8T that the IS20 from the GTI and IS38 from the Golf R bolt straight up to.
5. Do I need to continue?

Alltrack is a better “base” for building your Golf R Wagon, since all Golf R suspension upgrades bolt straight up, and the brakes are better from the factory on the Alltrack. Alltracks also have better standard equipment on the S than the GSW 4Mo S, and you can also get an Alltrack SE/SEL that’s more or less fully loaded with the creature comforts, unlike a GSW 4Mo. I also prefer the cladding and aluminum accenting on the Alltrack, just sets the car apart. But others prefer the clean, shaved look of the GSW 4Mo. I’ll admit the white silver GSW 4Mo above looks amazing, better than a comparable white Alltrack would look.

annnddd here’s some GFG Alltrack pics
 

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Raguvian

Autocross Champion
Location
Bay Area, CA
Car(s)
2019 GSW 4MO 6MT
Yeah dude like he said, the GSW/Alltrack are nearly identical in terms of the platform to a GTI/R. The differences are as follows:
1. Golf Hatch/GSW/GSW 4Motion have 50mm steel knuckles, whereas the GTI, Alltrack, and Golf R have 55mm aluminum knuckles.
2. GSW 4Mo has base golf brakes, Alltrack has non-PP GTI brakes, GTI PP/Golf R have the same brakes (only the Golf R has electronic rear parking brake, GTI has manual handbrake)
3. Both GSW 4Mo/Alltrack have the same 6 speed manual and DSG transmissions.
4. Both have the 1.8T that the IS20 from the GTI and IS38 from the Golf R bolt straight up to.
5. Do I need to continue?

Alltrack is a better “base” for building your Golf R Wagon, since all Golf R suspension upgrades bolt straight up, and the brakes are better from the factory on the Alltrack. Alltracks also have better standard equipment on the S than the GSW 4Mo S, and you can also get an Alltrack SE/SEL that’s more or less fully loaded with the creature comforts, unlike a GSW 4Mo. I also prefer the cladding and aluminum accenting on the Alltrack, just sets the car apart. But others prefer the clean, shaved look of the GSW 4Mo. I’ll admit the white silver GSW 4Mo above looks amazing, better than a comparable white Alltrack would look.

annnddd here’s some GFG Alltrack pics

The only thing stopping you from putting 55mm struts on a GSW is the knuckles, which is a couple of bolts to remove, so I'm not sure I'd state that as a reason for being a better base for building an R wagon, especially when the actual R wagon doesn't have cladding either.
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Location
Go Birds
Car(s)
16 Touareg TDI
The only thing stopping you from putting 55mm struts on a GSW is the knuckles, which is a couple of bolts to remove, so I'm not sure I'd state that as a reason for being a better base for building an R wagon, especially when the actual R wagon doesn't have cladding either.

huh? You still would have to BUY the aluminum knuckles, which are like $250 a piece (so $500). and do the work to upgrade them. So it's definitely a better base. Anything that is ready for upgrading as-is is a better base to start with. And the cladding is unrelated, that's a cosmetic item. I'm talking about which car has a better base to build upon for getting closer to a Golf R. Alltrack has 55mm aluminum knuckles + non-PP GTI brakes which are more than sufficient for any DD up to 300HP, esp if you upgrade pads/rotors/fluid. You can also get an Alltrack SEL which comes with 90% of the tech a Golf R comes with from the factory, which to retrofit in a GSW would cost a lot of time and money.
 

Raguvian

Autocross Champion
Location
Bay Area, CA
Car(s)
2019 GSW 4MO 6MT
huh? You still would have to BUY the aluminum knuckles, which are like $250 a piece (so $500). and do the work to upgrade them. So it's definitely a better base. Anything that is ready for upgrading as-is is a better base to start with. And the cladding is unrelated, that's a cosmetic item. I'm talking about which car has a better base to build upon for getting closer to a Golf R. Alltrack has 55mm aluminum knuckles + non-PP GTI brakes which are more than sufficient for any DD up to 300HP, esp if you upgrade pads/rotors/fluid. You can also get an Alltrack SEL which comes with 90% of the tech a Golf R comes with from the factory, which to retrofit in a GSW would cost a lot of time and money.

If you're building a Golf R wagon, I don't see why you'd be using the 312mm brakes to start with instead of going with the R's 340mm brakes. The knuckles are $300-500 but a GSW is more than $300-500 cheaper than an Alltrack already. Plus, the R seats are different from any other Golf (Alltrack included) so those are going to be swapped into whichever wagon you want to build anyways.

All I'm saying is if you're building an R wagon, I'd rather start with the one that looks closer to the R already (aka no cladding and can accept the R variant diffuser) and not look at $500 worth of knuckles or 312mm brakes as being a significantly better base to start with.
 

Dameon

Go Kart Champion
Location
Los Angeles
That's what I figured.

Reason for asking is I was test fitting our rear facing child seat in my GTI the other day. It's pretty tight. My wife is not gonna be happy with the legroom, and there's no chance I can put that seat on the driver side behind me.
It was a little tight with the infant seat, but my wife was still comfortable (5’5”). Once it was the regular rear facing seat it wasn’t so bad. If you only have the one car seat, you can put it in the middle and that should buy you some inches. The extra trunk room for strollers, diaper bags, etc is totally worth it. But we also ended up with a Tiguan for the wife’s car for the extra row.
 

bentin

Autocross Champion
Location
Austin, TX
Car(s)
23 Golf R - 3 Pedals
It was a little tight with the infant seat, but my wife was still comfortable (5’5”). Once it was the regular rear facing seat it wasn’t so bad. If you only have the one car seat, you can put it in the middle and that should buy you some inches. The extra trunk room for strollers, diaper bags, etc is totally worth it. But we also ended up with a Tiguan for the wife’s car for the extra row.
I'm 6'2" and my six year old is fine in the center of my GTI. I do think that about the time that it starts to get crowded for him, I can just switch to a backless booster, but it's nice to have the added safety for now. When we used the Bob stroller, things certainly were tight in the GTI, but still manageable, we even did a number of ten hour road trips, back when that was a thing.
 

Raguvian

Autocross Champion
Location
Bay Area, CA
Car(s)
2019 GSW 4MO 6MT
I am a little worried about how kids and car seats will do in the back seat of the GSW. I'm 6'3" so there's not a ton of room behind the driver's seat (though I sit pretty close to the wheel). My partner is 5'4" so hopefully she will be fine behind me.
 

maxwell

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Pitt
Car(s)
2018 GSW 6MT 4motion
If you're building a Golf R wagon, I don't see why you'd be using the 312mm brakes to start with instead of going with the R's 340mm brakes. The knuckles are $300-500 but a GSW is more than $300-500 cheaper than an Alltrack already. Plus, the R seats are different from any other Golf (Alltrack included) so those are going to be swapped into whichever wagon you want to build anyways.

All I'm saying is if you're building an R wagon, I'd rather start with the one that looks closer to the R already (aka no cladding and can accept the R variant diffuser) and not look at $500 worth of knuckles or 312mm brakes as being a significantly better base to start with.
This. Well put.

At a certain point the GSW/AT conversation comes down to opinion, and nothing else. I liked the GSW look better, I found one in 6MT and 4motion for a steal... like $5-6k cheaper than a base AT, and in my opinion its a far superior base to build my North America poor mans R. But, like I said... that's just my opinion mannnn....
 

Raguvian

Autocross Champion
Location
Bay Area, CA
Car(s)
2019 GSW 4MO 6MT
This. Well put.

At a certain point the GSW/AT conversation comes down to opinion, and nothing else. I liked the GSW look better, I found one in 6MT and 4motion for a steal... like $5-6k cheaper than a base AT, and in my opinion its a far superior base to build my North America poor mans R. But, like I said... that's just my opinion mannnn....

Plus, with all the pano leak nightmares I wouldn't touch an Alltrack SE or SEL with a 10 foot pole.

Buying the absolute cheapest slick top GSW wagon you can find and then swapping everything from a crashed R is probably the best way to get a true R wagon in the US (actually in the world, seeing as the R Variant is DSG only and I would build a 6MT R wagon).
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
That's what I figured.

Reason for asking is I was test fitting our rear facing child seat in my GTI the other day. It's pretty tight. My wife is not gonna be happy with the legroom, and there's no chance I can put that seat on the driver side behind me.
The graco grow4me was the only rear facing seat I could fit into the gti and still be able to drive the car as a 6'0" person. The seat can only be in a 20* lay back, no proper 30. If I was overweight there's no way. Even in our Q7, if I was overweight it would really be bumping up against the seat once kiddo is taller and needs the back raised (which extends at a 45 degree angle towards the front seats.)

The doona car seat/stroller was instrumental at comfortable fit, but alas, kiddo outgrew that at 13mo and we had to move to a convertible...

In this sense the mk7 wagon variants offer zero utility over the hatch. It's not like the trunk augmentation helped fit our dog and stuff any better since it was so tiny. The only wagons that worked for us were the Volvo v90, merc e, and rs6. I really wanted the merc amg e wagon, but the wife said no wagon... None gave enough of a towing utility, though. I wish they'd make more wagons that can tow... I hear the aussies have some gm products that fit the bill...
 

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