KyA CRASH's Reflex Silver 2015 GTI SE

2015 Reflex Silver GTI SE

placeholder

Initial Purchase
24 DEC 2014

Purchased on Christmas Eve 2014, this car replaced my previous car of 10 years and was the first "new" car I had ever purchased.

I had firm requirements, required SE trim with Lighting Package, leather seats, 6 speed manual transmission, and it had to be Pure White.

Living in Florida at the time, I did my research and looked for my car from Miami, to Georgia, to Louisiana. My bank, USAA, has a great car buying service (similar to TrueCar), which helped locate the car I wanted and gave me a dealer-agreed, no haggle price before ever stepping foot in the dealership. I tracked one down at Rick Case Volkswagen, in Davie, FL. Conveniently, I was in Orlando at the time visiting family for Christmas. I called the dealership the day prior to make an appointment and confirm they had the car I wanted. Of course they said they did, but when I showed up the following day the only 6MT Pure White GTI's they had were the "S" trim, and did not have Lighting Package. Being that the MK7 was still relatively new, I wasn't confident there would be decent aftermarket headlights or if they could even be retro'd. They did have an SE DSG, I test drove it, but was not sold on the lack of a clutch in the floor. I was prepared to wait for the right car, but I also did not want to drive home 4 hours with my old car (didn't have many miles left on it!), so I "settled" for a Reflex Silver SE, 6MT with Lighting Package. I prioritized the manual transmission and Lighting Package over the color of the car, and in the long run I am not disappointed.

Badgeskins
01 JAN 2015

I'm not a fan of the blacked out VW emblems, but I didn't love the full chrome look either. The black outline set from Badgeskins was a perfect middleground of the two.

I paired that with a red GTI set because I thought it looked great! At this time, Performance Package didn't exist yet, so technically I wasn't faking anything! After PP came out I was a little disappointed my personalized emblems were now standard, but I didn't change them. I still think they look great.

Badgeskins, $50

Window Tint
05 JAN 2015

Living in Florida, tint was a requirement! I called the only two shops around me that I trusted, the first one said the MK7 was on his "no-tint" list (I think because of the little triangle windows??), and the second said he was all booked up. I was on a time crunch however because it was getting ready to freeze and I'd have to wait until it warmed up, so I went in person and asked if he could fit me in. He did and he did an amazing job! He didn't do the triangle windows but that's fine I never notice.

VW Mk7 Golf Base Carrier Bars
28 MAR 2015

The only other "mod" I would do for a long time, Carrier Bars. Needed them for my paddle board, and I think they look cool!

Amazon, $289

Cinturato P7 All Season
11 JAN 2018

At my 40,000 mile service, dealership told me I needed new tires. I'm not sure what the stockers were rated at, but I felt 40,000 was probably good. At this time I was still keeping my car stock, so I bought what the dealer recommended. They came with a $70 MIR...

Valley Auto World, Fayetteville NC, $?

A New Dawn...
August 2018

In August I took my car to the dealership for its 50,000 mile service. I also needed to get a clicking noise that was coming out of the passenger A/C vent diagnosed.

The clicking noise was some type of A/C motor that needed to be replaced, and cost me about $500.

Shelling out this cash brought me to a realization/dilemma. I have loved this car every day since buying it. A few minor annoyances, particularly that the 2016+ models were better in several ways, but until now I had not had a single mechanical issue and still loved driving this car even completely stock.

But now something had broken. Was it time to trade it in while it's still worth something, before it gets too many miles? The warranty was up, if anything breaks it'll be up to me now. Or do I keep it? It's almost paid off, maybe start some subtle mods...I'll think about it, I said...

I did think. For a few weeks. I still owed about $4,000, but it's in excellent condition, and if I'm lucky I might be able to get $13-$14K trade in on a new, facelifted MK7.5. Those new headlights are so nice! And it will have the Performance Package standard, bigger breaks and that sweet LSD! Oh and did I mention Android Auto!? All things I have really been envious about. And finally I can get it in white! The color I wanted since day one. White Silver Metallic, at that. Even better than previous years' Pure White...

I had just about convinced myself. Then I thought of another 5 years of car payments compared to how sweet it will be in a few months when I have no car payment. And if I just keep it, I can throw some money into it and personalize it, mod it and make it my own. I do love working on cars, and even though I've been completely content with my car in its stock configuration, the thought of modding and it making it even better was exciting.

So it was settled. Instead of buying a new car, I would keep my 2015 and breathe some new life into it. And drive it til the wheels fall off!

Nice eye there for photography.

southpawboston said:

Nice eye there for photography.

Click to expand...

Thanks man! The car makes it easy...