The Mega MK7 & MK8 Golf GTI/GTD/R thread - Part II

I've a question for the manual owners, my gears are quite notchy when changing, reverse through to 4th really. They never don't go into gear but there is a resistance when going into gear. They do get better when the car is hot but I'm just not happy with it as it's supposed to be a drivers car. I took the car back to the dealer and they drove it and said that it's 'normal'. I had a mk 7 GTD a few years ago from new and I don't remember it being as notchy as this. Have other manual owners found this?

Yes, it’s a 7.5 GTI. I just drove it now and it’s not as bad as it was last week, due to it being warmer I’m thinking.

Well, had my first f**k sale moment in the CS today.

About 3kms from Bantry pottering along about 90kmh in a 100kmh zone, hit a puddle, well.....a pothole that had filled with water, the thing must have been about 8ft deep because instantly the tyre pressure warning went off.

Stopped and had a look, side wall blown out of the front left, about a 1 inch gash and a nick taken out of the alloy.

Gets better though, after lot of cursing and near tears, I relaise there's no spare wheel so it's not going to be a simple fix.

Ring VW assistance as it's covered with the car, on hold for about 45/60mins waiting for an operator, lucky it wasn't a major breakdown.

Get in touch with someone eventually and there was a tow truck operator contacted me through VW assistance, he paid for a local taxi to drop us home. Car has to go to the nearest VW garage which is in Skibereen which is pretty far away from where I live, maybe 80/90kms.l but about 10kms from the car "broke down"

I can get a hire car but they're not open until tomorrow and can't get me a car until 1pm and I have to get down to Skibereen to get the car back and that's if they have a 19" tyre in stock down in VW Skib. All in total about 2.5 hrs between the tyre going pop to getting back home.

So I hope the tyre is the only issue and the alloy isn't buckled/cracked.

I'll definitely be going about getting a space saver spare wheel just in case it happens again.

Lesson definitely learned.

I'm hoping its just a tyre replacement, I'll take the 150-200quid hit for that.

Id rather not swallow a new alloy on top of that too, the front face of the alloy had a tiny nick and no obvious damage inside the rim but couldn't see behind the back side of it.

I was lucky there was a garage close by that I could throw the car into off the road and grab a bathroom break and a few refreshments.

There was a tyre centre in Bantry too but this being Ireland, theres no hope of them being open on Sunday. Theres also a mobile fitter in the city that operates on Sundays and after hours but no hope of getting him down that far and no guarantee he'd even have the tyre in stock.

Ill get a space saver sorted or maybe even a full size spare too, a replica from CM Wheels or somewhere similar to keep me ticking over if something happens like that again.

Just a very unlucky scenario but that's the joys of motoring. 🤷

I dont expect every place to be open but would be nice alright to have an option.

I went to a place one Saturday a few months back without a booking and was waiting a good 60mins to get a tyre for her own car.

Guy said Saturday was manic as people were working during the week, even during covid so couldn't get up to them and Saturday was usually their busiest day of the week.

I'm not even going go down the Co. council route, tbh it's just a load of hassle and I was probably a good 500m/1km up the road before I stopped and inspected the tyre so finding the culprit in the weather was going to be difficult and probably unsafe on a N road in the conditions.

I'll swallow the cost and moan about for a few days.

EDIT

I'm probably more annoyed at myself, I knew there was no spare or space saver so there was always a risk. She got great kick out of saying "I told ya so" and "Why's there no spare in an expensive car".

Which went down like a lead balloon while waiting for the tow truck and taxi. 😂

Sorry to hear that Gav. Definitely a pain not having the spare.

Must have been the weekend for it. I was driving in Dublin city on Friday night, there was roadworks in Drumcondra and the had a chunk dug out of the road. There may have been signage but I didn't see it and hit the square edge of the tarmac. I wasn't going fast but it was enough to make me pull over just to check the tyre and wheel. Luckily nothing but gave me a fright.

Thanks for the replies, Yeah I usually buy low mileage example cars. DSG would be the only option for me really as I do a lot of city driving and my last two cars have been auto. I probably won’t ever go back to a manual daily. Leather seats seem to be fairly rare? The last time I had cloth seats was in a mk4 GTI so again would probably opt for leather. Pretoria’s would also be my preference. Do they come with reversing camera’s as standard?

No issues with the wheel anyway so that's something.

Only problem was they had no Hankook available in VW and the locals have nothing but middle of the road in the same tyre profile. 🙄

I can wait a week for a Hankook or get the car tomorrow with something half decent, I'll take the hit and just take what given, if it was VW in the city I'd leave it with them but don't fancy driving down to Skib at the end of the week and be car-less.

Well most tyre shops are usually only 2 man operations and you’d need 2 staff on at all times. So in this case it would mean they are working 7 days a week.

Fair enough a big franchise like Quik Fit etc could probably open but tyre shops are completely different to a grocery store with loads of staff and part timers covering the weekend shifts

And tradesmen like mechanics etc have always been off on a Sunday and I don’t think that should change just so Mary can get some new tyres on a Sunday morning…

Sorry guy just realised this is the Golf thread, thought it was Motors

You don't expect roadside assistance in VW to fully staffed on Sundays now, do you 😉

Anyway, like you said, back on topic 😊 this is how I pictured it happened...

If id just spend a big wedge of my hard earned on a new GTI or R I’d give it 1000kms before I driving it hard.

I’m pretty sure there is no evidence that running in is needed in modern engines. What is important is waiting for any car to get up to temperature before revving out but I reckon we all know that.