Thread by @Kalasinga_

Now that we have a public holiday and many people have been asking me to do this! Here is my three month ownership review of the Mk7 VW Golf GTI!

I’ll start with a rather famous statement by Chris Harris. He made this statement while reviewing a Mk7 GTI

‘Anyone who knows anything about cars quietly respects the Golf GTI’

If my experience is anything to go by, I agree. I get random nods of approval from people quite often.

I was lucky to get relatively highly specced version. It came with the bigger 8 inch touch screen (Some come with a tiny display). I also got electric leather seats. And most importantly I got DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control)

Now DCC is a fantastic piece of kit. You can basically transform your car from an aggressive track biased weapon to an extremely comfortable grand tourer. Most GTIs coming in do not have DCC. I was really lucky to get it.

And there is quite a stark difference when you drive the car using the different modes. In sport, the chassis becomes stiff, suspension hardens,steering heavy, gear shifts aggressive, exhaust note changes (although it’s a fake pumped in noise).

In comfort it feels like you are driving a midsize luxury sedan. It is Mercedes E class levels of comfort. Everything is just soft and supple. I drive on comfort 99% of the time and only put sport when I find a nice twisty back road where I can safely cause some chaos 😅.

Eco is my ‘I am running out of fuel mode’ 😂. I have used it three times when my fuel range was at less than 10kms and I wasn’t sure how far the next petrol station is. In this mode, the car coasts when going down hill or on a very flat surface.

Enough about DCC.

VW really did we in balancing performance, practicality, fuel efficiency. It makes it a car you can genuinely use every day. If you don’t go off-road, it is all the car you need.

Probably less than 3% of you will be able to keep up with the GTI on the road. This is a car that will get to 100kph in the mid 6 seconds. Achieve a top speed of about 250kph (speedo reads 280 but haitafika bro) and still be comfortable.

Subaru STis & Mitsubishi Evos will perform slightly better but a lot of compromises are made when it comes to comfort, fuel efficiency and everyday useability.

Talking about fuel efficiency. I have averaged 9.1 km/l in just over 2,000 KMs of mostly city driving(You can see it’s city driving because my average speed over that distance is 22kph). On the highway, this car will give you 12-15kpl at speeds of 100-140kph 😊. No cap.

And it’s good for kids bro. Has child seat isofix points and alladat. Boot space big enough for luggage and I think it will also fit a stroller without much of a struggle.

Oh. If you buy one, make sure your source gives you this cable 😊. iPhone people will be very happy to know you can charge your and connect your phone to the car without having to use Bluetooth 😌. I never have to struggle with the cheap aftermarket cables that work for 2 weeks

It’s not all rosy though! This car has its drawbacks. And it pains me a bit to say this, but German cars feel like quality cars but they tend to cheap out on things you usually don’t see. For instance, the engine sump is made of plastic.

One wrong move and a rock or even a bump may puncture it and you lose all your oil. This can be catastrophic if the driver does not notice. And the car is quite low.

It’s easily remedied though, just fit a sump guard. There are some quality ones from Sump Guard Centre.

The car also tends to have coolant consumption issues. This is a widely reported issue globally and most times it is the water pump and the thermostat housing that are faulty. This problem affects most MQB platform cars from Audi and VW.

The original manufacturer water pump is just shit to be honest. You are better off with an aftermarket part. The original can fail even on cars with less than 50,000kms mileage.

Mine already failed. I replaced the water pump, the thermostat housing, coolant shut off valve and few other bits and pieces. And this is not a cheap car to run at the moment. Expect up to 6 figure repair bills. Or at least high 5 figure bills.

I had to import certain things and that is usually expensive. Make friends with someone who knows how to import car parts very fast. You will need him 😅. Also, I always recommend that you have a kitty for your car in case of emergencies.

Depending on your car, your kitty should be anywhere between 50k-1million (I am looking at you Range Rover owners).

However, the gearbox and engine are reported to be quite reliable on the GTI. Some have issues but they aren’t as widespread as the coolant consumption issue.

But the most important question, does it make me smile when I drive?

Yes! Too much actually 😅.

My recommendation? Just buy your dream cars. Kama mbaya mbaya.

Raha jipe mwenyewe.