When the old generation of an enthusiast car is retired for a new one, there is often opposition from the ownership base. The uproar against the newest GTI has been loud, and it's worth talking about how this started: Serious automotive journalist resistance to the Mk8.



There is a high amount of bad information out there right now on the internet, and social media is fueling it. I don't believe any of those initial reports came from malicious intent or untruths, but they need to be viewed from the scope they were written. Those journalists all used early production European cars with older firmware. Remember, we never really get the first year MkAnything in the USA, as Europe gets to enjoy these all cars for nearly a full year before we do. In this case, it has allowed for some much needed updates. A banner just went up in Germany, as these first year European cars are all getting a recall for seriously laggy software. And it was absolutely an issue, I'm not minimizing it. You can see it in the videos and read about it in the articles. But the US spec cars are not this way.



To say my family has MQB experience would be an understatement, as we've owned them straight for the last five years- a Mk7 R, 8V facelift S3, and a pair of Mk7 SE GTIs. One of those GTIs was manual, all three other cars were DSG. The next car in my sights was a Mk8 R, but with this crazy car market dictated by supply constraints, it has been impossible to ratchet one down. I was talking to all three Nashville area dealerships, and the R's arrival into the US has been ominously delayed yet again, even though there are cars already waiting in Baltimore for fair distribution across the country.



I recently got a chance to look at a DSG Autobahn, and briefly considered trading my manual 2017 SE for it, but couldn't get my head around the numbers. Fast forward a week, my neighborhood dealership received a 22 GTI SE manual, I was able to procure it at MSRP, and get a high trade value for my 17 SE. I worked this all out before arriving to the dealership to even test drive the car, with the right reserved that if I couldn't live with the infotainment, the deal was off.



My first curiosity would be initial bootup. I was expecting it to be a nightmare. From a cold start, my Mk7 SE took 9 seconds to fully boot the Fender system with app connect ready to go. Phone stopwatch on, the Mk8 fully in 11.5 seconds. Is that extra 2 seconds a deal breaker for you? It wasn't for me.



The biggie after that was to see if the user interface was slow to switch tasks as reported by US journalists in those Euro spec cars. In my 20 minute drive, I noticed zero lag, and the sales manager really took the UI through its paces during that time.



The biggest fear of ownership quelled, I took that deal and drove it home that night. That was 34 days and 1255 miles ago.



In my ownership so far,

-I've never once had the infotainment lag beyond the aforementioned bootup.

-I've accidentally bumped the steering wheel heater one time. These cars are set from the factory to default steering wheel heat to "on" in cold weather. You can turn this off one time, and it will never default to on again.

-In contrast to journalist reports, you can turn lane assist off, and it will not turn on again unless you tell it to. Some Facebook guys were so devout in their belief of Euro spec videos, that I had to make my own to prove this was true.

-Unlike the US Mk7, you can mostly defeat traction control without VCDS. This of course defaults on, as it should. But you can create a shortcut to it, and takes literally 2 seconds to turn it off. I made a video for that one too.

- I will admit there is a bit of a learning curve to the infotainment, meaning that if you want to learn everything, it's going to take a few days. But it is second nature to me now.

-I did have a no sound issue with the amplifier during one startup, and see this is something others are dealing with on the FB page. So there should be an update in the works for the infotainment here, too.



With the defensive posture out of the way, I'd really like to focus on a review of the Mk8 as a car.



Interior-

The dashboard of this car looks like an 8 year newer design, because it is. The Mk7 feels dated compared to this.

The infotainment screens are vivid and bright, so much better than what was in the Mk7.5. The layout and ergonomics are great. The ease of fingerprint collection isn't so much great.

The Scalepaper (plaid) seats in this one are a step up. The side and bottom bolstering are more supportive, and the one piece seat back is not only contoured better, it looks nicer.

The Harman Kardon system is decent, not fantastic. The Fender system's sub was clearly superior, but it's easy to retrofit it into the car. There is a lot of soundscaping and DSP settings in the HK system to pour through, but minimizing a lot of that brought forth the best sound to my ears.



Exterior-

The fact this is still MQB is apparent, as changes are relatively minor.

I like the front of the Mk8 better. The headlights and fog lights are blazingly bright and kick *** without blinding oncoming traffic.

I prefer the rear styling of the Mk7. Some of the angles of the Mk8 hatch aren't my favorite design, and look a bit SUV in the wrong angles.



The drive-

This is where this car really throws dirt on the Mk7.5's shallow grave. I remember an old review of the Mk7 GTI that stated it had been refined to such a point that all the joy had been removed from it. And that, my friends, was an extremely fair shot across the bow of those cars, even moreso when considering the DSG versions. When I think of a US spec Mk7 or 7.5, I think of a great looking car, a quality interior, near perfect ergonomics and functionality, and a sleeper that responds very well to power mods. What I do not think of, dear reader, is a car that handles particularly well. That would be an essential ingredient of a hot hatch, so in the rearview mirror of my memory, I view the Mk7/7.5 as a warm hatch at best when stock.



So smooth is the Evo4 iteration of the EA888, that it is super quiet at low RPM to the point you might not know if it's running. Because of that, is a nicer daily driver than the Gen 3. It also has great low end torque, so the transition into boost is very seamless.



This car is super balanced stock, so other than lighter wheels and summer tires, I'm reluctant to rush into any big changes.



In no way am I stating this is a high performance race car, because it's not that at all. But it is one heck of a well balanced daily driver that can haul all your shat, return good fuel economy, and still generate plenty of fun if you take the curvy roads home.



Thanks for reading.

 

 

@Noize
If Nvidia still makes the digital dashes for VW, then I wouldn't worry about the performance. They make some of the best gaming graphics cards on the market. If it handles better while riding the same, I wonder what changes were made to the bushings? Also I appreciate the thorough review.

 

I'll admit, when I first saw the interior of the MK8 and how touchscreen heavy it was, that it looked like a disaster waiting to happen. I'm still super interested in the car and will look into one when my lease comes up on my 2021 Jetta....by then they will probably have tweaked some things...

 

Got Pretorias.

 

Thank you for sharing, that is a nice looking car. I have not kept up with the GTI since my 2008 MKV. I am writing this because at the time, I passed on the Evo 9 to save a few grand since I just graduated from college and had a very long commute for my first job. Back then they still had the 2 door as an option which I opted for along with the Interlagos seats. The girls really loved it, always called it a cute white egg haha. It was definitely built very well, better than every Japanese car I have owned before and after....can go over triple digit speeds bone stock and feel stable.

That being said, brand new, it was the only car I have ever owned that broke down brand new in three months due to a faulty fuel sensor. Driving to high elevations and back threw CELs and the rear tail light had water leaks. I am glad to see the newer version has upgraded horsepower , torque, and a nicer interior. I would love to sit in one again and test drive it just to bring back some memories.

Unfortunately, due to the way the Evo prices have risen over the years and how beat on these cars have become, I regret buying the GTI instead of the Evo 9 in 2007. I had to settle for a rusty Evo 9 in 2014 and although I love it, I rather that I owned it from the start so that I could take care of it the way I wanted to. But that's life. Enjoy the car and keep us updated!

 

"It was built really well" then proceeds to state how it fell apart, stopped running and had water leaks. lmao.

VW sure does know how to make non-waterproof cars well, that is for sure.

MK7+ is really a well designed platform though. Makes the MK6 feel like a relic.