Anyone else think their GTI is s**t? or any polo

[Blairc2016]

the issue with painted metal visible is next to the trim on the inside of the wing mirror and just above the door speaker so not in a position that is obvious that it can't be helped, it's just that the trim and door cards don't fit

it wouldn't be too bad on a black/dark car but white it stands right out against the black interior.

and the water ingress isn't in via the hole that is left by the windows it comes in through the "door seal"

the issue with LED rears is due to the fact that the headlights are full LED and standard yet the rears are incandescent, even an LED rear option would of been nice

thing is the car is decent enough but it just feels like a 10 year old car after just 10 months so can't imagine what it will be like after 5 years.

Maybe you got a lemon.
Mines 11 months old, 16.000km and it feels brand new. I'm still very happy with it.
The door rattles annoy me a little, but that's because it's a 3 door car and the doors are huge and heavy. Not much you can do against physics like that.
Mine's black so I don't get that interior trim issue.
No media system issues whatsoever, nor speaker issues..

All in all I'm still very happy with the car.

So, maybe you got a lemon, maybe it's not what you wanted and now every little niggle is a big deal. But I can assure you a 1 year Fiesta ST will have more rattles, a 1 year old 208 GTI will have it's exaust tip rusty and ugly looking, and a 1 year Clio RS will have a pricier service.
No car is perfect, certainly not a Polo.
The GTI is expensive but it's still based on a cheap Polo platform. The jump in power and performance is not matched by the jump in quality

The door rattles are nothing more than the felt strip at the top of the door becoming contaminated with wax or various other cleaning products. Apply KRYTOX to the felt strips and to the main door seal to get rid of the rattles. Can get the dealer to do this or you can order the bottle yourself. See the door rattle thread for instructions and where to buy the KRYTOX.

It would be a shame for such a small niggle to ruin what is such a good car. Same goes for Dink, but I feel you are picking problems with the car now.

[Redline]

From reading this, it sounds a lot more like an issue with one individual car, and a dealership who haven't resolved things properly. Have you contacted Volkswagen Customer Service to raise this with them?

You can talk about cost-cutting and backward design steps, but the simple fact is if a Polo GTI started at £22-23k you wouldn't buy it. Volkswagen exists as a business, and has to make money somewhere. How long do you spend looking at your rear lights? I can't say I give it a great deal of thought, and I'm quite pleased VW didn't waste money fitting rear-LED stuff for the benefit of random people behind me in traffic.

Mine has rattles here and there, especially in Sport mode, but that's hardly surprising. The suspension in Sport mode stiffens up considerably, it's running on low-profile tyres with considerably high tyre pressures. Naturally that's going to expose and agitate any small trim issues resulting in rattles. But also remember the shocking state of the roads we have to drive on in this country - that hardly helps matters.

I drove 30-odd different new cars last year on various test days and launches, covering £10k to £80k+ and everything in between. Despite all that, I've found the GTI to be well-built, well-equipped and well-priced for where it sits in the market. It's been a car that's put a smile on my face even after days driving stuff with hundreds more horsepower, and does everything you ask of it for the money. Is it perfect? No, but for £19k I don't expect the moon on a stick.

Does that make it s**t? I don't think so. Your particular car, and your particular dealership experience, seem to have been s**t - but that doesn't make every other 6C Polo GTI guilty by association.

[rm55mcc]

I think car is great despite the odd wee rattle and I find it turns a lot off heads .. [emoji106][emoji106]

[Pavel]

Fits on mine!


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[Dink]

that's exactly what i was getting at with this post.

It seems as though i have some sort of early lemon and a lot of the faults are specific to my car.

trouble is the car is decent enough it's quick enough, handles ok, comfortable even in sport mode imho (i've had coilovers on previous 2 cars)

[g7egt]

Fits on mine!

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Yep checked mine and it fits ok too! Bad luck, mines black so it didn't matter too much anyway.

[Mart!n-GTI-DK]

Fits on mine!

How can you tell??? The car is black.

[Ricmondo]

Could the gap be deliberate?

I've had cars where trim panels were on kissing terms and that caused them to squeak louder and longer than a mouse on speed accidentally trapped in a rotary cheese grater.

[blackertracker]

How long do you spend looking at your rear lights? I can't say I give it a great deal of thought, and I'm quite pleased VW didn't waste money fitting rear-LED stuff for the benefit of random people behind me in traffic.

Surely that's a somewhat disingenuous comment coming from a car journalist? You must know that LED lighting carries tangible safety benefits - the brake lights have a much faster response time and the bulbs should last much longer than incandescents reducing the possibility of having a light out. It's entirely for the benefit of drivers following you!

I agree I don't think it's a deal breaker that the Polo GTI doesn't have them but I would have been pleased if VW had spent the money and fitted them like the front LED headlights & DRLs.

[Redline]

How long do you spend looking at your rear lights? I can't say I give it a great deal of thought, and I'm quite pleased VW didn't waste money fitting rear-LED stuff for the benefit of random people behind me in traffic.

Surely that's a somewhat disingenuous comment coming from a car journalist? You must know that LED lighting carries tangible safety benefits - the brake lights have a much faster response time and the bulbs should last much longer than incandescents reducing the possibility of having a light out. It's entirely for the benefit of drivers following you!

I agree I don't think it's a deal breaker that the Polo GTI doesn't have them but I would have been pleased if VW had spent the money and fitted them like the front LED headlights & DRLs.

It wasn't intended to sound flippant - obviously there are tangible benefits from LED taillights. Although I imagine many prefer them purely for the way they look.

My point is that VW could have loaded more and more small tweaks onto the GTI, but it would probably have only resulted in a higher list price for no major improvement to the overall package. It would be nicer if the front fogs were LED, for example, or if the bonnet had a gas strut to lift it rather than the old-fashioned stick. But again, they're small changes that are 'nice to have' rather than really detracting from what the GTI offers.

However, VW's decision to now charge £335 for Flash Red paint on the GTI is indefensibly tight!

[lancslad1985]

My BlueGT had two faults with it, but it took VW so long to fix it I ended up hating the car. My wife has a 1.2 SE and, touchwood, it's been fine. You could have just got a turd of a car (like me) which can happen with any manufacturer to be fair. Having said that, VWs customer service was so appalling when it came to sorting my car I'd never buy another car from them now.

[Bear]

I don't think our GTI is s**t, nor do I think our 1.4 SE was s**t, nor do I think our 1.2 R-Line was s**t.

Loved our R-Line so much we were actually going to settle the finance and keep it until my dealer made me aware of the new GTI

Can't say I've investigated my A-pillar trims to see if they have 'the gap' but I have to admit I wouldn't give a toss if my car is afflicted.

I have also refrained from pressing the trip reset button just in case it sticks in and never comes out again