Volkswagen Golf R/GTI Mega Thread

[G]

I also bought my R from Ryan. What dealer is preferred for servicing in Calgary?

[chongkee_]

Originally posted by G
I also bought my R from Ryan. What dealer is preferred for servicing in Calgary?

So far I've had good experiences with 5th Ave. Been going to them since 2013.

Heard good stories from Tunedub as well.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

+1 for 5th ave. Stay away from Northland (even if it is only minutes away).

[max_boost]

don't think I have heard anything good out of the Northland service department all these years since I have owned a VW (since 09).

South Centre or 5th ave for me

[heavyD]

What's the deal with Northland? Shoddy service? Overcharging? Ideally it's the most convenient location for me but it seems like everyone says to avoid them.

[rage2]

Sales side, wouldn't move on pricing at all when I was GTI shopping. They had a car with options I wanted, except for one (rear airbags IIRC) which I didn't want, asked to discount that off, something like $300, nope. Said it's an important safety feature and I'd be silly to not get it optioned with it.

Bitched about it to a friend, who knew someone at Southcenter. They called me up and drove a GTI with my exact specs to my office for me to see. Even gave me a hefty discount. Bought it on the spot. Pricing/discount details inside:

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=212211

Service? Well...

Originally posted by rage2
OK, here's my story.

Jan 2009, my GTI started to make a clunking noise once in a while when turning. Classic CV joint failure noise. I assumed it was from the cold weather. Shortly after, it developed a really random hard vibration (whole car shook) from the CV so I brought it in to Northland Volkswagen Jan 20, 2009 because it was close to my house. Figured it was a warranty repair.

They called me in the afternoon and diagnosed the problem as my aftermarket springs and shocks. And, they charged me for it since it's aftermarket and not covered under warranty. I asked them if they even looked at the CV joints. They claim that they checked the CV joint and it was perfectly fine. Here's my bill.


» Click image for larger version

The noise continued and 2 weeks/600km later, the vibration all of a sudden got REALLY bad on Feb 3rd 2009. So I dropped it off at Southcenter Fine cars, where I purchased the car. It's far from my house, but whatever.

2002civic was a service advisor there, and took good care of me. Got me in without an appointment. 2 days later on Feb 5th 2009, the car was fixed under warranty. Sure enough, the CV boot finally ripped, leaked the rest of the grease out, and killed the CV joint, causing massive vibrations. Here's my under warranty bill, along with the description.


» Click image for larger version


» Click image for larger version

So, 2 more weeks went by, the car was perfect. It was the damn CV joint, confirmed. So I'm pissed off at Northland VW and called on Feb 25th 2009 to get a refund. It's not about the money, it's the fact that I felt like I got ripped off. They were super nice about it. BTW - I bleeped out my name and phone number, so I don't get stalked haha.



So after that call, I never got a call back. So I called back the next day asking about it, and sure enough, they're refunding me. Watch for the check in the mail. Sweet, right?



Well, I totally forgot about it until someone posted this thread. I realized that it's been over a year, I didn't get my damn refund.

Never again am I going to Northland Volkswagen again. In my opinion, they're completely useless, or they're scammers.

Oh yea, 2 months later, they sent me this:


» Click image for larger version

Suffice to say, that ain't happening. I just left it on my desk and was lucky to find it for this post.

Thread is here: http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=306697

I just posted about it after zipdoa bitched about his service experience. Funny that I went to them because they were close too haha.

[heavyD]

Ha ha ha. That's messed up. They flat out decided they didn't want to work on your car because of the aftermarket suspension and had the balls to charge you $118 for putting the car up on the hoist. I assume they said the CV boot was fine just to get you out of there because if they actually checked it they would know it was ripped. I think it's going to be 5th Ave for me seeing it's close enough to work. I don't have the temperament to deal with that shit.

[rage2]

Yea they said it wasn't the CV and that the noise was coming from aftermarket springs. Never knew springs could click like CV joints haha.

So either they're completely incompetent, or they just didn't want to work on the car and blamed the first aftermarket thing they could find, charge some cash, and be done with it. Either way, shady.

[ercchry]

Originally posted by rage2
Yea they said it wasn't the CV and that the noise was coming from aftermarket springs. Never knew springs could click like CV joints haha.

So either they're completely incompetent, or they just didn't want to work on the car and blamed the first aftermarket thing they could find, charge some cash, and be done with it. Either way, shady.

This reminds me of when I took the Lexus to autotemp for the a/c to get refilled with the stuff they use to check for leaks... wasted my whole day and said they couldn't do it cause my car wasn't compatible with their lift cause factory air (and yes, I set everything to oem before I dropped it off)

Best believe I didn't give them a dime for that nonsense though

[cam_wmh]

If you must go to a Calgary VW dealer, go to 5th and see Pat (service advisor)

[colinxx235]

I just took my R in for its first service at the Southland location, I was pretty happy with everything
Booked me in quick, my service guy also owned a R so was super stoked on chatting about it and asking how I liked the car etc, they completed the appointment fast and car was cleaned good to go

[94boosted]

Speaking of service does anyone have a copy of the service schedule for these cars? I don't want to wait until the service message comes up on the dash as I think a 15K service interval is way too long.

[nickyh]

I have a note on my file to treat me with extra care & attention at the service dept at Northland.
This was after I got into a yelling match with the service manager after having my sunroof rails break for the 5th time and it not being fixed correctly. They broke the rails when they did the PDI on my Jetta when I bought it (was told this by one advisor).

I've only ever serviced at SCFC or 5th Ave after that. 5th Ave has exclusively done my GTI.

I don't even know how northland is still in business.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by 94boosted
Speaking of service does anyone have a copy of the service schedule for these cars? I don't want to wait until the service message comes up on the dash as I think a 15K service interval is way too long.

Why not?

I took my GTI in at 12k, because it'd been a year. I hadn't even hit the 15k required.

[94boosted]

Originally posted by LilDrunkenSmurf


Why not?

I took my GTI in at 12k, because it'd been a year. I hadn't even hit the 15k required.

It's just personal preference I don't feel comfortable waiting to 15,000km. I did the first oil change at 1000km right after completing the break-in period and will probably change the oil at 7500-10,000km intervals going forward. Really I just want to know what the other services are i.e. DSG fluid and when the manufacturer recommends doing them.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by 94boosted


It's just personal preference I don't feel comfortable waiting to 15,000km. I did the first oil change at 1000km right after completing the break-in period and will probably change the oil at 7500-10,000km intervals going forward. Really I just want to know what the other services are i.e. DSG fluid and when the manufacturer recommends doing them.

I thought VW 2.0t needs a hard break-in right off the lot for best hp and lowest oil consumption.

[Hallowed_point]

Is it normal for Golf R's to sound like excited vacuum cleaners under throttle with stock intake/exhaust? Can't even hear the engine..same as my brother's MK7 GTI.

He's debating intake/exhaust for his GTI. I recommended Borla. He wants this stupid expensive carbon fibre intake that about $600 USD though

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Pretty much, modern hatches are all using tiny little engines strapped with massive turbos

I've heard what my car sounds like on the outside under heavy load... just like this:
Whhhhooooooossshhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaapppppaaaaaahhhhhherrrrrrooooowwwwwwwwwww

Inside the car though, they pipe in sweet engine sounds

I miss Neon SRT-4's. Now that's how you make a 4 cyl sound mean. But those were also 2.4 L with no mufflers.

Yeah it sounds OK inside. But knowing that it's a sympozer annoys me.

[Redlined_8000]

Originally posted by Hallowed_point
Is it normal for Golf R's to sound like excited vacuum cleaners under throttle with stock intake/exhaust? Can't even hear the engine..same as my brother's MK7 GTI.

He's debating intake/exhaust for his GTI. I recommended Borla. He wants this stupid expensive carbon fibre intake that about $600 USD though

That is the normal sound from the outside pretty much. Inside sounds like a Audi 5 cylinder.

If he does any mods like intake/exhaust they dont do anything for power without a tune. Downpipe/drop in filter/tune is the best combo for HP/$. CF intake's only look pretty and do little for power IMO.