10,000 Miles and a Return to Form - 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

10,000 Miles and a Return to Form - 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds has hit the 10,000-mile mark with its long-term 2015 Volkswagen Golf GTI. Most have been loving the hot-hatch, though it hasn't been completely trouble-free.

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kirkhilles1

The real question, in my mind, is are these just initial quality issues that get resolved and then the car works great for years and years or is this an indication of likely larger (and more expensive) issues down the road. I'd love to see real world costs to take this car to 200k. Might be inexpensive, might be quite the heartache.

barich1

Sorry, but two electrical issues and trim falling off in only 10k miles doesn't equal "pretty reliable so far" to me. Out of 3 new cars I haven't yet owned one that had any issues in the first 10k miles and I'd find warranty repairs presenting themselves before the first oil change to be pretty unacceptable.

pg123456789

Agreed. Not acceptable. In the first 3000 miles of owning one of these, my cruise control would turn off randomly. Luckily it didn't come on randomly if I turn on the cruise control again with setting it. Of course, it could not be duplicated in the presence of a the dealer. This and rattles. Sold the car as it could be signs of more problems to come. It was junk but for some reason people still like these ... resale was good.

I've always love Audi/VW gauges. Fit and finish are superficially good until you realise that the dashboard, particularly behind the gauges rattles soon after. Also, the gauges catch the sun, accumulates and shows dirt and dust (looks cheap, scratched in no time from frequent cleaning) from the downward sloping plastic/glass (see picture up close). Why can't the VAG make all their gauges with upward sloping plastic/glass like every other German brand? The gauges will stay cleaner since it will not catch dust and dirt, keep its upmarket look, and there'll be no reflections from the sun at certain angles. Even the Japanese and Korean moved to upward sloping plastic since the 1990s.

mlin32

I guess everyone has different perceptions and expectations of reliability. The list above is perfectly acceptable by me; the wiper cover fell off in the car wash, so that's more user error, no? Infotainment glitches are not terribly important to me; again Mazda3 is a worse example. I mean, would you guys accept a car whose sat nav and USB ports work 50% of the time? Because that's the way it is with mine.

So the only issue in the tester would be the passenger seat heating.

Cars are ever more complex and more electronic-dependent, so like laptops and computers, it can't be absolutely perfect. My Mazda3 suffered from an i-Eloop charging fault, leaking wiper nozzle, and brake judder in the first 10 months. That is less than stellar in my book but not unexpected.

antar395

For a real long term test of a golf 7, read the comparisontest of a gof 7 and a Mercedes A 180 at autobild. They just drove 100.000 km with both cars. See http://www.autobild.de/artikel/vw-golf-mercedes-a-klasse-100.000-kilometer-dauertest-5748841.html

barich1

I consider that pretty unacceptable for the Mazda3 as well. My 2013 has 21k miles on it with no issues. I hope your and Edmunds' issues are just first year production glitches. I'd be irritated if mine had that many problems.

redskinsdmv

Didn't this GTI also have a recall within a couple months of it's release?

rmhpmi

VAG really wonders why they can't find "success" selling their VW vehicles in the USA? I don't know many people who own VW's, but every single one of them has had issues with their vehicle. Some are minor of course, but some are ridiculous. Multiple blown head gaskets on one friend's 2012 CC, followed by a still-undiagnosed oil leak; failed turbos on another's GTI in less than 25,000 miles. I realize vehicles are bound to have problems but VW's reliability, perceived or actual, must improve by a great deal before they will sell vehicles in the quantities their competitors do.

desmolicious

To put the quality issue to rest, why not keep the VW for 100K miles? Or at least 50K.

mrvtecski

As an Acura owner, these are red flags. Hopefully not much else happens, but we shall see. This is the reason I have never purchased a German car, especially one built in Mexico.