5 Things I hate about my VW Golf

I really don't hate much about the car and to be honest with you, hate is putting is strongly. I have driven the car over 5,000 miles and there are a few things that I wish were slightly different.
1) The feel of switching gears.
2) I cannot turn off driving aids completely
3) Use of plastic
4) Noisy rear wiper (i know...)
5) Warranties are only great when the car is at fault
If you have a Volkswagen Golf and have an annoyance, post in the comments!
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Outro song: bit.ly/2dNQ7Sq

[@thomasr3805]

I have a 2015 TSI automatic (tiptronic) that I purchased new. With extensive highway driving at high speeds (usually between 80-100mph) I now have 34,000 miles with no issues whatsoever. The car is certainly a sleeper with extremely capable passing abilities. I love smoking most vehicles around, but the 125mph speed governor keeps me from getting any major speeding tickets. I am 6'3, so I don't have any of the visibility issues like you shared in an early video. Highly recommend this peppy car. It can fit 5 people, dog kennels and larger items with the seats down, has a trunk bigger than the Tiguan, outpaces and outstyles most hatchbacks on the market. On the dyno these cars put out 188hp with 234lbft torque!

[@MikeVT]

"A sleeper with extremely capable passing abilities" - So true! Thank you for sharing man!

[@danielfl.9347]

VW does not have trip tropic. That Audi. VW has DSG as the only automatic gearbox.

[@mbatina00]

@@danielfl.9347 nope. 2 years late but no the dsg is an option. Comes with tiptronic standard

[@llmelancon7884]

I also own a MK7 Golf 1.8 TSI, 5MT. I love the car, but there are also things I could complain about. 1- I like the 5MT, but with that much of a gear span, which I love it should however be a 6 gear; it would make them not so far apart. Having said that, I still prefer the 5MT over the automatic. 2- The car is a little low. At 5.6" of ground clearance, I have to be careful when I park the front end to a curb. There is a great potential to damage the front end. 3-You mention the oil pan is of plastic, and still, there is no protection, not much of an engine guard, under the car. The engine, and especially the oil pan, is all exposed. There is a VW guard kit available, it is call the rough-road kit, but not in North-America. Really? 4-My wife is 4'11". When she drives, she has to bring the seat all the way forward. Sometimes, when she leaves the car, she leaves the seat in that position. When I want to use it, right after, to back up the seat, the lever, being on the right side of the seat, is UNREACHABLE! That lever should be on the door side! 5- The car is well insulated, a little too well. Driving a stick shift, it is hard to hear the RPM. One cannot shift by ear and enjoy the roar of the engine. Those are MY FIVE pet-peeves of the VW Golf TSI. IF I could go back in time, would I Buy the VW Golf, again? Despite its flaws, I would, in a heart beat!!! No car is perfect.

[@MikeVT]

+L L Melancon great comments thank you! Funny you mention the seat position lever. When I test drove and first sat in the car I naturally reached for the door side. I also would like a little more engine noise, but it just makes me wind out the engine a bit more sometimes :). Thank you again for the great comments and enjoy your Golf! Drive safe!

[@MrFaniaros]

What I really don't like about mine, is that the upper part of the rear doors is hard plastic, while on the front ones it's more like softly padded with a leather feel. Mine is European made, which means it comes with an electronic parking brake, so not being able to disable ESC doesn't really bother me. About the rear wiper and wipers in general, just take a piece of cloth, spray it with alcohol, windshield cleaner or even just water and rub the wiper blades. They get filled with dirt over time and don't slide smoothly over the glass, resulting in that awful noise. Can't complain about the feel of the gears, as there aren't many manuals with a significantly better feel. Most of your problems can be solved quite simply. You could install a short throw shifter and replace the rubber bushings with metal ones to improve the feel of the gear stick, you can completely turn ESC off using VCDS or by pulling the fuse, and I believe there should be a metal oil pan and other parts. Really looking forward for your winter impressions video!

[@MikeVT]

Thank you for the tips and comments. Stay tuned!

[@AMsports19]

We have the same name, car and phone holder lol

[@mikesrandomvideos]

all cars are really cheaply made now the hyundai has engine failures around 100k miles. But vw usually lasts.

[@Alien300Blackout]

plastic oil pan is not surprising ,big trucks use them also and as far as being durable is concerned I've put over 1 million miles with several trucks having plastic oil pan and never busted one ever..

[@MikeVT]

+Alf Pedersen thank you for the comment! That is good news that they can last a while. My concern is that it is so low to possible debris and puncture. I'm not sure how solid and durable the plastic is. Any idea?

[@fredonia81]

Plastics are something we are all forced to getting used to. As regard to a plastic oil pan, don't see a problem with that. I'm glad to see the car companies putting the thought energy to building safer, and more fuel efficient cars that are fun to drive.

[@MikeVT]

couldn't agree more. I am slowly coming around to the plastic oil pan the more that I think about it and understand the reasoning behind it.

[@mattgti86]

Plastic oilpan = weight reduction!!! Cars are getting lighter to meet fuel economy mandates. On a premium vehicle you might see magnesium chosen (BMW). Econo cars, plastic will do

[@MikeVT]

Good points here. I like it.

[@Repavich]

my peeves with my 1.8t 5spd.... 1. boost cut with wheel spin on launches.... so annoying haha... 2. stock ride height is that of a monster truck (wheel gap for days)... 3. the throw on the shifter is very long... 4. infamous coolant drinking problem, where does it go? nobody knows!!! (im at 15k) 5. terrible stock wheels, but i just bought a set of VW Motorsport 18'' wheels for a steal!! other than that my tsi walks stock gti's and all i have is an intake and disconnected downpipe.... Great video!

[@MikeVT]

+Evan Repavich now i gotta check my coolant!! Lol

[@rsmtechniciansuk]

the reason why vw make plastic parts is so to reduce the time the engine will last, plastic manifolds sumps cam covers will not last 20 years like the old 90,s and erly 2000,s car that still are on the road now they want a 10 years life span then the plastic gets brittle and breaks resulting in new cars benn purchased

[@gp2003gt]

I would not worry about the highly resistant plastics, I've heard of a friend who had to change a rusty oil pan on a old Golf because of our Canadian winters

[@MikeVT]

+gp2003gt that is a plus with plastic, no rust! My worry is the durability. If you don't mind me asking, what region of Canada?

[@gp2003gt]

Montreal, they put a lot of salt in the winter here, in fact I sort of welcome the idea using plastic, one less worry about rust, by the way Volkswagen has a 12 year rust warranty here, attractive move for Canadians :)

[@MikeVT]

+gp2003gt I love Montreal! Do our happen to be a Habs fan?

[@gp2003gt]

Mike VT of course I'm a Habs fan :-)

[@MikeVT]

+gp2003gt I've had the opportunity to watch a few Habs games at the Bell Centre and I have never seen so many dedicated fans. A wonderful city all around!

[@MrNewlife1968]

I'm really on the fence about getting the Golf. I think having the turbo is the double edged sword. It's great for power, but expensive when it fails. Right now the Mazda 3 has the edge so far. The last car I'm test driving is a Subaru Crosstrek.

[@MrNewlife1968]

But, I'm still considering the Golf, due to the great deals that are being offered.

[@MikeVT]

The Crosstrek seems like it would be a really awesome all around car. The only downside i see is the lower power, but if that doesn't carry much weight in your decision, who cares! Good luck on the search!

[@spencergough81]

I agree with #1. #2 I think is a bit ridiculous for this car. How many people are doing ebrake turns in the snow? And its not like anyone is tracking this car anyways. If you get the golf R you can turn everything off completely. #3 sucks but its a cheap car, theres going to be plastic. #4 drives me crazy, its horrible. I thought i first just needed to replace it, but then I saw other people complaining about it too.

[@MikeVT]

+Spencer Gough thanks for the comment! #2 is just showing how the stability control interferes with the car and it cannot be turned off, which is the real purpose for number 2. Hope that clears up any confusion. It's difficult to come up with any bad things about the car because it is truly all there for what it is!

[@amirb715]

Great video again! I am at 3K and generally happy with my 2016 1.8T MT except the non-smooth gear shifts from 1st to 2nd and also from 2nd to 3rd. No matter how I try to get these changes right they are not smooth and the car shakes and the shifting is rough (to my taste at least). I have tried all sort of RPMs, playing with the clutch release, etc...it seems that the RPM does not drop fast enough. If i change at very low RPM, like 1500 or less, it's ok but anything higher it is rough. I don't know if I have difficulty to get used to the precise biting point of the clutch or it's the engine rpm not dropping fast enough. ANy experience with this? i was hoping as the clutch wears out, the gear change will become smoother...

[@MikeVT]

To be honest, I have noticed a similar experience. When I had an older BMW the shifting was perfect and silky smooth. The golf is good, but it can be difficult to have the 1-2 2-3 shifts be as smooth as I have had before. I have been playing around with the friction points, which is harder on the clutch with more slipping, and it seems to be smoother. However, it isn't a good long term plan haha. Fact of the matter is is more difficult than other transmissions out there.

[@PSXPOWERDOCK]

Amir B exact same for me. Hard to land a smooth 1-2 2-3 shift without that clunk/buck tagging along

[@PSXPOWERDOCK]

Amir B have you found a fix or sweet shift spot for the 1-2 and 2-3?

[@amirb715]

l B nothing that is easy to pull off all the time but most of the time it works for me: you must keep an eye on engine rpm when you push the clutch. You notice that on this car the rpm stays up there and then drops slowly, that is the source of the problem. So one solution for me is just be patient and upshift slowly e.g. pull to neutral and then pull into 2nd that gives the engine enough time to be rev matched when u release the clutch. Also you should first bring up your clutch just to the bite point and then release it when its engaged (and hopefully rev matched because of the delay) another method is to change to 2nd at very low rpm like 1500 or so instead of e.g. 2200-2800. Or u can do it at high rpm like 4000-4500 . I noticed that at those rpms u can get rev matched much faster (rpm drops fast enough so when you release the clutch in 2nd gear it is smooth)

[@PSXPOWERDOCK]

Amir B yeah i myself have done the neutral slump and slow shifts but i feel i should be able to shift freely and with good timing. I was testing rpm ranges today. So far 2-3 and 3-4 sync okay at 3200rpms under 3/4 throttle down. The few attempts i made at those shifts let me slip in quick and buck free without that sluggish 2500rpm engagement feel. Will keep testing.

[@runforit420]

Any reliability issues? That's a big issue with VWs and I wonder if it is because owners are not following maintenance schedules or the fact that the cars are not well-build. I'd really like a Golf, because I think they're well-built and they are cheap to insure (versus any Japanese compact car in the Toronto area).

[@MikeVT]

+runforit420 My Golf continues to treat me well. I'm a believer that if a car is not cared for it will be mostly reliable and If not cared for, well, best of luck. Have to test driven a newer VW? You may be surprised with the build quality and ergonomics.

[@runforit420]

I did test drive a new Highline model (I think that's last year's SEL trim in the U.S. market, with probably some variance). I was really impressed. I thought the 12-way adjustable leather seats are probably the most comfortable seats in a compact car. The adaptive cruise control works amazingly well. I have heard complaints about the Aisin automatic transmission VW uses (poor shifting, lurches, etc.) so that's my only concern. A friend know swears by VW (he has a 2003 Mark IV Jetta GLI VR6) and his dad has a new 2016 Trendline (Golf S) which he also really likes. A co-worker leased a 2015 mid-range model and he likes it better than the Toyota it replaced! Thanks for the reply man!

[@WookieeRage]

Thanks for the video. Looks like we are driving in the same stuff lately. So I purchased my 2017 VW Golf Wolfsburg just over a little over a month ago, and a week ago I hit a deer. This is the first deer I've hit in over 360k miles and had to be in my new car. I clipped the deer with the front passenger side, slightly crumpling the hood and quarter panel, and smashing the light. The main bulb still worked and I drove immediately to the dealer. The car functioned admirably and had the deer moved faster or I saw it sooner I wouldn't have hit it. But while waiting for the repairs the rentals cars I've been using (two different cars) keep reminding me just how much I love my Golf. I understand that for balanced evaluation you made this video, however, I think we feel the same respect for this vehicle. Mine is an automatic so my transmission experience is different from your manual and the traction assistance doesn't bother me, so the oil pan would be the only thing I can identify with. Also I don't hear the rear wiper noise you do. But I do miss the all wheel drive of my Subaru Outback XT with manual transmission which could plow through any driving conditions with ease. Front wheel drives are what they are, we just have to drive within the range of their capabilities. I'm still driving on the all season tires it came with and feel some quality snow tires would improve the driving experience greatly. Thanks again for the video. Hard to knock a well executed car like this one.

[@MikeVT]

+Sean Ryberg, First, I'm glad the deer accident wasn't more severe Secondly, I agree with your last comment 100%. Volkswagen executed a really great machine. Drive safe out there!!

[@exeuroweenie]

Yep,I drove off after being hit hard by two full sized American cars.On pushed the other into me.They had to wait for tow truck,the Golf handled it with aplomb.The glass didn't even crack.

[@elantran-8395]

I personally have the MK7 gti and the use of a plastic oil pan is bad I agree, but the reason you're blaming the company for using a plastic oil pan is wrong. It's not hardly because it's cheaper, it's because it's lighter in weight and secondly if you hit any oil pan on the ground whether it be metal or plastic it's going to come apart. The thing you really have to worry about the pan is that it's plastic and the plug is metal so it will expand and when you get and oil change it will strip your threads.. I am a dealer mechanic and know this by experience.

[@MikeVT]

+Logan Walsh thank you for the comment Logan. The 2016 Jetta has a metal oil pan which is why I question the use of plastic on the Golf. Last winter I had a incident in a '16 Jetta where the I slid off the road and the oil pan was the point of contact with a curb at about 8mph. Dented? Yes, but no oil was lost. I was able to get the car in for repair and the pan replaced by the dealer the following day. I actually drove the car there to have it replaced after getting the "ok" from the dealer to do so. If I replayed the same experience with the Golf, I imagine the experience would have been less desirable. Thank you for adding the info on the bolt on the plastic pan. I didn't think of this and it's a great point!

[@elantran-8395]

The 2016 Jetta doesn't have the same engine as the 2017 golfs. They now have the direct injected 2.0L turbo or the 1.8L direct injected. It is a revised version of the old engine, so it's lighter in weight and more powerful supposedly.

[@elantran-8395]

While I understand that you think your plastic oil pan may be the point of contact but the Jetta and golf are two completely different chassis and suspension designs so the engine doesn't sit as low to the ground, also adding that the plastic is a very strong composite with added honey comb design for strength and durability so if a point of contact were to accrue it shouldn't harm much, then again you probably shouldn't bottom your car out that far at all to begin with, they aren't designed for off road use. . However there are replacement metal oil pans if you really want it.

[@andrewwoodburn427]

The only complaint I have about mine is the transmission. It's a 2016 1.8 TSI Automatic. Maybe someone on here can explain to me why this is. The shifting isn't the smoothest. It's mainly slow traffic that it doesn't like. Not sure how to explain it but it's almost like it's hesitating to change gears. It also feels weird going over speed bumps and going downhill some times. Some days it's perfect; other days, not so much. Another thing I find odd is that when breaking and coming to a stop, the needle on the accelerometer is going down until somewhere around 1500 rpm, it suddenly goes up a bit before Finally dropping to where it is normally at idle.

[@MikeVT]

+Andrew Woodburn I never drove an auto VW Golf unfortunately so I can't share my experience. Let's hope someone else who has can chime in!

[@potownrob]

Andrew Woodburn the RPMs going up or otherwise not dropping seems to be a rev hang thing. This is programmed in for emissions purposes. This can be an issue for manual shifting, but it's never gotten in the way while letting the car shift for itself.

[@andrewwoodburn427]

potownrob Thanks! Honestly, it's been a lot better recently. Still has that very direct feel similar to the DSG's that you mentioned but not nearly as bad as it was. Still can be a little jerky in slow traffic, feels like it's changing gears a lot, but much smoother now. Last summer it was also rough on hot days for the first little while of driving... that doesn't seem to be happening anymore. As for the rpm hang, that makes sense. Cheers!

[@Frank7681]

I know it’s been a while bit i’m pretty sure when comming to a stop the rpm going up a little bit could just be the transmission downshifting to 1st. I know a couple of cars that do this. It won’t shift to first unless you’re almost completely stopped. I’m actually very curious about this since i’m getting a 2018 golf this week whit the auto.

[@janiceordal5505]

Andrew Woodburn I have a 2015 tsi automatic and I notice that horribly when I just drive it in “D”...but when I put it in Sport mode “S”...it doesn’t have the slow laggy shifting.

[@christopherchen4589]

Get a short shifter?

[@MikeVT]

+Christopher Chen I've thought about that and I'll definitely look again. Thanks!

[@rizzlerazzleuno4733]

Cannot imagine living in the snow belt and not having all wheel drive. There are plenty of good, new or used reasonably priced cars with AWD. And you mention maybe getting a rear wheel drive instead of FWD.............that makes even less sense. FWD is more efficient and safer than RWD. You need a Subaru or an AWD Prius. Story over. 🙄

[@MikeVT]

RWD is less efficient in the winter for sure. It is more fun, however =)

[@mikejohnson9118]

How about the tires (Conti's? Hankook's?) how you like them overall? How are they holding up?

[@GUITARTIME2024]

driving too fast for the snow.

[@Loizos90]

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[@HorsepowerHeaven]

Yaasouuu!!! subscribe to a fellow Greeks new channel for car reviews