MK7 GTI 100k Mile Reliability || Tuned Since 1500 Miles

How reliable has my MK7 GTI been? In this video, I will discuss the reliability of my MK7 GTI in three categories:
1. Concerning wear and tear items common on the MK7 GTI and costs associated.
2 Normal wear and tear items and costs associated.
3. Reliability concerns due to tuning and modifications of vehicle, with costs associated.
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Mods to come:
• AEM V2 water/meth kit install
• DieselGeek V2 short throw shifter
• BMP Tuning MK7.5 Golf R replica headlights
Videos of mods will be included so stay tuned!!

[@RazzmanMK8]

Thanks for the video. Really needed to see it. I got mine at 65k tuned it the day I got it. Currently a work in progress. But your video gives me some confidence that my car won't let me down

[@joshualand2053]

I like the honesty and transparency. Glad to see there are good people out there. That two toned look is great!!

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Thanks! I appreciate your feedback

[@JewelCity1]

That intro is rad

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Thanks dude!

[@soonerox]

Good video buddy. This information will help prospective enthusiasts buyers make a decision on their next tuner car. 👍

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Thanks bud 🤙

[@Nicool333]

I love my mk7 too!

[@xxhypedupxx8336]

Smiles per gallon xD. Love it. Very well put. Currently working on getting a new clutch before I touch any other mods.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

You know it haha! Which clutch are you thinking of buying?

[@xxhypedupxx8336]

@@JacesOwnWorld I'm a student as well so my funds arnt that big. But I was going to go with the ecs tuning stage 2 clutch. I already have a low torque tune on my car for now. Figured I could use the extra money from clutch to put towards a fmic.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Right on! What are you studying? I’ve heard kind of bad things about the ECS clutch. What’s your clutch budget?

[@xxhypedupxx8336]

@@JacesOwnWorld going for that computer science degree. xD. Ouch. My clutch budget is about that 800 but still have to count for the vw lifetime tran fluid which is an arm and a leg. I got it cause the bad reviews I read were mostly about the chatter.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

@@xxhypedupxx8336 that a really good field to go into in today's world. Lots of opportunities and money to be had in that profession. Keep it up! I'm going into Nursing, and will start in ICU, then transition into ICU traveling Nursing, and then thinking about furthering my career after 5-7 years, and then get my Masters in Nursing Anesthesia. I just finished up all my gen ed's and pre-reqs for the Nursing Program, and will be applying to Nursing school in January. I'm pretty stoked. I highly recommend getting the Motul Gear 300 gearbox oil. The car takes just over 3 quarts, so you can get a pack of Motul gearbox oil on Amazon for like $65, which is a little more expensive than the OEM gearbox fluid, but it works so much better. I have this fluid in my gearbox right now, and I've had Royal Purple, OEM, and generic AutoZone stuff, in it before.. The Motul Gear 300 feels the best by far! And it also is know to reduce clutch chatter. Its worth the extra $25 for 4 quarts over the OEM fluid. Gotcha. I hope that clutch holds up for you. I know clutches on this car aren't cheap. That's the biggest letdown for me about this car in a manual. Expensive clutches that still fail far too soon over what they should. If I spent $800-1000 on a clutch on my E46 M3, I would have lots of good options to pick from, with clutches that would last vey long times. My OEM clutch on that car lasted me 150k miles, and then when I replaced it, I then supercharged my car (550hp/400tq), and the OEM clutch still held that power just fine. I am thinking VW just doesn't know how to make a good clutch, hence why they just keep using cheap ones that can't hold any power.

[@mrich7363]

Nice i see where i be having mines over 100K as well i am currently on 56K.

[@Gdawg246]

I appreciate this video. I have a mk7.5 gti and I really want to tune it but I've never tuned a car before so im pretty nervous. Im OCD about my car though and I change the oil every 6-7k miles even while stock. After watching this video I might just order an Accessport+EQT tune and trickle charger. and call it a day lol

[@JacesOwnWorld]

I hear really good things about EQT’s tunes, so you shouldn’t go wrong with them.

[@autotrimmers6353]

1:32 well said

[@santostuner]

What type of clutch do you recommend I’m worried about going stage 2 and I heard the clutch is a big issue throw out bearing what do you recommend.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Southbend Stage 2 or 3. Daily or Endurance, doesn’t matter. They’re expensive, but they are the most reliable. Do it once.

[@93nut]

The oil Cap is leaking due to a pressurized valve cover. This comes from pvc failure or piston ring blow by.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Yes thanks. I’ve thought the same thing. I’m going to be doing a compression and leakdown test this Sat to see if there’s anything wrong, and if everything checks out, I do have an extra PVC that I’ll replace and see if that’s the issue. I’m just wondering if it also could possible be the PCV breather hose, or even the purge valve, and not the PCV valve itself?? It’s hard to know because there aren’t any codes, and I don’t know of anyone who has ever had an issue with the PCV hose or the purge valve. I will say this though that when I recently took my aftermarket FMIC apart, there was some oil in it on the inlet side. More than I expected to be actually. So it makes me wonder if my PCV valve is actually bad because it being bad could allow more oil than normal to go through the breather hose, which makes it’s way into the turbo, which could make its way into the boost hoses, and gather into the inlet side of the FMIC. Could this happen?

[@miguelayala817]

Super late but for anyone having this issue, I solved the leak from the oil cap by replacing the cap itself. Earlier builds had a faulty oil cap gasket.

[@angelrayhernandez7524]

Great info thanks brother!! What kind of downpipe do you have ?

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Just a plain old EBay one. Has lasted me almost 5 years with no issues.

[@jevoncoleman5149]

Use ngk spark plugs and make sure u gap them right

[@chrisanghel2517]

I have a DKM stage 2 clutch. How long should I expect it to last for?( Had it for about 5k miles and don’t really beat on it much)

[@JacesOwnWorld]

It depends. I had two DKM Stage 2 clutches. One lasted 40k miles. The other lasted 8k miles. Really, the weak point in the clutch system is the tob/slave. So if that doesn’t fail on you, your DKM clutch should last a while.

[@FastRedPonyCar]

The stock clutch on my MK7 R started slipping at 9k miles with no mods. Dealership wanted 3K to replace it. Sold the car. Should have gotten DSG. Look at getting an MK8 R next year (hoping for that physical button refresh) and will definitely go DSG.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Yeah I hear ya. If I was going to do it all over again knowing what I know now, I would have got DSG. But, I do love manual and will always have a manual car. But the GYI to me, even with all my mods, is still an Econ car first, and then sports car second. So with all the driving I do with it, having auto would be nice. My next manual car will be something geared more to being a sports car first, like a GT350.

[@FastRedPonyCar]

@@JacesOwnWorld I think the 2018~2019 pre-facelift M3's would be a killer next step if you're wanting to retain the practicality of 4 doors, trunk, etc. If I didn't go that route, I would go HARD in the other direction and try to find a C6 Z06 that hasn't been beat on. I got 2 car seats in the back of my current car (tesla model 3 performance) so I've got a while before I've got another 2 door car in my garage. My lease is up Nov of next year so I'm hoping things are less crazy in the car market. Right now, dealers are gouging on those price tags. If it's still really hard to get one, I may just get a MK7.5 GTI Autobahn or R and go stage 2. If nothing else, the Tesla has taught me that I rarely use even a fraction of it's power/speed so I'm definitely not hunting for a barn burner. I think that the driver assist/adaptive cruise control is the biggest thing I want from whatever is next. A lot of my commute is in traffic and the Tesla makes this effortless. I haven't read up on how good/bad the adaptive cruise and lane keep works in the MK7.5. My MK7 R didn't have any of that.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

I’m actually not a huge fan of the F80/82 a M3’s. I had a 2003.5 E46 M3 6spd before, that I supercharged and modified pretty extensively. Loved that car, but the moment BMW went turbo on everything, I just wasn’t interested. Turbo’s are cool and all, but after owning an N/A M3 (supercharging it retained its N/A drivability), I just don’t like the idea of a turbo M3. I’m more of a M3 purist at heart than just making it “fast”. C6 Z06’s are cool, but I have driven many Vette’s, including a C5 and C6 Z06, and none of them really felt like their my style of car. They just felt too long for my taste. Power is definitely fun, but just not a Vette fan due to its awkward size. Yeah EV’s are cool. I’ve driven many Teslas as well as other EV’s. They’re fast and comfortable. But I would only use them in city as they just don’t have the practical range and practical ability to go on long trips. Too much headache for me tbh. I do like the Hyundai Ioniq5. Test drive it. Loved it. But it’s range just isn’t enough. Spending that kind of money for something Talbots only practical for in town driving isn’t for me. I love how I can go pretty fast in my GTI, and still get 500 miles out of one 13.2 gal tank of gas on road trips. When I go on trips, I don’t want to have to stop constantly, and wait for a charge. I do see myself getting an EV one day, but the range is my issue. They’re all fast. I think they need to stop marketing on how fast they are, and focus on range issues, and range anxiety issues are the #1 complaint on consumer reports for EV’s.

[@FastRedPonyCar]

@@JacesOwnWorld Yeah there are some trips we take in the tesla and some we take in our XC60 SUV. The cost for trips is wildly inexpensive vs gas but you kinda have to reprogram your brain on what "refueling" is. It's no longer a quick pump and go. It's a bathroom break and a snack while watching a youtube video or two and if you have kids, you just find some food somewhere, park, charge, eat, pee and by that time, you're up to a full charge. My biggest gripe with Tesla is that they massively over-rate their mileage. My car is rated for 310 miles but gets nowhere close to that, especially in winter as running heat depletes the battery even faster. Average highway mileage is around 250~260 if I took the car from 100 to 0% but that's if I keep it around 72~75mph. We're just not used to thinking about that in gasoline cars because when it runs low on gas, you pull over anywhere, fill up and you're up and off out in 5 minutes. I had a scatpack charger before the Tesla and that thing guzzled gas like no tomorrow so the fuel savings was massive. For something like a GTI, it's not nearly as big of a difference in terms of cost per gallon of gas vs charging fees at superchargers. At this point, I think that as long as you can utilize the tesla supercharger network, long trips are relatively pain free and shouldn't have any range anxiety because the car and numerous awesome 3rd party apps will always be giving you your real world range based on driving behavior, elevation data from GPS, etc. You have to willfully disregard charging station stops to actually run the risk of running out of charge.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Yeah I’ve thought a lot about the things you bring up. In theory, anyone can make it happen for them. Reprogramming your life around it will need to happen. But it comes at a cost, and that cost is time, having to charge multiple times over, and having to stay on the network and roads that that network is in. Most of those costs just aren’t for me. I’ll legitimately be interested once claimed ranges are 500+, knowing it will be more like 400. But I can do 400. That will work for my lifestyle. But 250 won’t. I don’t like having to plan trips out like that. I like getting in my car, and going wherever I want. Waiting around for a charge would bug me. I don’t even like stopping at gas stations to fill up in 5-10 minutes lol. Plus the initial cost of a Tesla just doesn’t fit into my budget. EV’s are made for the wealthy right now (besides something like a Prius but I would never get something that gay lol). I also don’t like the idea of the government being in charge of the cost of charging. EV’s are already know not to save the planet, but to actually polite more carbon into the ozone, so I’m not sold on the “save the planet” part of owning an EV. But also, once EV’s are a lot more common, guaranteed the price to charge them will skyrocket past what we pay for gas currently. We already see how electricity has been affected in CA, where what used to be a $100 electricity bill at our homes is now $300+. So having the government in charge of its costs frightens me. Yes I know gas will go up to, but to say we will be saving money having EV’s is a little far-fetched imo.

[@kylesheehan3813]

How do you feel about the Mk7 vs 9th gen SI? Ik the GTI performs better but reliability is also a concern

[@JacesOwnWorld]

In my view, the MK7 GTI is a much superior car over the 9th gen SI. Im not a Honda fan. I think they’re just too much rice, and so many people mod them, and they’re still very slow. At least when you mod the MK7 GTI, you can beat V8’s pretty easily. You can’t with the 9th gen SI. That being said, the SI is still a fun little car, and it is definitely more reliable, but how much more reliable is it when it’s modded??? Especially with their turbo engines now? I don’t really know. I also think they’re overpriced for what you get, and if I was going to sell my GTI, it wouldn’t be for anything FWD again. The clutch on my GTI, and it being FWD, are my two biggest complaints about the car.

[@wakaflockaproject]

With Honda you'll need the type r, rest of the models are basic and bare bone. You only want those for reliability 😊

[@zainzaya524]

I know for sure you get high marks on ur essay cuz the intro was sick

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Haha thanks!

[@mrich7363]

this video is accurate i already change waterpump and the timing change gasket i guess its really a vw thing

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Yeah. Sucks that it needs to be done, but once you get it done, it should be a worry-some free thing from then on.

[@gucciboss10x55]

What kind of tune you got because it seems your tune is kinda reliable if not reliable

[@JacesOwnWorld]

I have two tunes on it. Both are custom and both are conservative for the IS38 turbo. My tuner is Frank Mabo. I run a 91oct tune for fun days, and a 87oct time for work days. Once I have my car all figured out, I will have a 91oct meth tune for when I want to have it pushed to its max.

[@diydrivenGA]

I like getting 200k out of my cars. Let's see if this GTI gets me close.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

It should! I’m over 142k now. Still working amazingly!

[@youtubejunkie8053]

Classic check engine light 😂

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Haha you know it! SAI pump signal. I’m like the hell with fixing that crap! If it doesn’t affect performance, it stays on haha

[@Wokturdsniff]

$6k for maintenance on a car with only 100k miles? that’s super expensive. This sounds more like a vid on why you don’t want a gti.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

You’ll be surprised at how much oil changes, tires, filters, brakes, etc. all cost on your “Honda” or “Toyota” in 100k miles. Nobody does the math, but when they do, it’s an easy $5k. And that’s for a normal, hella boring, only for economical purposes car. So $6k for my GTI with double the amount of power it comes from the factory isn’t bad.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

Yep exactly. I’m not saying that something like a Honda or Toyota wouldn’t be as, or more reliable, than the MK7 GTI, but I don’t think I know of any Honda’s or Toyotas, that are pushing double the amount of power it comes with stock, for over 100k miles, and still having “superb” reliability. The engines on those cars are usually reliable because they aren’t pushed because the hard, but once you get them modified, they start having stock components breaking down just like any car.

[@LoLo-tb2iy]

@@JacesOwnWorld idk man comparing toyota to vw is pointless cause toyota will top it in reliability, Toyota's rarely use 5k over 100k miles, 1k for timing every 150k miles and 2k for brakes and etc and that's pushing it, those are older toyotas tho not any new ones, I dont know if you know about ls400s they basically come forged block, rod .. etc FROM FACTORY, they can handle 800+ or just years and years of abuse and for cheap if you do the work yourself, VW arent known for reliability either especially new cars, newer cars in general arent as reliable without having a fat piggy bank

[@sazlefraz]

That actually doesnt sound bad. I usually put 10k on my car every year soo thats about 600 a year? Im willing to take that and plus im not gonna tune the thing because ive had a shit ton of fun in a regular mk7 golf that i got for a rental a couple of times so i might save even more. If anything this vid is convincing me to buy a used mk7 GTI with less than 10k miles right now XD.

[@JacesOwnWorld]

It definitely isn’t as reliable as a Toyota, but like I said in my video, the GTI is a lot funner to drive than any reliable Toyota out there. It’s also a lot more capable. So to have more fun, and more performance comes at a cost of reliability. Still though, I think you would be very surprised at how much it costs just in regular maintenance for a Toyota too. Add up all the receipts for tires, brakes, oil changes (all normal stuff), etc. and you’re thousands into maintenance for a Toyota too. If I never modified my GTI, the only concern with it would be the waterpump, which was under $400. That’s nothing. The MK7 GTI is very reliable as it sits.