I had a leaky sunroof and it was a nightmare to get fixed. Took it to the dealership (since its under warranty) 3 times, the first 2 times they said they couldnt find the leak. Finally they discovered the entire sunroof frame was cracked and leaking water into the headliner, which caused a ton of black mold to form. Took them almost a month but they fixed it and it no longer leaks when its raining.
Nice covering it all. It will be helpful to see another update at 30k and/or 40k. I'm thinking about sticking where I am as it is stupid fun lol and a nice balance of speed/reliability for a tuned ride....but, I also might go E85 (midwest has looots of corn lol) and/or is38. I want to beat more V8s lol Additional tuned reliability input/experience: I have a 2017 dsg that I picked up last Spring with only 7k miles. I went Unitronic stage 1 93 at 13k, stage 2 93 at 19k, intercooler and turbo inlet pipe at 22k and I am currently at 26k and I have had zero issues. I inspected the underside of the engine about a month ago and there is no seepage anywhere...not that I was expecting any lol
Redlining your car and heating it up, will not clean carbon off. There are numerous videos about this, including one by engineering explained. Basically, you can't get an engine hot enough to burn carbon off, I mean, you might be able to but the engine won't survive.
You can change your ecu to have any feature you want it to have realistically. Grab a vagcom and modify the code to mess with the traction control. I’ve messed with my gti a bit and gave it some fun stuff like remote windows and hatch along with how many times it blinds and just other basic options. You can also use it to modify perimeters such as what the o2 sensor reads or what the car considers a good reading. Luckily I don’t have to mess with that stuff but vagcom is a useful tool to use when you’re dealing with Volkswagen and their stubborn ecu’s.
40k on my mk7.5 R, had a JB4 and DSG for around 20k of that. only issues - had to replace rear rotors after that grooved deeply around 15k and had to fill the coolant a bit. no leaks, possibly hose expansion. love this car
Car is coming along nicely, and glad to hear you're having minimal problems. Looking to have some services done on my mk7. Got any shops you can recommend?
Currently have 121k on my Mk7 R… running it stock. I had a couple weird things when I first got like a dead battery and a miss fire which the dealership took care of… the miss fire was from running crappy premium. At 60k the water pump went out and dealership took care of that as well. Every once in a while the infotainment screen blacks out and turns back on during next drive. Change oil between 5-8k and regular maintenance (spark plugs and filters… etc) every 10k. It’s been a great daily!
15k miles on my stage 2 B58, just took it on a 2000 mile road trip and the only problem was my car ate my COOLANT up! Euro’s have a bad rap but personally I’d say reliability on my car has gone above my expectations
Great video…and refreshing insight into your tuning journey. Just got a ‘21 GTI and I find your videos fun and helpful. Just ordered the VWR springs and already replaced my drop in filter. Keep up the awesome work!
I bought a 21 gti se 2 months ago after trading In my 17 gti s. Intake, downpipe, hpa hpfp, fuel it flex fuel sensor, turbo inlet pipe, ie stage 2 e30 tune running ngk rs7 plugs. Definitely fell down the rabbit hole quick. Working on suspension/wheels next
My engine had catastrophic failure at 40k miles. Bought it as a lease return, CPO, flawless history, maintenance done at dealership, etc.. VWoA replaced the engine and turbo with a zero-mile engine and turbo with 2019 build dates to the tune of $15,000. I paid my warranty deductible and that was it. Thank fuck it was covered. Had a modified stock intake and catless downpipe on when it was replaced. They even put that shit back on after it was repaired. I was pretty pissed seeing as I had nothing but Toyotas for almost 20 years with like, zero problems -and then I get my first Euro and the engine gets rod knock casually driving home from work one day? It is an early build date 2015. I was never really told what exactly happened other than it has rod knock and my failures were fairly rare and they had only known of a handful of other mk7's that had the problem. And that it was covered under warranty. But now I am FBO, like everything, with a jb4 custom map6 on e30 and I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on an Accessport because of the whole thing. Still like my GTI though. Lol.
I'm curious why you think the Cobb ots is bad. It might not be the best for hard driving, but for more fun daily driving, I think it's fine. I've had 0 issues since I flashed mine. Had my '17 DSG for 4 years now no issues, except the engine squeaks on cold start. For me has been a great and reliable car
2019 gti S Cts turbo downpipe Catback with muffler delete Extreme contact dws06 tires Unitronic stage 2 Pushing 320 hp and roughly 370ish torque Favorite car by far. Never had this much fun. Super reliable. Barely any problems. Definitely nothing you mentioned. 18k miles in and i deliver pizza in it i kid you not I had a cobb tune for a bit with the accessport, sold the port and went unitronic. Didnt like the tunes at all. Even the custom maperformance tune i had i greatly disliked. Love the vide9 btw! Thank you for the advice!
Hey bud.. yeah I had that issue with the staling at first..then I got the update as well all good..I haven't upgraded my car at all..no issues so far and I'm sitting at 19000 miles
I have a mark 7 with right at 60k on it. It had 51k when I bought it this past September. My only mods other than a k&n drop in filter is APR Stage 1 ht and DSG remap. So far, I love it. It's the funnest vehicle I've ever owned. My only issue so far is the dreaded sunroof leak. I actually thought it was my windshield leaking because of where the water was coming in. I've checked the drainage channels and can't find any of them clogged. Do you guy know how much the dealership will charge me to remedy this issue?
Funny about the stalling. Mine stalled once and then never again as well. When it stalled the software update wasn't out yet and by the time it did I was already stage 2 so I never got software update.
It’s a “one size fits all” map but because of everyone being in different altitudes and quality of fuel etc. it’s a mild map that won’t be as sharp or “dialed in” as other tunes. So you might experience more timing pull which isn’t always good.
Stalling was most likely due to the high gearing in the Golf GTI. My upbringing driving manuals was mostly Honda and Toyotas.... the Volkswagens are geared much higher and will stall if you dont compensate.
The fan issue happened to me luckily I was still stock n Didn't have to put anything back to oem and the warranty covered it but would've done the same if I was in your situation it does get tedious
0:29 never worried about reliability. I've owned a MK4 GLS and MK6 2.5 SE. Both were reliable until a wreck killed them (bad luck) both. However, I know turbos are another animal. I'm waiting for my '21 GLI to be delivered now and have no inclination to do mods or anything. Just wanted something that had the oomph to get around dickheads driving too slow or maybe a little fun on an empty road occasionally.
ayyeee I have a Gti 2016 2dr se No sunroof My clutch started to slip at 55 000 km ( canada) other then that i have had zero problems other then that. Upgraded clutch to dkm smf stg2 About to do a stg 1 cobb. also added a fluidampr. Im hoping my reliability stays the same.
I've had 9 VWs man, 6 MK4s and 3 MK6s. Only 2 of them where really problematic. Both MK4s actually, and the problems I had where just related to age and abuse not much else. The rest of them had already well known and documented issues that you could in theory get ahead of and be mostly problem free. Best example my MK6 GTI was a a 2011 so it didn't have the updated timing system and older plastic water pump. At 98k I got the timing done with the updated tensioner, got a metal impeller water pump and did a carbon cleaning she was running minty fresh. It helps to get on forums for these cars, the general population gave them a bad rap 30 years ago and never let it go. They're fine, just take a few extra brain cells to keep them happy
@@Letsgetitgointlilcuz Not necessarily years but generations. The MK4s automatics where bad, but manual where solid. The 1.8T from that era was the only one to have some issues but none are really that big a deal and there are kits you can buy to practically bulletproof them. MK5s weren't to spectacular, lots of electrical nonsense. The 2.5 5cyl is a tank of an engine. Abs pumps from this era had a warranty recall. The GTI FSI engine isn't bad but has some flaws that cannot be overlooked. MK6s where vastly better electrically and we got an updated 1.8T that is solid. The GTI TSI of this era is better than the FSI it replaced but still had some big issues. Need a bit more hands on care. MK7s is where I would start if I was buying a GTI. Avoid older sunroof models, some leak pretty bad. MK4s if you're really hands on, fun and really straightforward to work on.
Hey man I see you also have a gti lol I was wondering if you know what could be the problem for the idle air control valve code? Could be it the valve itself or the throttle body
have you tried turning off "Rough Road Optimization"? I read that is the equivalent to starting vibration reduction in our model years. I turned it off on mine and I notice traction seems completely off during launches. I am also on stock tune though so not sure if it would work for you.
I just got a Pure White 2021 GTI SE. So, too early for me to chime in on reliability. I would hope most, if not all, of the common complaints/issues have been resolved for the last production run of the Mk7.5s.. but, that's probably too wishful thinking and as u said how many of these issues that may pop up will vary from owner to owner. At this time, I hope there is no moonroof leaks.. I ran it through a car wash and didn't notice any issues. Where should I look to see if there's a leak? Common leak areas? What I'm bummed about and still waiting for is a software update to enable the Performance Monitor.. I have no idea why it was not included and not enabled. At least the 2021s seem to have this disabled.. perhaps 2020 production as well?
usually you'll see water dripping from the sunroof even if its closed. VW is aware of the issue so im sure they probably revised the design with later models.
I had a leaky sunroof and it was a nightmare to get fixed. Took it to the dealership (since its under warranty) 3 times, the first 2 times they said they couldnt find the leak. Finally they discovered the entire sunroof frame was cracked and leaking water into the headliner, which caused a ton of black mold to form. Took them almost a month but they fixed it and it no longer leaks when its raining.
Nice covering it all. It will be helpful to see another update at 30k and/or 40k. I'm thinking about sticking where I am as it is stupid fun lol and a nice balance of speed/reliability for a tuned ride....but, I also might go E85 (midwest has looots of corn lol) and/or is38. I want to beat more V8s lol
Additional tuned reliability input/experience:
I have a 2017 dsg that I picked up last Spring with only 7k miles. I went Unitronic stage 1 93 at 13k, stage 2 93 at 19k, intercooler and turbo inlet pipe at 22k and I am currently at 26k and I have had zero issues. I inspected the underside of the engine about a month ago and there is no seepage anywhere...not that I was expecting any lol
Adding ethanol to these cars makes a noticeable difference. jumping to e30 gave me way more tq
Those bronze ampliforms looking good man! Love the stance too :)
Redlining your car and heating it up, will not clean carbon off. There are numerous videos about this, including one by engineering explained. Basically, you can't get an engine hot enough to burn carbon off, I mean, you might be able to but the engine won't survive.
But but.. Italian tune up. LOL nothing beats an actual carbon clean. Thanks for watching!
@@JewelCity1 it's a thing people like to tell themselves will help. The video by engineering explained is very good, of recommend checking it out.
You can change your ecu to have any feature you want it to have realistically. Grab a vagcom and modify the code to mess with the traction control. I’ve messed with my gti a bit and gave it some fun stuff like remote windows and hatch along with how many times it blinds and just other basic options. You can also use it to modify perimeters such as what the o2 sensor reads or what the car considers a good reading. Luckily I don’t have to mess with that stuff but vagcom is a useful tool to use when you’re dealing with Volkswagen and their stubborn ecu’s.
40k on my mk7.5 R, had a JB4 and DSG for around 20k of that. only issues - had to replace rear rotors after that grooved deeply around 15k and had to fill the coolant a bit. no leaks, possibly hose expansion. love this car
How do you like the JB4?? I've been looking at one for my MK8 R and GTI. Just not sure if it's better than waiting for ECU tunes..
My unbiased opinion on VW Reliability
Car is coming along nicely, and glad to hear you're having minimal problems. Looking to have some services done on my mk7. Got any shops you can recommend?
Currently have 121k on my Mk7 R… running it stock. I had a couple weird things when I first got like a dead battery and a miss fire which the dealership took care of… the miss fire was from running crappy premium. At 60k the water pump went out and dealership took care of that as well. Every once in a while the infotainment screen blacks out and turns back on during next drive. Change oil between 5-8k and regular maintenance (spark plugs and filters… etc) every 10k. It’s been a great daily!
15k miles on my stage 2 B58, just took it on a 2000 mile road trip and the only problem was my car ate my COOLANT up! Euro’s have a bad rap but personally I’d say reliability on my car has gone above my expectations
Great video…and refreshing insight into your tuning journey. Just got a ‘21 GTI and I find your videos fun and helpful. Just ordered the VWR springs and already replaced my drop in filter. Keep up the awesome work!
I bought a 21 gti se 2 months ago after trading In my 17 gti s. Intake, downpipe, hpa hpfp, fuel it flex fuel sensor, turbo inlet pipe, ie stage 2 e30 tune running ngk rs7 plugs. Definitely fell down the rabbit hole quick. Working on suspension/wheels next
@@calank923 Ha…”rabbit” hole…I see what you did there 😅
My engine had catastrophic failure at 40k miles. Bought it as a lease return, CPO, flawless history, maintenance done at dealership, etc.. VWoA replaced the engine and turbo with a zero-mile engine and turbo with 2019 build dates to the tune of $15,000. I paid my warranty deductible and that was it. Thank fuck it was covered. Had a modified stock intake and catless downpipe on when it was replaced. They even put that shit back on after it was repaired. I was pretty pissed seeing as I had nothing but Toyotas for almost 20 years with like, zero problems -and then I get my first Euro and the engine gets rod knock casually driving home from work one day? It is an early build date 2015. I was never really told what exactly happened other than it has rod knock and my failures were fairly rare and they had only known of a handful of other mk7's that had the problem. And that it was covered under warranty.
But now I am FBO, like everything, with a jb4 custom map6 on e30 and I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on an Accessport because of the whole thing.
Still like my GTI though. Lol.
Jb4 is still plenty fun over stock
I'm curious why you think the Cobb ots is bad. It might not be the best for hard driving, but for more fun daily driving, I think it's fine. I've had 0 issues since I flashed mine.
Had my '17 DSG for 4 years now no issues, except the engine squeaks on cold start. For me has been a great and reliable car
Power is fun but Knock count would go up when running the ots map
Nice video man!
Thanks!
2019 gti S
Cts turbo downpipe
Catback with muffler delete
Extreme contact dws06 tires
Unitronic stage 2
Pushing 320 hp and roughly 370ish torque
Favorite car by far. Never had this much fun. Super reliable. Barely any problems. Definitely nothing you mentioned. 18k miles in and i deliver pizza in it i kid you not
I had a cobb tune for a bit with the accessport, sold the port and went unitronic. Didnt like the tunes at all. Even the custom maperformance tune i had i greatly disliked.
Love the vide9 btw! Thank you for the advice!
Unitronic maps will def feel better. Thanks for watching
I have a 2017 GTI Sport my water pump had to be replaced at 118,000 miles
Had to replace water pump at 41,000 miles @ $1000. Ouch!!!!
Hey bud.. yeah I had that issue with the staling at first..then I got the update as well all good..I haven't upgraded my car at all..no issues so far and I'm sitting at 19000 miles
Nice, and yup the update cleared the issues for most people
I have a mark 7 with right at 60k on it. It had 51k when I bought it this past September. My only mods other than a k&n drop in filter is APR Stage 1 ht and DSG remap. So far, I love it. It's the funnest vehicle I've ever owned. My only issue so far is the dreaded sunroof leak. I actually thought it was my windshield leaking because of where the water was coming in. I've checked the drainage channels and can't find any of them clogged. Do you guy know how much the dealership will charge me to remedy this issue?
I bought my 2015 gti with 18k miles in 2016 it currently has 100k stock with no issues
That’s awesome
Funny about the stalling. Mine stalled once and then never again as well. When it stalled the software update wasn't out yet and by the time it did I was already stage 2 so I never got software update.
We got lucky? 😂
Respect for driving a manual. I have a question, Why dont you recommand stage 1 COBB?
It’s a “one size fits all” map but because of everyone being in different altitudes and quality of fuel etc. it’s a mild map that won’t be as sharp or “dialed in” as other tunes. So you might experience more timing pull which isn’t always good.
Stalling was most likely due to the high gearing in the Golf GTI. My upbringing driving manuals was mostly Honda and Toyotas.... the Volkswagens are geared much higher and will stall if you dont compensate.
I can totally see this as the cause coming from a short gearing civic si
The fan issue happened to me luckily I was still stock n Didn't have to put anything back to oem and the warranty covered it but would've done the same if I was in your situation it does get tedious
Definitely weird but somewhat easy fix
0:29 never worried about reliability. I've owned a MK4 GLS and MK6 2.5 SE. Both were reliable until a wreck killed them (bad luck) both. However, I know turbos are another animal. I'm waiting for my '21 GLI to be delivered now and have no inclination to do mods or anything. Just wanted something that had the oomph to get around dickheads driving too slow or maybe a little fun on an empty road occasionally.
The mk7.5 will be perfect for that
ayyeee I have a Gti 2016 2dr se No sunroof My clutch started to slip at 55 000 km ( canada) other then that i have had zero problems other then that. Upgraded clutch to dkm smf stg2 About to do a stg 1 cobb. also added a fluidampr. Im hoping my reliability stays the same.
Stay on top of servicing and it should treat you right
@@JewelCity1 you ever do the 90k maintenance service where you change your timing belt
I have not since It’s at 22k miles
Hey bro I noticed you had an S trim but you have the upgraded lights with a black trim. Where did you buy those lights?
They are golf R lights. These ua-cam.com/video/t8ezmPVoYTs/v-deo.html
@@JewelCity1 thx man appreciate it. I’ve been looking into getting a new Mk7 gti and I’m also leaning towards the S trim because of the No sunroof
You didn't mention the crank walk issue with MK7 and 7.5's? That's the main reason I decided against moding my manual trans MK7.
I've had 9 VWs man, 6 MK4s and 3 MK6s. Only 2 of them where really problematic. Both MK4s actually, and the problems I had where just related to age and abuse not much else. The rest of them had already well known and documented issues that you could in theory get ahead of and be mostly problem free. Best example my MK6 GTI was a a 2011 so it didn't have the updated timing system and older plastic water pump. At 98k I got the timing done with the updated tensioner, got a metal impeller water pump and did a carbon cleaning she was running minty fresh.
It helps to get on forums for these cars, the general population gave them a bad rap 30 years ago and never let it go. They're fine, just take a few extra brain cells to keep them happy
So what year would you say is best for reliability?
@@Letsgetitgointlilcuz Not necessarily years but generations. The MK4s automatics where bad, but manual where solid. The 1.8T from that era was the only one to have some issues but none are really that big a deal and there are kits you can buy to practically bulletproof them.
MK5s weren't to spectacular, lots of electrical nonsense. The 2.5 5cyl is a tank of an engine. Abs pumps from this era had a warranty recall. The GTI FSI engine isn't bad but has some flaws that cannot be overlooked.
MK6s where vastly better electrically and we got an updated 1.8T that is solid. The GTI TSI of this era is better than the FSI it replaced but still had some big issues. Need a bit more hands on care.
MK7s is where I would start if I was buying a GTI. Avoid older sunroof models, some leak pretty bad. MK4s if you're really hands on, fun and really straightforward to work on.
Lol you took my route to Canes
Got a question for you Jewel City do you recommend EQT or Sneekytune?
notification squad. another great video!
I appreciate
Hey man I see you also have a gti lol I was wondering if you know what could be the problem for the idle air control valve code? Could be it the valve itself or the throttle body
have you tried turning off "Rough Road Optimization"? I read that is the equivalent to starting vibration reduction in our model years. I turned it off on mine and I notice traction seems completely off during launches. I am also on stock tune though so not sure if it would work for you.
Yup and a few other tweaks
@@JewelCity1 damn that sucks 😢
Higher hp fwd probs. I’ve got it very close to where I want it though. TC will only kick in if I get careless
2015. Iv replaced my water pump/thermostat at 67000miles. It was leaking.
Looking to buy a 2021 S with the DSG are there any known issues on those?
Get a dsg tune to maximize your experience. 2021 ecu should have Cobb support by now
Pretty sure they are more reliable than american cars!
How much psi boost you pushing on the is38?
I just got a Pure White 2021 GTI SE. So, too early for me to chime in on reliability. I would hope most, if not all, of the common complaints/issues have been resolved for the last production run of the Mk7.5s.. but, that's probably too wishful thinking and as u said how many of these issues that may pop up will vary from owner to owner. At this time, I hope there is no moonroof leaks.. I ran it through a car wash and didn't notice any issues. Where should I look to see if there's a leak? Common leak areas?
What I'm bummed about and still waiting for is a software update to enable the Performance Monitor.. I have no idea why it was not included and not enabled. At least the 2021s seem to have this disabled.. perhaps 2020 production as well?
usually you'll see water dripping from the sunroof even if its closed. VW is aware of the issue so im sure they probably revised the design with later models.
Crank walk on a manual gti is no fun
definitely have their quirks but build quality is superior in my opinion
Pretty much
Control Arms
What about thrust bearing failure?
…the real elephant in the room
Pretty uncommon problem and especially rare in cars with less than 80k
Only 22k miles and you’re asking how reliable it is? Haha. Kind of funny. But then again, every car is different
He's had a tune on it for 17K miles. So yes, reporting on its reliability after 17K hard miles (per his own words) makes sense.