Paul_R

I’m going to get this done soon on my 7.5 wagon. I too was worried about drone but, having just driven for 4 hours on the motorway at 75 mph I have realised that tyre noise is by far the biggest issue with the Golf R. I can’t see how exhaust drone could be heard over the tyre roar - on Australian roads anyway. It was so bad that my wife is telling me I have to swap the R for a Merc C class or A4. I think she meant C43 or S4... Moral is, if you don’t think the R is too noisy on motorways in stock form then you are unlikely to notice a bit of drone.

Get it looked at. As Flogger said, us Antipodeans see day time temps in the mid 30s and up for most of summer. The highest my dash temp has read is 45.5 Celsius and I’ve never seen any heat related issue on any of my Golf’s. the biggest problem with the heat is the loss of power. Becomes obvious when the air temp is over about 28 and is horrific in the 40s. Simple overtaking manoeuvres on the way to work (in the cooler morning) become pant wetting exercises on the way home.

I’m keen to hear from estate/wagon/variant owners on this as well. No hatch owners waffling on about their flaps please. I’ve heard differing opinions on the estate res delete. It seems that in the hatch it’s a no brainier as you can turn the noise on or off with a button. How much of that is due to ECU mapping and how much is due to the flaps I don’t know. With the wagon not having flaps it’s a bit unclear. I was going to do it but the shop wanted the car for half a day, was going to weld the whole job - making it harder to reverse - and asked for $300 Aussie dollars. The first thing he did ask me though was had I researched it well...

I’ve gone from Mk 7 manual to facelift DSG. I would agree that the suspension seems to lose some of its finesse over time. The new car doesn’t bump and bash where the old one did. DSG taking a long time to adapt to after 27 years in a manual. I’m one of those people who skipped gears a lot ie 1st to 2nd then straight to 4th and then 6th. 6th to 4th for overtaking on open roads etc. Banging through each gear is taking some adjusting. Also noticing, again, that the whole car works better when driving at a certain speed (really fast) rather than normal commuting speeds. The manual was definitely designed to be driven at 8 or 9 10ths in terms of peddle setup for heal toe down changes etc.

Picked up my new wagon/variant/estate last week. Traded my Mk 7 R manual hatch. This is my first DSG and so far so good - as in I can actually live with an “auto” box. For those not in the know, the Wolfsburg is an Australian limited edition with every option there is and then some. The only choice is a sunroof which I never get anyway. Everything else is standard and the leather is another notch up as well. Also, I finally got my hands on a set of Prets which we weren’t given the choice on with the Mk 7. loving the wagon as I ferry 3 children around most days and they have a lot of crap to ferry. Also can fit 3 bikes on the roof for all the MTB tracks in our part of north east / Alpine Victoria (Falls Creek, Mount Beauty, Bright, Yack, Beechworth - check out the flow crews MTB vids on YouTube) PS the 5 year old is trying to unlock the rear door but hasn’t quite got the keyless thing fully sussed.

Normally I would go manual every time. Have done for 26 years. However, the current Mk 7 manual has a major flaw. The clutch. It isn't right. We are now starting to see a lot of burnt out Mk7 R clutches with very low miles on them. Mine included. Hence my next R will be DSG.

This is not an isolated incident! It would seem that the clutch in the Mk 7 R is not up to the job. Mine went at 16,000 miles. VW Australia covered the cost of the parts so it ended up costing me £300 out of pocket. There are more and more stories of stuffed clutches popping up as the cars get older. Remember also that anyone who has a tune, and subsequently destroyed their clutch, would automatically assume that it was because of the tune. It would seem the tune just brought forward an event that was going to happen anyway. Make sure you let the dealer know that you've been looking on the internet and found other people with similar problems. VW probably don't want another bad news story given recent history...good luck.

My 2015 R burnt out it's clutch after 30,000 kms. VW paid for the parts as a car like this shouldn't burn out so easily. My car was completely stock and not thrashed. It was driven like an R should be though. I'm guessing there will be a fair few stock manual Golf Rs turning up soon with rooted clutches. Most wrecked clutches up to this point would have been chipped and people would just assume that the extra torque fried it. Looks like the clutch is piss weak and not up to the job in the first place. Not sure how much the clutch delay valve plays into this. I'm getting a DSG in November.

Looks like there is someone in the canned worm isle with a tin opener again... My rules led for running are: Rule 1: the purpose of bedding in is to properly seal (shape) the rings against the bore. This needs to be done on both sides by forcing the ring against the bore, therefore acceleration is just as important as deceleration - otherwise known as engine braking. Rule 2: never do anything other than normal driving until the oil temp is up around 80 degrees. Rule 3: you do NOT need to rev the head off an engine to run it in. Rule 4: you need to do full (or close to full) throttle runs in middle gears (2nd, 3rd and 4th work best) between about 2000 rpm and 4000 rpm. Up hill helps. Rule 5: this is the one most people ignore. You need to do the opposite to rule 4. On a downhill run, use the gears to slow the car, ranging the revs again between 2000 rpm and 4000 rpm. The harder the deceleration the better. This seals the other side of the ring as the lateral forces on the piston are reversed. You can gradually extend your rev limit as you see fit. Warm oil is more important that restricting revs. However, the bedding in bit is unable to be done, or takes infinitely longer, if you miss the window and the bores smooth off before the rings bed in. Therefore, the best time to do the above is as soon as you drive out of the dealership. The absolute worst thing you can do is drive 200 miles home down the motorway at 80 mph on cruise. Take the scenic route home instead.

And you don't have to press the Race button (or engine into sport) every time you get in the car because the valves close when the engine shuts off and don't automatically re-open when you start the engine. Very annoying. Not sure if all the Mk 7 hatches do this but my early one does.

That's good to hear. I had Dynaudio in my Mk 6 R and wasn't all that impressed with it. Never sounded quite right, even after putting a 10" sub in. The regular stereo in the Mk 7 R (we weren't offered Dynaudio in Australia for the Mk 7) is actually very nice. The sound quality is excellent. Just don't try to pop your back window out with it. I've ordered a Wolfsburg Mk 7.5 mainly because it will come to Australia with Dynaudio (also the only way we can get Pretorias). No on can say if the regular 7.5 R will have it. Consensus seems to be that it will either not have it, even as an option, or it will be standard.

So, assuming that this clutch delay return valve prevents the clutch from engaging quickly enough, I have decided to blame it for my clutch burning out at 30,000 km in a stock car with no standing start traffic light shenanigans. I'm wondering if that's why VW agreed to pay for the parts. I'm guessing that 'non-spirited' drivers would find the clutch action too jerky without it? Cost of a new clutch from VW seems to be around the GBP 2k mark for parts and labour. Obviously you would never take that option if you have a tune.

My money is on a hybrid R. Think of it as GTI with one or two 48 volt motors out the back. It will have minimal battery storage to save weight, maybe 50 kms on electric only if you're lucky. Anyone who thinks VW is going to stick a VR6 up front is pissed. But here's hoping😋

The dealer has now had a good look at my clutch and can't see why it has burnt out. They didn't try to push it as a warranty job but spoke to customer service instead. VW Australia agreed to pay for all the parts and I'm left with a GBP 600 labour bill. I guess that most failed clutches are assumed to be due to chipping and VW never hear about them. I now wonder how many of those chipped cars would have burnt out anyway. I now feel a lot better about having chosen DSG for my next one

Gearbox is out. Clutch completely burnt out. Dealer can't figure out why. They said they expected to see something obvious as it's only got 30,000 kms on it. They're going to have a more detailed look tomorrow as they say they want to make sure VW don't give them a 'please explain' notice if the dealer puts a warranty claim in and then VWA or Germany ask for it to be sent back so they can examine it. I'm half hopeful they'll find something....