JoeGTI7

A tip for those who find the wireless charging flakey - remove the little rubber mat from that cubby hole! You'll find that your phone will fit in there much better without that mat and will charge much more reliably.

I dunno tbh. I don’t think it’s as bad as the other pics in the previous post! I hate going back to dealers, serious pain, so it would want to be something really annoying me to warrant the hassle. I wonder what they’d do anyway? I’m guessing they’d attempt to replace the covers but I suspect that’s not an easy job and sure it could look as bad or worse afterwards.

this is mad, I was searching this forum a few days ago to see if I could find anyone reporting issues like this and I didn’t find anything, which suggests this is a dip in standards from the MK8. I’ve noticed similar on my 8.5 Clubsport. Not quite as bad as yours there but I don’t remember ever noticing this in my previous MK8. The upholstery on both front seats is noticeably not that well fitted in my car tbh.

Hi guys, Question for those of you with pano roofs. I like to leave mine open in the tilted position a lot, especially in this fine spell of weather. I've noticed (or heard) something odd when it's in this position. Every time I come to a stop, it sounds like something is "closing" or sliding forwards as I brake. Almost sounds like the blind is closing or even the roof itself is closing, but definitely neither are budging! It's quite minor and not even an annoying type of noise (it does really sound like the blind gently closing) but I'd love to know what it is. Anyone else ever notice this?

I got the “black edition” ones on eBay. Much cheaper than the dealers. Here - https://www.ebay.ie/itm/404995278632?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=5282-175127-2357-0&ssspo=wdtYPdPTQPS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=phSKMh8yQwS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY seller was great, very helpful and responsive to me when I had one minor follow up query. Fitting is very straightforward. I didn’t even take the glass out, managed to remove mirror caps without removing glass.

It does chirp (sometimes, but not always!) if you enable the "lock car automatically when you walk away from it" (can't remember exact wording). And it'll double-chirp if it cannot lock, e.g. if one of the doors or boot is open.

I tried the dynamic lighting trial in my new CS and it's definitely not worth stumping up for. The only thing I noticed was the interior ambient lighting flashed amber if you switched on your hazard warning lights. Thats about as gimmicky as it gets. Didn't notice anything else that it added.

Yep, for some annoying reason, VW only do the gloss-black caps for cars that don't have side-assist! You can only get them primed for side-assist equipped cars. A much cheaper alternative (and a lot less faff) is to get a pair of caps off AliExpress for about £40. I've done this twice, on my MK8 and again now on my MK8.5 and they're near as damn perfect. These are the ones I got: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002022435575.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.25a31802vK6VbM

what “suction cup” do you have @chillly?

The part is different in the MK7. I posted a link to where I got the black edition versions a couple of pages back - https://www.ebay.ie/itm/404995278632 I wouldn't say they're "black" either. Really it is more like a light grey tint! So you may be wise to get the white ones, if there's a good saving.

Great job with the spoiler @Tethias! Huge improvement. Its interesting that it can be purchased pre-painted too, which makes the whole thing easier. Can you elaborate on how simple it was to fit? Is the old one simply bolted on or is there any adhesive involved? And new one is a direct swap with no faff required to make it fit?

Hey Rebecca, I ordered these From eBay here last week and fitted them to my CS today. Very simple job, once you get the mirror caps off. Really pleased with how they look. The lens themselves are darker than the factory ones and the lights themselves seem a lot brighter too.

I have my new GTI CS about 6 weeks and zero issues so far... touching wood firmly... I wouldn't be sure that the buttons have anything to do with it though... the steering wheels are the same, bar the haptic/physical buttons. I retrofitted the R DSG paddles to the new car and the process was exactly the same as the old car (which had haptics)

The new car looks stunning Rebecca. Congratulations!

No not really actually. It’s only in relative recent years that VW Ireland started spec’ing cars to a decent level. About 2014/15 there was a big shakeup. I bought a new MK7 GTI in 2013 and had to pay for such luxuries as climate control, 18’s, xenons, all of which were standard in the UK. Of course we pay very handsomely for it. And neither is there any such thing here as a broker similar to what you have with Carwow or Drive the deal. You want a new car? Your only option is dealing directly with the main dealer. And discounts are slim to none!

No I don’t think it is! The Irish specs across the performance Golf range are very close, if not identical to you guys in the UK.

Well, not quite. The "Black edition" is 81K. The "base" R starts at about 76K! And the CS starts at about 64k. So yeah, still a significant jump between them. You can put it down to the crippling taxes that are applied to cars here, particularly those cars in the higher emission bracket.

CS starts at approx €64K.

Yeah I'm really liking the changes they've made with the 8.5. Making the exterior black plastics gloss black rather than the matt black really lifts the looks and overall I think they've addressed the more "challenging" aspects of the MK8's looks very well. My current car is still on its original steering wheel! Of course I've had the occasional bing/bong but I've never had any persistent ones. The only persistent annoyance has been a squeak/groan from the front suspension which the dealers have never resolved... not my problem for much longer though! The R Black edition is about €82k here before you tick any options....

Cheers Rebecca, long time no talk ! Yeah, looking forward to it now. I've had my MK8 for over 3 years and I've been very happy with it. It's been largely gremlin-free. But of course the launch of the 8.5 got the hamster spinning in my head again and here I am! They are a very expensive car here now, the CS is about 10k more retail than it was when I bought in 2021. The R is just too far out of reach realistically...

Hi guys, a former regular in here, I've been back lurking with great interest in the past couple of months. This info might be of interest to some of you... I'm waiting on a new CS. It had been assigned a BW49, but week 49 came and went and there was no movement. Today (week 51) it finally went into production. The dealer tells me he was told there was a delay/restriction on "parking sensors". Putting 2+2 together, I reckon the recent amendment to make "Park assist pro" a standard fit item is the likely underlying reason. I have a pano roof spec'd too, but that isn't the reason for the delay, so I'm told.

I think you're grossly simplifying it. There isn't a chance in hell that VW were going to do a bespoke mass produced car, chip shortages or not. But of course, the chip shortages do affect everything. So many things are indirectly affected by it. Different body panels would obviously require re-tooling... different tools, re-configured robots, new robots, reconfigured assembly lines, etc... There are plenty of electronics involved in setting all that up, all of which require parts that are in short supply!

I would guess after 3 years you'll get a constant nag notification to pay up / re-subscribe.

no, you don’t need any WiFi. Nor do you need to pay for a data package. The data package is only required for extras like online radio, music streaming etc. OTA updates are also downloaded via the E-sim but it’s included in the WeConnect package. You do need to have the car parked in a good mobile coverage area.

Its strange that you got the large OTA updates, considering that your car was already running version 1896 and presumably still is on version 1896! So, (as a software engineer myself), I suspect that this is yet another one of VW's software bugs... i.e. pushing large updates to cars that don't actually require those updates. It is probable that your large update essentially re-installed the same version that you already had running. Probably a side-effect of them transitioning from dealer-only updates to the new OTA approach.