Golf mk8.5R news, questions and chat

[Booth11]

3 minutes ago, Suki said:

So, just a few observations on the 8.5R, having had it for just over a week: I'm surpised that VW are still fitting wipers that don't actually work. I mean, they must know this right? Did they get a job lot on some cheapo rubber and just decide to run the stock down? Anyway, the issue is fixed with a set of Aerotwins (A864S is the set you want, £20.95 from Amazon).

 

Secondly, I'm rather embarressed to confess that I didn't know the car had Park Assist as standard now. The question is: Is it any good, and should I trust it? Does it understand kerbs and whatnot? Is it Park Assist Plus? I've actually been scared to try it out.

 

Yes unfortunately VW are still fitting the rubbish Valeo wiper blades. Aerotwins are the way to go.

 

It’s Park Assist Pro that’s standard which gives you the option to use an app to park the car (Park Assist Plus gives parking assistance but does not have the app remote parking option).  Bit of discussion on it here where @kevintaper1 tried it out. 

 

[Jay Psi]

1 hour ago, Suki said:

So, just a few observations on the 8.5R, having had it for just over a week: I'm surpised that VW are still fitting wipers that don't actually work. I mean, they must know this right? Did they get a job lot on some cheapo rubber and just decide to run the stock down? Anyway, the issue is fixed with a set of Aerotwins (A864S is the set you want, £20.95 from Amazon).

 

Secondly, I'm rather embarressed to confess that I didn't know the car had Park Assist as standard now. The question is: Is it any good, and should I trust it? Does it understand kerbs and whatnot? Is it Park Assist Plus? I've actually been scared to try it out.

 

I am the exception that proves the rule - my stock wipers have been fine. I haven't used them for more than an hour in 2,000 miles because I have RainX applied, but it still counts! 😁

 

I wouldn't trust Park Assist Pro myself, as most of my parking is rather tight. I might test it on a Sunday morning car park but it won't see much use anyway.

[blizzard60]

11 hours ago, Jay Psi said:

I am the exception that proves the rule - my stock wipers have been fine. I haven't used them for more than an hour in 2,000 miles because I have RainX applied, but it still counts! 😁

 

I wouldn't trust Park Assist Pro myself, as most of my parking is rather tight. I might test it on a Sunday morning car park but it won't see much use anyway.

I believe Park Assist will find and park in a sport that is only 20cm bigger than your car! That’s insanely tight. I need to look up that spec again because even as I type it it seems too small, haha!

[Jay Psi]

3 hours ago, blizzard60 said:

I believe Park Assist will find and park in a sport that is only 20cm bigger than your car! That’s insanely tight. I need to look up that spec again because even as I type it it seems too small, haha!

I can't see anything from VW directly, but other websites suggest 80cm extra space is required for manoeuvering, and 35cm siedways. That seems more sensible.

[RJB]

Was wondering about the start/stop on the 8.5 BE. My 8R when stopped in queuing traffic would stop when you came to a standstill.  When the car in front started to move the sensors would pick up the movement and the engine would automatically start again. Doesn’t seem to do this in my 8.5 you have to touch the accelerator to start it again

[Bugs2206]

On 24/10/2025 at 22:49, EXCESSIONOCP said:

So today I absent mindedly applied the EPB while the car was still doing about 1-mph and I hadn’t come to a full stop on the drive. Cue a large grinding noise and a few bongs chiming. All is well but then the intrusive part of my brain wondered what would happen if I applied the EPB while doing say, 20mph. Thankfully the rest of my brain told me that was a stupid idea. But the question remains- what would happen? Does anyone know? Surely there is some wheel speed sensor somewhere that wouldn’t allow it to come on…

Afaik, it's in the manual, and it's effectively an emergency brake feature. You can use it as a panic button to apply full brake force (with abs and ebd and the other systems). I've tried it in a mk7 GTI and it's hair-raising to say the least, but it works. Not sure on the minimum speed it works at though, before simply trying to apply the parking brake.

[kevintaper1]

Off topic guys but has anybody got the dynamic interior light park to work?? I've done everything it says for getting phone notifications and acceleration lights , but only thing I can see working after I paid £42 is the hazard lights light up yellow inside the car, I've followed all instructions putting backlight in automatic and it says when you accerlate the reve counter should change colours but nothing???? Anybody got this feature to work at all ????

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[Scudgie]

2 hours ago, kevintaper1 said:

Off topic guys but has anybody got the dynamic interior light park to work?? I've done everything it says for getting phone notifications and acceleration lights , but only thing I can see working after I paid £42 is the hazard lights light up yellow inside the car, I've followed all instructions putting backlight in automatic and it says when you accerlate the reve counter should change colours but nothing???? Anybody got this feature to work at all ????

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
 

The rev counter does change colours on mine when it's reached around 4k revs, but I've got to be honest and say that I don't know if it was like that before I added it.

 

Aside from lighting up yellow when hazards ore on, the only other thing I thought might be linked to this is my passenger side lights up red when I lock my car.

 

No phone alerts, but I use AA/Waze all the time , so that may explain that.

[kevintaper1]

The rev counter does change colours on mine when it's reached around 4k revs, but I've got to be honest and say that I don't know if it was like that before I added it.
 
Aside from lighting up yellow when hazards ore on, the only other thing I thought might be linked to this is my passenger side lights up red when I lock my car.
 
No phone alerts, but I use AA/Waze all the time , so that may explain that.

Do you know what mode etc view you see that, mine doesn't and I've tried everything!!!!!

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[Scudgie]

1 minute ago, kevintaper1 said:

Do you know what mode etc view you see that, mine doesn't and I've tried everything!!!!!

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
 

More often than not I'm in comfort mode.

[kevintaper1]

More often than not I'm in comfort mode.

Is it a mark 8 or 8.5?? What have you got backlight manager set too automatic???

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[SS100]

On 25/10/2025 at 15:51, Suki said:

So, just a few observations on the 8.5R, having had it for just over a week: I'm surpised that VW are still fitting wipers that don't actually work. I mean, they must know this right? Did they get a job lot on some cheapo rubber and just decide to run the stock down? Anyway, the issue is fixed with a set of Aerotwins (A864S is the set you want, £20.95 from Amazon).

 

Secondly, I'm rather embarressed to confess that I didn't know the car had Park Assist as standard now. The question is: Is it any good, and should I trust it? Does it understand kerbs and whatnot? Is it Park Assist Plus? I've actually been scared to try it out.

 

In my view Park Assist needs a bit of practice before using it. (Try it in a place you know or a public car park at night!! ) My observations are that it does a fairly good job of parking accurately but takes longer than parking manually. As for trusting it, I'm not convinced,. In an almost empty street I tried  the parallel proceedure, followed the on-screen instructions exactly but the car attemped to park perpendicular! at which point I took over control.   From my understanding the Park Assist Plus or Pro, whatever it's called seems pointless as you have to have both keys with you and scan QR code on the infotainment screen before getting out of the car and then have to remotely perform the parking manoeuvre using the smart phone app in a set time. How could this work when you return to the car to find you have been hemmed in?   Has anyone tried it?  

[Scudgie]

16 hours ago, kevintaper1 said:

Is it a mark 8 or 8.5?? What have you got backlight manager set too automatic???

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
 

Mines an 8.5. The Rev counter changes colour regardless of whether mine is set to Automatic or Individual. The only difference I noticed is that Individual does not have the light trail following the RPM needle.

 

If you have an 8.5, have you gone into the Background lighting "settings" tab to ensure the light effect setting is set to active?

[kevintaper1]

Mines an 8.5. The Rev counter changes colour regardless of whether mine is set to Automatic or Individual. The only difference I noticed is that Individual does not have the light trail following the RPM needle.
 
If you have an 8.5, have you gone into the Background lighting "settings" tab to ensure the light effect setting is set to active?

Yea mine is definitely not working properly, mine only had the hazard lights in doors etc going yellow, nothing else, weird that, I'll need to take to VW I think especially since I paid £42 for it too not work properly, any other ideas why it would not be working fully????

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[Scudgie]

16 hours ago, kevintaper1 said:

Yea mine is definitely not working properly, mine only had the hazard lights in doors etc going yellow, nothing else, weird that, I'll need to take to VW I think especially since I paid £42 for it too not work properly, any other ideas why it would not be working fully????

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
 

Apologies, I checked yesterday and it's at 5k rpm that the RPM gauge starts to change,  not 4k as I previously mentioned.

 

Apart from that, I really can't think of anything else sorry. It's really not that much of a change to how it was before I added it - certainly nothing dynamic about it - and if several members' suspicions are correct, which I'm leaning towards myself, it's not worth the hassle buying anything from the shop owing the trouble it causes.