Traded in the Si for a new GTI

arpypat

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Gonna drive it stock for a while but there's definitely some tuning in my future! The allure of ~300hp is pretty strong. My first mod is just going to be upgrading the paddle shifters and getting a dashcam.
APR does tuning wonders on VWs and Audis!

A good friend of mine has a 2013 A6 3.0t and he went with APR's stage 2+ tune. With just upgraded pulleys, he's putting down 450 whp/tq on pump gas! With the AWD, that car PULLS off the line and still comfortable as hell lol.
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WOPSiWOT

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I haven't taken a lot of pics yet but the colour is Cornflower Blue. I think it was special for the rabbit edition originally but they kept it for the Autobahn for this year (Autobahn is now the only trim you can get as they're finishing out the Mk7.5 and getting ready for the Mk8)
In the US you can get cornflower blue in SE and Autobahn trims. We still have all three trims (S, SE, Autobahn) for 2021.

I saw post from APR teasing that they were getting ~240whp from a stock MK8 (advertised 242 crank). Could be attractive depending on what Honda does with next Si/R and if Toyota actually brings a GR Corolla to US. Have never owned a German car so that would be the main thing holding me back from GTI. Congrats though.
 
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themaincop

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In the US you can get cornflower blue in SE and Autobahn trims. We still have all three trims (S, SE, Autobahn) for 2021.

I saw post from APR teasing that they were getting ~240whp from a stock MK8 (advertised 242 crank). Could be attractive depending on what Honda does with next Si/R and if Toyota actually brings a GR Corolla to US. Have never owned a German car so that would be the main thing holding me back from GTI. Congrats though.
It's going to be really interesting to see what Honda does with the Si for the 11th gen. I think they should make it a hatchback (or at least an option as a hatchback), give it at least 220whp stock, and improve the interior as much as they can without jumping to a higher price point. The Si is still probably the best buy at its price point and I think they'd risk losing a lot of sales if they try to go up a tier.
 

mauiSI19

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Golf r especially the new one would send the type r to Gap city easy in a DRAG RACE but not on track, I think even the new yaris is sending the type r to Gap city
The Yaris looks so fun on the track at least the videos of it I’ve seen.
 

VarmintCong

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It's going to be really interesting to see what Honda does with the Si for the 11th gen. I think they should make it a hatchback (or at least an option as a hatchback), give it at least 220whp stock, and improve the interior as much as they can without jumping to a higher price point. The Si is still probably the best buy at its price point and I think they'd risk losing a lot of sales if they try to go up a tier.
I don’t see how they can get a lot more out of the 1.5T. The difference from my 180hp hatch and 205 hp Si isn’t that big and part of it is the shorter gearing.

And they don’t have a lot of competition in this price range. Hyundai has the N Line with no LSD. I’d kinda like to see something around $30k but it’s not in the cards. I might go upscale next time, Type R or Golf R or something.
 


VarmintCong

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The Yaris looks so fun on the track at least the videos of it I’ve seen.
Holding out hope for an AWD GR car of some kind announced April 4. But we’ll probably just get a warmed over Corolla.
 

mauiSI19

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I don’t see how they can get a lot more out of the 1.5T. The difference from my 180hp hatch and 205 hp Si isn’t that big and part of it is the shorter gearing.

And they don’t have a lot of competition in this price range. Hyundai has the N Line with no LSD. I’d kinda like to see something around $30k but it’s not in the cards. I might go upscale next time, Type R or Golf R or something.
They could beef up the internals, better fueling system and bump up the turbo.
The aftermarket scene pretty much laid out the ground work for honda on how much power they can still extract out of the l15b7.
 

MLawrence

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Gratz.
GTi is a great car. Always has been. As an old Mk5 GTi owner I know the pleasure of those.
They don't look scary, but if you provoke one on the road, you're in for a road awakening. (Like when my Mk5 smoked a 3000GT that thought he was hot shit back in the day.) It doesn't say 180mph on that speedometer for nothing. GTIs have potential, power to unlock, and they just have the power and gearing to push into those higher speeds. They're nuts.

Honda is new to the turbo thing for Civics, but VW has been doing it for years... you got a solid car and I'm happy for you. :)
 
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themaincop

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I don’t see how they can get a lot more out of the 1.5T. The difference from my 180hp hatch and 205 hp Si isn’t that big and part of it is the shorter gearing.

And they don’t have a lot of competition in this price range. Hyundai has the N Line with no LSD. I’d kinda like to see something around $30k but it’s not in the cards. I might go upscale next time, Type R or Golf R or something.
Maybe the Si should get the 2.0. I know this unlikely for the 11th gen but the GTI and Golf R both have a 2.0 and they still manage to differentiate between those cars and find a market for both. An Si with tuning potential up to ~300 and a Type R with potential up to the high 300s and beyond would probably sell a lot of cars.

The Kia Forte5 GT is another car in the price range. Not quite the same performance as the Si but it's pretty loaded. I test drove the Elantra GT Sport before I bought the Si and it was a really nice car to be in as well. I wasn't sold on buying a car that didn't have much of a community/scene though. I like talking about my car with all you forums nerds ;)
 
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VarmintCong

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They could beef up the internals, better fueling system and bump up the turbo.
The aftermarket scene pretty much laid out the ground work for honda on how much power they can still extract out of the l15b7.
That's what I mean, I'd rather they bump the price and put the budget into beefing up the performance - there's a huge gap between a $26k Si and $37k Type R.

Maybe they can do a little of that and keep it at like $27-28k, it'll still be a performance bargain.
 


SichuanHot

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Your GTI looks great and I'm sure the NVH and touring aspects are much better than the Civic's. I sometimes yearn for the days I had my B6 A4 Quattro as that was a much more refined highway cruiser than the Civic. The VW turbo 4 also so much smoother. VAG's years of engineering experience with DI turbocharged engines really shows.
 

jian9007

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Haven't been super active here lately but just wanted to say thanks a ton to this great community (and @charleswrivers in particular for being so willing to share his knowledge with us.) I traded in my 2017 Si Sedan for a new 2021 GTI Autobahn DSG. The Si is a great car but after a few years and with some money to burn I wanted to upgrade to something a little more luxe and also really wanted a hatchback. The GTI has been great so far for the short time I've had it. It feels faster stock than my TSP Stage 1 Civic (probably in no small part due to a DSG being much better at shifting gears than me) and it's a big jump up in comfort. It's a little less planted in tight turns than the Civic, but I knew that would be the case going into it. The big complaints I had about the Civic (garbage infotainment, uncomfortable passenger seat, crappy visibility, not being a hatchback) are all taken care of here. Basically I'm a cranky old man and wanted something a little softer while still staying in the sporty category and I got it in this car. Never owned a VW before so now we get to see if all those reliability jokes are true (although knowing myself it'll be gone inside of five years anyways!)

Anyway, thanks everyone and maybe see you again down the road if Honda makes a sweet hot hatch

Old car:
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New car:
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Congrats on the new VW. Considering trading in my 2020 Si Sedan for the new Golf R when it debuts later this year, but I'm not sure it's worth nearly double the cost of an Si. On the other hand, it'll do 0-60mph in 4 seconds and do a 12.4 quarter mile stock (as tested by Mat Watson, in Euro spec with the restrictive particulate filter that's required there), while being a nicely equipped daily driver, so that makes it more interesting of a decision. We shall see if the new 2022 Type R has better performance than the current model, but with dealers still marking current ones way up in price, the Golf R is an excellent alternative.
 

jabberwocker

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Any worries about reliability?
Apparently the Mk7s have shown so far to be not bad compared to so of the older generations. I've had three VWs and they have been on the opposite ends of the spectrum. 89' Diesel Jetta, a tank reliability wise, 03' GLI which was great the 13 some years I had with it, besides some ignition coil issues which were simple change of plug and $40 for me to fix, so no biggie (Maybe happened 4-5 times). On the other side of it I had/well my wife's 12' Tiguan which was a disaster to the point of the 5-6 years we had it 1 & 1/2 years we had a rental from the Dealership. Problem is and with most VWs now is the amount of brittle plastic crap that it has for components, it just breaks and the engine carbon built up issues. If I ever ever had a German car in my driveway again it would be a lease. I love VWs and I would have probably bought a GTI instead of my SI last year, but the reliability just scares the heck out of me now. Of course things change, now watch me start the same thread in a couple years.
 
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themaincop

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Any worries about reliability?
No, the Mk7 has been pretty solid thus far. I also am unlikely to have this car for more than 5 years/80,000km. I traded in my Civic with 23,000km on the odometer. I don't drive a whole lot.
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