My dad car -- 2012 VW Jetta

[Gordonovski]

Some might already know, some might not, but this past week I inherited a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta SE 2.5 automatic with just 53k miles and had to rid myself of the mk4. I'm lucky enough that my dad wanted a new Crosstrek and was willing to give me a car that hopefully won't shit the bed in the next few years while being pretty tediously daily driven, but it's surprisingly (/s/) boring, so in the coming months I'm going to be looking for something a bit more fun with potential to become a future track/tt/racekor.

With that being said, it's a decent car, base model as fuck though, lots of plastic, but it does have enough torque to not be a slouch on the highway and is certainly better to drive than my girlfriend's Accord. The only thing I would like to change with the engine is to make it a little more responsive, as it there is a noticeable delay between pedal input and engine response, but that's (I'm assuming) to up the mpgs. The little 5 cylinder is good on gas though, made it from Yorktown, to OBX, to Harrisonburg on less than a tank, so I'm pleased with that.

Build quality is good but definitely not as good as the mk4 when it hit the market, but the mk4 was much more expensive than the mk6 when they were new. There's a lot of plastic in the interior -- I actually don't think there's any metal in the entire interior maybe besides the bezel around the gear selector. Taking inspiration from RCR, I'm thinking about naming her Plastic Paula. The seats certainly could be better but do hug a bit better than the mk4 did, though I will certainly miss heated seats.

As this is very much a practical daily, I don't have any huge plans for it save for getting LED DRLs and maybe replacing the steelie/hubcaps with GLI or OEM alloys to reduce weight a little but mostly make it look a bit nicer. Other than that, just going to drive it for some years, fix things when they break, and hope I can sell it for enough to help buy a truck when I need one.

I'll post up pictures tomorrow, but it's grey and boring. If anyone has tips/tricks/hints/how to make the car slightly better, please post them. I don't want to put a whole lot into it, as I'd like to save for something special, but right now the biggest upgrade I've done is an aux cord.

[Senor_Taylor]

Did you talk about this in the group chat? I saw you mention this car but not how/why you had it. Glad you've got something a tad more reliable. I always worried about your mk4 exploding into a massive fireball out on 33.

[Gordonovski]

Did you talk about this in the group chat? I saw you mention this car but not how/why you had it. Glad you've got something a tad more reliable. I always worried about your mk4 exploding into a massive fireball out on 33.

Yeah, the pops needed something taller to haul old people around in, which is the reasoning for the Crosstrek.

I will certainly miss the noise that VR6 made, but I appreciate not having a 6 figure mileage, 16 year old VW anymore.

[ScottyB]

i love the 5 cylinder sound, i think i read somewhere if you take a resonator out of the exhaust they make a nice noise.

[Jake]

I hooned the shite out of one of these at the Refrigerator Bowl Autocross back in February. The stability control is really good.

[SlimKlim]

With that being said, it's a decent car, base model as fuck though, lots of plastic

I'll post up pictures tomorrow, but it's grey and boring. If anyone has tips/tricks/hints/how to make the car slightly better, please post them. I don't want to put a whole lot into it, as I'd like to save for something special, but right now the biggest upgrade I've done is an aux cord.

It still has a leather wheel and shift knob right? You can go all the way up to a new Golf R and the dash is still going to be 100% plastic aside from those two things, it is a VW after all.

If you want a little more iPod functionality Grom Audio has a fairly cheap module that will let you skip tracks using the steering wheel buttons. The MKVs had a problem with the subframe bolts stretching out and causing a clunk when you turn the steering wheel with the car stopped, I'm not sure if that was fixed for the MKVI, but if not, I have a repair kit still in the box I'll sell you for like... $5.

If you link up with someone that has VAG-COM they can turn on a bunch of hidden features. You can have a double press of the unlock button roll all the windows down (right now you should be able to roll them up by holding the lock button). You can make the gauges sweep on startup, have the fog lights switch on in low speed corners, you might be able to get an oil temp reading in the MFD, and make the hazard flashers come on if you activate ABS, among other things.

[ViPER1313]

There is a noticeable delay between pedal input and engine response, but that's (I'm assuming) to up the mpgs.

I feel your pain - my MK5 was so slow I could kick the gas all the way to the floor and let up more quickly than the computer could respond. The engine would never change RPMs.

[Gordonovski]

It still has a leather wheel and shift knob right? You can go all the way up to a new Golf R and the dash is still going to be 100% plastic aside from those two things, it is a VW after all.

Woah, slow down there, speed racer. I think you're overestimating what comes in a base model VW. The wheel is the same soft touch plastic shit as the dash, and if the shifter boot is leather, it's might be the cheapest I've seen. Certainly not getting any awards for comfort, but whatever, it's inexpensive.

That Grom Audio would be nice but I don't even have steering wheel buttons, nor do I have fog lights. Those could be fixed easily enough, but I'm not super concerned about it. I would love a GLI gauge cluster to get more info out of the MFD, but that means upgrading the steering wheel to have the buttons and spending a lot of money to get the GLI gauges to work. I might just get a multifunction gauge and put it somewhere not noticeable to get some more info from the engine.

[Senor_Taylor]

also whose parents buy them a macan s in college?!

[SlimKlim]

It still has a leather wheel and shift knob right? You can go all the way up to a new Golf R and the dash is still going to be 100% plastic aside from those two things, it is a VW after all.

Woah, slow down there, speed racer. I think you're overestimating what comes in a base model VW. The wheel is the same soft touch plastic shit as the dash, and if the shifter boot is leather, it's might be the cheapest I've seen. Certainly not getting any awards for comfort, but whatever, it's inexpensive.

That Grom Audio would be nice but I don't even have steering wheel buttons, nor do I have fog lights. Those could be fixed easily enough, but I'm not super concerned about it. I would love a GLI gauge cluster to get more info out of the MFD, but that means upgrading the steering wheel to have the buttons and spending a lot of money to get the GLI gauges to work. I might just get a multifunction gauge and put it somewhere not noticeable to get some more info from the engine.

Oh wow, you sent me to Google to re-group.

I was assuming that the base, S, and SE trims were tied to the basic options you got, but apparently it was more like "Base" = Rental Spec with N/A 2.0, "S" = Regular No Options car with N/A 2.0, and "SE" = Regular No Options car with 2.5. Looks like you had to step all the way up to SE + Convenience to start getting decent options on the thing, like a leather steering wheel with radio controls on it.

With that in mind, I wouldn't mod it a bit. If you're really bored the $20 OBD-II Bluetooth dongles and an android phone can provide some entertaining data, but I'm not even sure what the 2.5L can show you.

[Gordonovski]

[
With that in mind, I wouldn't mod it a bit.

Wasn't planning on much in the first place. It does have automatic window controls on all four windows, so that's pretty awesome.

I really want to get a miata, E30, or E36 325 to sink money into now that I have a daily that won't break (hopefully soon).

[Gordonovski]

Update: found a mk6 with drum brake rears today, turns out I don't have the most base model after all!

And anyone know if they use grease pens in parking lots to check how long you've been there? Got in it today and there was a dot on my windshield