Joey's Totally Predictable DD

[SlimKlim]

As many of you know, I've been dying to buy a daily driver and retire the E36 to garage queen duty, so I can take my time fixing the headgasket, exhaust leak, steering rack, subframe bushings and redo the interior. While saving up over the past year I've researched, decided on, argued about and changed my mind over about 47 different cars. B6 A4, WJ Grand Cherokee Overland, an old E420, a MKIV GTI, an E34, another E46, etc. All absolutely terrible ideas and totally predictable of me. I also seriously considered a Mazda3, Leggy GT and MazdaSpeed6, which aren't terrible ideas and therefore out of character for me.

About a month ago I finally settled on an MKV GTI. After all, Rex told me I deserve one. I decided I wanted to spend less than $13k on the car, and really wanted to shoot for a 2008.5+ with the updated TSI motor, which is supposedly far more reliable than the outgoing FSI, uses a timing chain instead of a belt, and doesn't have the cam follower or HPFP issues of the FSI. I wanted the DSG trans since it's my commuter, and I really wanted heated seats and a sunroof because I've become accustomed to them. My dream car was a white 4 door, but if that was a hard requirement I'd shop for another year to find one in my budget.

Anywho, I had been watching this United Gray 2009 2-door DSG with the heated seats and sunroof with 58k on it for about a month. And last Friday, quite literally at the exact same time I got approved for financing through my CU, the seller dropped the price from $13,800 to $12,900. Oh shit. I emailed him and we agreed to meet in Vienna on Saturday.

Now I swear, when we left the house on Saturday morning it was chilly, overcast and threatening to rain. As we met the guy in Vienna the clouds cleared, sun beamed and we test drove it with the windows down. The car looked clean, and had a good story. The dude bought it off lease for his teenaged daughter, who has since shipped off to VCU for college and then is moving to Europe, so they had no need for the car. Then we drove to Rockville to check out a 4-door 2008, and black clouds rolled in and the temperature felt like it dropped 15 degrees. The 08 was beat to shit with a ridiculously high price tag (which was apparently a non-negotiable "True Price" big load of crap), and ultimately a complete waste of time.

Ok Universe, I get the point. On the way back from Rockville I called the seller of the 2009 and told him I'd buy it if I could run it through my shop on Monday. If the timely price drop and eery weather patterns weren't enough of a sign, this was the little description card that came with my randomly chosen wine at dinner that night.

http://i.imgur.com/AbfxMFh.jpg

On Monday I met the guy at my shop in Sterling and went through the entire thing up on the rack. Clean as a whistle. The sender gasket on the turbo is seeping a bit, so I'll replace it next time I change the oil, the front tires are cupped to shit because no one told these people about tire rotations, and that's about it. I have 2k left (well, 1900 now) on the factory powertrain warranty to give me a bit of a grace period, and this particular car had the DSG recall done at 14k, so it has an extended, transferrable warranty on the DSG until 2019 or 100k miles. I talked him down to $12,600, pulled the trigger and met him at the metro station later that night to pick it up.







I drove it all week and then spent the entire weekend cleaning it up. First order of business was rotating the tires (the rear ones look basically new) to buy me a few months. I hate buying two tires at a time so I'll probably drive the snot out of it until June and then replace all four before it needs an inspection sticker. This is why we don't go to Jiffy Lube kids:



Hacks.

The silly little red calipers looked awful all caked in brake dust, so I scrubbed them down with Sonax while I had the wheels off. Then it was bath time!



Its been so long since I had a car with paint worth polishing, I got all excited about it and impulse bought a rotary buffer. I'm no Dan, but the results weren't too shabby.





I clayed the entire car, did a 3 stage polish with Meguiar's foam pads and polishes, then put 2 on two coats of Poorboy's sealant. I also vacuumed the interior, wiped down the surfaces, treated the steering wheel and gear selector with leatherique, and shampooed every fabric surface. I think it may have been a smoker's car at one time, and then has basically sat for the last year while the kiddo is off getting schwasted at VCU, so it was a bit funky.

Then I did a little photoshoot next to Jake's car. :wink:



















So far I'm thrilled with it, it's exactly what I wanted in a DD. Great on gas, comfortable, quiet (aside from the tire hum), practical, and also a blast to drive for when I happen to find a curve in the great abyss of NOVA traffic. I also got a pretty ridiculous deal on it, my CU valued it at $15,700.

Future plans:
-Seafoam/Oil Change/Turbo gasket thingy at 60k miles. I might do the VCG spark plugs and air filter if it needs them.
-New tires obviously
-Nexus 7 Tablet install in lieu of a head unit. I've seen some crazy clean looking installs, and I like how customizable it is. I'm not in a rush though, the factory HU is fine and has an ipod dock.
-Look into the timing tensioner update. Apparently the early 09-10 TSI motors can have timing chain failures. If it develops any of the symptoms I'm going to just do the update to nip it in the bud. I thought it had a rattle at startup, but I'm pretty sure that was just the vanity cover rattling against the motor because it has a broken tab. I re-jiggered it and stopped.

[SlimKlim]

The humming noise on the highway didn't follow the tires when I rotated them to the rear, so I'm pretty sure the front right wheel bearing is on its way out. It seems a little early to happen at 60k, but then again, this thing has lived a good part of its life inside the beltway, so I can't really blame it.

Looks like an easy DIY and the parts are fairly cheap. Gonna pop down to my shop over lunch today to lift it up and check it, then order the parts so I can knock it out this weekend. Last bearing I did on the BMW took me like 90 minutes, maybe I can do this one in 75. :thumbup:

[V1GiLaNtE]

Nice find man! Looks like you've got a solid DD platform to work with. School me on the DSG. Are the shifts crisp or...?

[SlimKlim]

Thanks, it definitely needs some sorting out here and there, but for the price I paid I have no complaints.

The DSG is weird. Did you ever drive Ken's Ralliart? It feels kinda like that with some CVT mixed in. When you start and stop, you can feel and hear the clutches grabbing on or letting go, which is a little weird to get used to. You can also feel it downshifting itself when you slow down for a light in D.

In regular D mode it feels like a CVT, with moderate throttle it will flick between gears to keep itself in the torque zone between 2-3k. Its so smooth you don't even feel it, with the radio up you'd think it was a CVT. In it's little sport mode it's a crazed maniac, and I can't imagine anywhere you'd want to use it other than carving down a mountain. In manual mode it shifts so quickly it feels like your fingers haven't even come off of the paddle yet. Its very smooth if you're not going balls out, and has a satisfyingly firm (but still pretty smooth) shift at WOT.

Honestly its a little dull. I'm absolutely going to miss driving the E36 while I have it off the road to fix it up, but it will be awesome to choose between them once their both in top form. I would've bought a stickshift had the two pedal option not been as good as the DSG. Its perfect for the traffic up here, its not only commuting, it seems like anywhere we ever want to go on the weekends has a traffic jam on the way. And, its nice to flick between gears shooting a gap in traffic, then kick it over to Drive and take a sip of my coffee.

I'm definitely happy I bought it, but I couldn't do it if it was my only car, or if I lived back at home with a 60 mile/day commute and almost no traffic.

[ScottyB]

nice GTI! i have a feeling you'll really like it the more you drive it. VW nailed the chassis as the best possible all-rounder for a sporty hatch. the 2.0T/DSG suits it perfectly for what you're doing.

[SlimKlim]

nice GTI! i have a feeling you'll really like it the more you drive it. VW nailed the chassis as the best possible all-rounder for a sporty hatch. the 2.0T/DSG suits it perfectly for what you're doing.

Yeah, I've been loving how it drives so far. I won't be going balls out in it this week now that I realize where that humming noise is coming from though. hock: I've really only commuted in it, so the most performance driving i've done is hitting the off ramp from 28 S to 50 E. Still a blast. It will definitely see an autocross course this year.

[premiershine9]

Good going on the clean up man! Glad to see your enjoying the Sonax- the Full Effect wheel cleaner works best on the European brands (those who omit pounds of break dust), also good going on the 3-step on the rotary!!! PB sealant will keep you sealed up for a while as well!

If that smoke smell comes a back let me know- i have a handful of simple chemicals that could help- I have to talk to Jake but I might be in your area this weekend- need a place (again) to crash over night for one night- I could bring the AC/ full interior climate cleaner with me if needed.

[SlimKlim]

Thanks Dan, I'll let you know. Didn't notice any smell this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back when the weather warms up.

You're welcome to crash here this weekend, just let us know! If you do come up maybe I can just give it another cleaning with your nice products for good measure.

[SlimKlim]

Well it's not the wheel bearing, just checked it at the shop. It looks like even the tires with most of their tread are cupped on the inside shoulder too. Ideally I can find someone with a set of wheels to throw on and drive around for a minute to be certain that's the noise, but I can't think what else it would be. I guess I'll just abuse as much tread off of the ones on the front as I can, and order another set next month.

[Ken]

Nice! Pretty sure this is the same year as my brother's, he got his up to stage 2 now, thing hauls ass.

Not crazy about the DSG either, i preferred my TCSST on the Ralliart, but it's definitely way better than a traditional automatic.Really need to make some time and come down to see all of this!

[BLINGMW]

looks brand new. :thumbup:

[SlimKlim]

Thanks Channing!

Nice! Pretty sure this is the same year as my brother's, he got his up to stage 2 now, thing hauls ass.

Not crazy about the DSG either, i preferred my TCSST on the Ralliart, but it's definitely way better than a traditional automatic.Really need to make some time and come down to see all of this!

Yeah man, any time.

I wish the DSG had a bit firmer of a shift when going balls out like the Mitsu had, but the DSG makes up for it by doing an excellent job of pretending to be an automatic. From what I remember with the Mitsu, if you put it in D it'd just get scared and confused.

It also doesn't have any driver controlled settings, aside from the sport mode for the trans, there are no other buttons to push. I kinda like that though, it just means the car is set up the way they wanted it in the first place.

They have tunes specifically for the DSG, but this car will never see one. I dont want to jeopardize the warranty that's on it for the next 40k, and I'm not even sure I'll tune the motor. If I do it'll be quite a ways down the road.

[GregF]

Sweet another GTI! It looks like its in great shape too. Since you're at about 60k, I would consider looking into getting the updated timing chain tensioner. There have been a few go at ~60k, and when they do... kiss your engine goodbye. And its not just 09-10s, theres a TSB out for all '08 - '13 2.0T.

Are you on golfmk6?

[Ken]

Thanks Channing!

Nice! Pretty sure this is the same year as my brother's, he got his up to stage 2 now, thing hauls ass.

Not crazy about the DSG either, i preferred my TCSST on the Ralliart, but it's definitely way better than a traditional automatic.Really need to make some time and come down to see all of this!

Yeah man, any time.

I wish the DSG had a bit firmer of a shift when going balls out like the Mitsu had, but the DSG makes up for it by doing an excellent job of pretending to be an automatic. From what I remember with the Mitsu, if you put it in D it'd just get scared and confused.

It also doesn't have any driver controlled settings, aside from the sport mode for the trans, there are no other buttons to push. I kinda like that though, it just means the car is set up the way they wanted it in the first place.

They have tunes specifically for the DSG, but this car will never see one. I dont want to jeopardize the warranty that's on it for the next 40k, and I'm not even sure I'll tune the motor. If I do it'll be quite a ways down the road.

Yeah, i never used full auto though just because the paddles made life so easy; but it definitely did not understand what "D" was haha.

My brother just went for it, it's been in for service too and no one has said anything to him about it. He even had it done at a VW dealer.

[SlimKlim]

Yeah I could get an engine tune with no warranty worries since mine is almost up anyway, I meant the DSG tune that makes it shift more aggressively. Since the warranty is an extended special case I have a feeling they'd void it for any reason they could, and I don't see the value in spending $450 for harder shifts anyway, its shifts ridiculously fast in stock form anyway. Like faster than you can blink.

Sweet another GTI! It looks like its in great shape too. Since you're at about 60k, I would consider looking into getting the updated timing chain tensioner. There have been a few go at ~60k, and when they do... kiss your engine goodbye. And its not just 09-10s, theres a TSB out for all '08 - '13 2.0T.

Are you on golfmk6?

Thanks! Mike on here has a white 2010 as well.

The updated tensioner is definitely on my radar. I think I'll bring the VIN to the dealer and see if its been done. I thought I had a little chain slap at startup, but I'm pretty sure that was the vanity cover rattling against the motor. I've looked up the symptoms and mine doesn't have any of them. Still I'll run the VIN and if it hasn't been done I'll start planning to do it myself, I found a $250 kit with all the stuff you need, and it doesn't look like too bad of a project. I could knock it out at some point this summer.

[Mike]

Yay! Welcome to the team! These cars rock.

[Ken]

Yeah I could get an engine tune with no warranty worries since mine is almost up anyway, I meant the DSG tune that makes it shift more aggressively. Since the warranty is an extended special case I have a feeling they'd void it for any reason they could, and I don't see the value in spending $450 for harder shifts anyway, its shifts ridiculously fast in stock form anyway. Like faster than you can blink.
.

Ahhh okay, totally misunderstood you. There's definitely no reason for that.

[SlimKlim]

Mikey likes it!

Is yours a 2 door or a 4 door? If I hadn't been on such a tight budget I probably would've ended up in a Candy White 4-door MKVI. I figure if I really fall in love with the car and the Gods don't punish me for buying a VW, I'll drive this one for a couple years and pick up a slightly used white MKVII with the performance pack.

The DSG is starting to grow on me, suddenly not having a clutch pedal after 4 years was a little jarring. This morning got stuck behind a truck doing like 50 mph in the right lane and my exit was coming up soonish, so I paddled down a couple gears and turbo'd my way around him (the only place the car feels a little slow is on the highway), then I flicked back into 6th for 100 yards, dropped back down into 3rd and hit the onramp hot. Coming out the other side I planted it in 3rd and got the traction light to blink at me (granted it was a little wet) and rocketed down the hill towards work.

15 seconds later I popped it in D and took a nice big sip of my tea (I've given up coffee, leave me alone) as I CVT'd into work.

Its 1/3rd sports car, 1/3rd cruiser, 1/3rd cargo van and I love it.

[ScottyB]

i always get a kick out of the "braap!" between full throttle upshifts when you play with the paddles. definitely recommended with the windows down.

[SlimKlim]

Can't wait for the weather to warm up! Looks like we might finally have windows down weather this weekend. I do like the noise it makes on a WOT shift, sounds like a racecar. Or video game. Actually the whole driving experience is kinda like playing a video game, I accidentally changed my song instead of upshifting this morning...