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Always liked the clean styling on our long-term 2010 VW GTI, but for the 2012 GTI, Volkswagen couldn't leave well enough alone. It's got LED DRLs. At least it does based on this shaky-cam video made by an enthusiastic salesman at Georgetown VW, which evidently just received its first shipment of 2012 Volkswagen GTIs. I think the LEDs are kind of horrible, but Magrath assures me they're rad.
Of course, there are other changes, too.
Our Volkswagen GTI was sold to Carmax today for $19,000. We tried to improve the price with our Criagslist and eBay classified ads, but only got a few tire kickers via email. Perhaps we could've beat it, if we had more time and took out an Autotrader ad. But like the GMC Terrain before it, this was one of those times when the Carmax price was very competitive. And it wasn't worth the time and effort to improve on the price by a couple hundred dollars.
After being offered $19,000 in cold cash (well, a cashier's check) by CarMax for our GTI, our motivation to top that number is low. The problem is that a new GTI can be had for about $24,000. So any asking price over $20,000 begins to bump into the new car price. We did throw up an ad on eBayMotors and got one inquiry. And we also posted this YouTube video. But at this point, we might just take the CarMax money and move on to other things.
Philip Reed, Edmunds.com senior consumer advice editor @24,567 miles
We've been given the word to put our long term Volkswagen GTI up for sale. So I took our long term Volkswagen GTI to get appraised at Carmax. We do this to set a baseline price for ourselves to either improve on in a private party sale or take the Carmax's offer. Take a guess as to what we were offered before you follow the jump.
Driving the GTI again this past weekend reminded me why so many people have different impressions of this car. I've spent most of my time driving the GTI in the city. In that environment, the suspension has always felt remarkable comfortable given its low-profile tires.
Get on a broken and rutted freeway like the 405 here in L.A. and it's a different story. More than once this weekend I felt like I was behind the wheel of a Nissan GT-R. At highway speeds, the GTI feels considerably less compliant. Those 40-series tires suddenly feel more like they look as every crack comes through to the interior. It's not quite as awful as the GT-R, but it's still more road intrusion than your average hatchback. I don't mind it that much, makes the car feel a little more serious. Wouldn't be surprised if other didn't agree though.
Ed Hellwig, Editor, Inside Line
I saw this four-door GTI yesterday. Got me thinking about what body style I'd get if I was going to buy a GTI. I think I'd get the four-door. What about you?
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
G: Great powertrain. The smooth and eager turbo four also sounds great when you lean into it. And the tranny has a light, progressive clutch and a fairly slick shifter.
T: Timeless styling. This is what a hot hatch -- a vehicle that combines a spirited driving personality with the practicality of roomy passenger/cargo areas -- should look like. A cleanly chiseled form that's functional yet somehow still Euro chic.
I: Intuitive controls. For example, the proven, old-school three knob layout for the climate control and likewise user-friendly radio with volume and tuning knobs on either end. The steering wheel controls also become second nature in short order.
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor @ 24, 262 miles
A few months ago John DiPietro asked you to check out the consumer reviews for the 2010 GTI. This time it's our Edmunds Rating. Check it out. The GTI get high marks.
Should it? What do you think? Are we right or wrong?
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief
In 2010, all Volkswagen GTIs came standard with 17-inch "Denver" wheels (left photo). They were carryovers from the previous generation GTI. However, these were quickly overshadowed by the larger 18-inch "Detroit" wheels (right photo). They are pretty much the same design except for the inner portion of the horseshoe cutout being painted glossy black (in the case of the Detroit wheel).
It's great to have our prodigal GTI back home. A little the worse for wear, it still is a fun drive, and it got a chance to frolic Sunday morning on Pasadena's Arroyo Seco Parkway. (The parkway was the first freeway built in the United States and was designed for the then-maximum legal speed limit of 45 mph. The GTI took it a little faster than that.)
While I didn't hear the ticking and clicking that has bedeviled our car, the squeaking that Erin mentioned in March is louder and more persistent than ever. It seems to come from the area of the back seat and I think it's triggered by bumps and judders in the road. It sounds like an irked cricket, and if I owned the car, I'd tempted to go on a bughunt to find and silence the little sucker.
But if you saw "Aliens," you know why Pvt. Hudson (pictured, above left) was so skeptical of bughunts. They involve time and treasure (assuming the car is out of warranty). And there's about a 50/50 chance you'll be able to source and kill the noisemaker before you lose your mind. That's been my experience with such squeaks and creaks, anyway. What's yours?
Carroll Lachnit, Features Editor @24,013 miles
Mike Schmidt has already told you that our VW GTI is back from its secret mission off the grid, and that it returned home with a busted tire. Well, it also returned with this curb rash. Bummer.
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief @ 23,797 miles
Yep, we still have our 2010 Volkswagen GTI. We sent it on some errands off the radar for the past few weeks. Now it is back, well, until we sell it. Fortunately for the sake of the LTRTB our GTI got a flat while on its secret mission. But not just any flat...
Thanks to boobylortez for this week's favorite caption.
Here are the others that made our hair stand on end:
Vehicle Testing Manager Mike Schmidt sent me this photo of our VW GTI getting a hot oil treatment but not in Texas.
What is your caption?
We'll post our favorite this afternoon.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
Note: The last few winners have not claimed their glorious prizes. I'm going to put a time limit on it. If you don't claim your prize by the time the next caption contest posts, the prize goes back in my prize box. That gives you a week.
Happy Friday the 13th.
My 10-year high school reunion is this weekend and I began to think about what Edmunds long-term car I would drive to it. Of course, this is ultimately a moot point since the reunion is in Indianapolis and I'll inevitably drive some sort of Hertz rental car, but the question remains.
Today we ran a Track Tested piece on the 2012 Honda Civic Si. And the discussion there, and in our office, quickly turned to that of 2.0-liter 200 horsepower / 207 torque GTI or 2.4-liter 201 horsepower / 170 torque Civic Si?
It's a question that rears up every few years and 2011 is no different. There's a new Si on the block as the GTI is knocking on two. There is a $1,490 price difference in favor of the Civic. There is an incalculable appearance difference in favor of the VW.
I've made a quick list of performance specs after the jump. But we all know that cars are more than just track numbers.
Which would you buy, and why?
A few weeks back, one of our editors filled our longterm 2010 Volkswagen GTI's tank with 87 octane. Whether VW intended for this to happen or not, reality has a way of rendering such things moot.
Then we had a bright -- if obvious -- idea: let's do a dyno test to quantify just how much power this little hatch loses as a result of the lower octane.
Just the other day I was thinking again that the GTI suits me. It drives the same whether you’re going fast or slow. In fact I was thinking it would be the perfect car for endurance racing and wondered if there are many examples at the Nurburgring 24, the most famous endurance racing event for street stock cars.
Apparently I’m not the only one, because Volkswagen Motorsport is preparing to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Golf by entering a car in the Nurburgring, which is scheduled for 23-26 June.
There are now 22,145 miles on the GTI's odometer and it's past the year mark, which means it shall soon be departing to the big cloud in the sky (and by cloud I mean "list" and by sky I mean "old long-term cars in the lower right-hand corner of this page"). This makes me sad, because the GTI is not only one of my favorite all-time long-termers but also one of my favorite cars, period. I haven't been driving it that much since new long-term cars began flooding our garage like ... OK, so now's not really the time to be making flooding metaphors, but you get the idea. We have a lot of new long-termers and old ones get less attention.
So before the GTI sails off into the sunset (see, get the symbolism of that photo? Clever, I know), I thought I'd drive it home one last time to experience what life would be like if I didn't have this job and actually owned my own car. That's right, barring the funds needed to by an XJ Supercharged or CLS63 AMG, I'd get a four-door GTI modestly equipped just like ours. Hell, even with said funds, I'd probably own one in addition to those. And a ski boat. And this home theater.
Crap, what the hell was I talking about? Oh yes, the GTI. Wonderful car, one of the best cars you can buy today. I shall miss it, but it shall at least forever be placed alongside the 135i, Challenger and S5 on the mantle of my all-time favorites.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 22,145 miles
I'm a big fan of the GTI. I dig the plaid seats, I dig the power, and I dig the flat bottom steering wheel.
But I also really like the simple clean lines/layout of the center stack. Easy to find what you're looking for in a brief glance. Way better than the disaster of buttons in the Crosstour, IMHO.
Scott Jacobs, Sr. Mgr, Photography
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