There was not another complaint about the driveline. Everyone loved the GTI's 200-hp engine, which provides big thrust with minimal turbo lag. Thanks to a resonance tube that pipes the engine's intake honk directly into the cabin, you're always aware of what the little four-cylinder is doing without needing a loud exhaust. From outside, the loudest part of the GTI's sound track is the big burp it emits during on-boost upshifts. We played endlessly with the steering-wheel shift paddles to hear the music over and over again.
Perhaps that's why the downshift paddle wore out. It was replaced under warranty at 10,082 miles, and at the same time, the dealer located the source of a front-end clunk we had been hearing for some time. The sound was caused by subframe bolts that had loosened - a problem other GTI owners have experienced. Our VW also needed an oxygen sensor at 17,099 miles to extinguish a check-engine light, and it developed some interior rattles during its stay with us, but otherwise the GTI was problem-free. One of the repairs was performed at a routine service interval, so our car visited the dealer five times during its one-year test.
The total bill for the three service visits, however, was a whopping $570.13 - that's luxury-car territory. VW just announced that all of its 2009 model year cars will have free maintenance during their bumper-to-bumper warranty. That period, however, shrinks from our 2007 warranty's four years and 50,000 miles to three years and 36,000 miles.
Our disappointment with the GTI's service costs dissipated when we were behind the thick, sculpted leather steering wheel, though. Smith gushed, "The steering. Oh, my God, the steering. The GTI offers the most steering feel for your new-car dollar, period. It's direct, it's light, it feels blissfully unassisted but never heavy, and you always know exactly what the front wheels are doing. It reminds me of an older, lighter car." The GTI's fuel economy, however, didn't get such rave reviews.
With an overall average of 23 mpg, the GTI definitely was not the econohatch we expected it to be. Our DSG-equipped GTI didn't even come close to achieving its 25-mpg city and 32-mpg highway EPA economy ratings. (Our observed mileage was even at the low end of the updated 2008 scale - 22/29 mpg.) Although the GTI's appetite for premium fuel became slightly less voracious during its stay with us, it barely achieved 27 mpg on the interstate. We've easily beaten that in much larger cars with bigger engines. ...next page >>