MKV_365
New member
- Location
- Atlanta, GA
Looking to the community for some perspective on this one and some info from those that are more experienced. Thanks in advance to those of you that make it through this long post! I guess I’ll start with some background so you understand how I’m approaching this and cover the details after.
I am the third owner and the car has been well maintained. I have every service record (including receipts for oil purchased to do oil changes) since first owner and even the original window sticker. It’s been fairly reliable in the 5yrs and ~140k mi that I’ve had it . The only mods I’ve done are some DG springs, HID fog conversion, LED interior lighting and a stage 1 APR tune a few years back.
Wife and I just got married in March. We cash flowed the wedding and honeymoon and since April we’ve paid off all of our debt (48k in 8 months – different long story put PM me for anyone that wants to talk that). What that means though, is other things, like the cars have been neglected (other than basic maintenance, plugs and coils recently). I have a long commute for work, a little over 100mi round trip/day, and my car - 2007 GTI (4D dsg autobahn votex kit), is now at 243,XXX miles on the clock. Over time I have now picked up a list of some simple but, some more costly fixes:
· Just had a headlight bulb go out on me so I’ll change that this week
· Front Passenger CV Boot
· Had a storm that completely ripped out the ballast and wiring for front Hid Fog – need to replace
· Votex factory lip damaged so I ordered and new one but, need to get in painted and installed (although I’ve been liking the ground clearance)
· Hood release latch is broken but, still functioning – still would like to fix it though
· BIG ONE – factory K03 is finally giving up and needs to be replaced – trying to decide on K04 or just replace factory turbo
Now for the caveat. I have an issue with my transmission that I just can seem to pin down even after taking to the dealer a few different times. This has been off and on forever it seems now. While I’m driving and sitting at a stop light in traffic with my foot on the brake for a long period, I get the “flash of death” in the gauge cluster and the transmission disengages. I do not get this issue if it is in park or if I put the car in neutral. The transmission does do anything while I’m actually on the move. I don’t have any issues going into reverse, changing gears manually etc. It seems to be more of an issue at higher temps but, I can’t say for sure. I’ve gone through the forums and seen everything from a sensor replacement to shift boot to paddles to mechatronics unit (this one was replaced during second owner under warranty). If anyone has something more definitive or similar experience it would be great.
The wife, thank goodness, is understanding about the situation and is cool with spending the money to remedy the turbo situation and but, the conversation becomes different depending on what this transmission problem becomes. The whole depreciation/throwing money away thing really isn’t a thing at this point because I put so many miles on that I’ll destroy anything new and we have no plans on getting back into debt right now so a “new” car would basically need to be give or take 5-7k cash for now until we get some other things in life done. I’d rather get the car fixed and keep my GTI rather than get a beater Honda and I’ll probably pick up a late model F10 M5 in a couple years (another story) but, this is where I’m looking for some unclouded opinions.
What would you do?
I am the third owner and the car has been well maintained. I have every service record (including receipts for oil purchased to do oil changes) since first owner and even the original window sticker. It’s been fairly reliable in the 5yrs and ~140k mi that I’ve had it . The only mods I’ve done are some DG springs, HID fog conversion, LED interior lighting and a stage 1 APR tune a few years back.
Wife and I just got married in March. We cash flowed the wedding and honeymoon and since April we’ve paid off all of our debt (48k in 8 months – different long story put PM me for anyone that wants to talk that). What that means though, is other things, like the cars have been neglected (other than basic maintenance, plugs and coils recently). I have a long commute for work, a little over 100mi round trip/day, and my car - 2007 GTI (4D dsg autobahn votex kit), is now at 243,XXX miles on the clock. Over time I have now picked up a list of some simple but, some more costly fixes:
· Just had a headlight bulb go out on me so I’ll change that this week
· Front Passenger CV Boot
· Had a storm that completely ripped out the ballast and wiring for front Hid Fog – need to replace
· Votex factory lip damaged so I ordered and new one but, need to get in painted and installed (although I’ve been liking the ground clearance)
· Hood release latch is broken but, still functioning – still would like to fix it though
· BIG ONE – factory K03 is finally giving up and needs to be replaced – trying to decide on K04 or just replace factory turbo
Now for the caveat. I have an issue with my transmission that I just can seem to pin down even after taking to the dealer a few different times. This has been off and on forever it seems now. While I’m driving and sitting at a stop light in traffic with my foot on the brake for a long period, I get the “flash of death” in the gauge cluster and the transmission disengages. I do not get this issue if it is in park or if I put the car in neutral. The transmission does do anything while I’m actually on the move. I don’t have any issues going into reverse, changing gears manually etc. It seems to be more of an issue at higher temps but, I can’t say for sure. I’ve gone through the forums and seen everything from a sensor replacement to shift boot to paddles to mechatronics unit (this one was replaced during second owner under warranty). If anyone has something more definitive or similar experience it would be great.
The wife, thank goodness, is understanding about the situation and is cool with spending the money to remedy the turbo situation and but, the conversation becomes different depending on what this transmission problem becomes. The whole depreciation/throwing money away thing really isn’t a thing at this point because I put so many miles on that I’ll destroy anything new and we have no plans on getting back into debt right now so a “new” car would basically need to be give or take 5-7k cash for now until we get some other things in life done. I’d rather get the car fixed and keep my GTI rather than get a beater Honda and I’ll probably pick up a late model F10 M5 in a couple years (another story) but, this is where I’m looking for some unclouded opinions.
What would you do?
