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R32 Long term ownership

DeepBlue

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
Hey Guys,

Long term Mk5 GTI owner here. Going on 10 years... yeah, I have no idea how the hell that happened. Never planned on keeping it that long.

Was watching some videos on Youtube other day and came across one with two guys test driving an R32. This kind of reminded me how I always wanted one, and that it may possibly make a great first car for my daughter in a few years. That is, if I finally sell my GTI before then.

Given that I've owned a GTI for an extended amount of time, its safe to assume that I've over maintained the crap out of it, and know what it takes to keep these cars on the road.

My question is, how does an R32 compare to same year GTI (2008) in terms of reliability, fragility, fussiness... etc. My sense is that it would probably come down to history, and if I can find one that wasn't abused, it should be at least as good as a GTI in terms of build quality and overall longevity if not much better, no?
 

vwengineer

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
I would say the R32 engine is more or less bulletproof in comparison to the GTI. It doesn't have a direct injection, so no HPFP and no cam follower, it is bigger and doesn't have a turbo so probably less stress on the engine itself, it has a chain distribution vs a belt for the GTI. All that to say that if oil was changed regularly I wouldn't have any concerns.

A weakness vs the GTI might be the Haldex system, if I am not wrong it also has to be serviced regularly.
 

golfballer78

Ready to race!
Location
southbay CA.
Car(s)
08' R32 dsg
WOW! Manual or DSG?

My GTI has 81k... and is likely the most over maintained and babied car in the area.

08’ R32 was only dsg in the states bro, I wish it was standard 6. Peeps still looking for hella money on the mk4 version I shoulda got in the 1st place.
 

DeepBlue

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
Ahh, I keep forgetting that VW likes to go to extremes. Next R was MT only. Why not give people a choice like they finally did with the Mk7 R.

Still, I would think that build quality on the Mk5 R32 would be better than MK4. Plus, with a car that old, you would be dealing with rust issues from start.

Very impressive taking your R32 past 200k. Actually gives me some hope that my GTI may go for a few more years!
 

golfballer78

Ready to race!
Location
southbay CA.
Car(s)
08' R32 dsg
Because they were limited runs for only 1 year in certain countries. Only certified one type for sale that way. They decided this direction, many were pissed it didn’t get standard 6 (why I didn’t go for it New anyway). 04’ R was in higher demand & had cooler seats, body kit, standard 6, less weight then newer shit & ran low 14sec stock. This car is still worth something, but doesn’t command the value the 04’ did. I think the TT Quattro same layout offered a standard 6?
 

DeepBlue

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
My experience with all vr6 is they will last, mostly worry about this transmission tho

Yeah... with a DSG... you can never relax. Realistically though, if one would have to replace it with a rebuilt or a junk one, how much would that cost?

I'm thinking that parts and labor would probably exceed the value of the car... which is not great.
 

DeepBlue

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
If my DSG fails, will be pushing my GTI off the nearest cliff.

That might be the most "prudent" way to go.

However, I've been seeing some new DSG repair options lately that were either not available or a lot more expensive in the past. A full swap might be douable for 2-3k including labor. Granted, that will still eat a huge chunk of the remaining value.
 

golfballer78

Ready to race!
Location
southbay CA.
Car(s)
08' R32 dsg
It’s prob mostly the wet clutches to worry about, which are changeable, even with higher torque applications. The gears themselves could be like any other trans. But the solenoids in the mechatronic board is another worry, again. Replaceable.

We make a choice to hold these older rarer things cause nothing else close will be cheap enough. Low end p.o.s’s now are over 20k, wtf? I would be proud of this if it made it to 300k
 

DeepBlue

Ready to race!
Location
NYC
I had a bunch of issues with my DSG when I bought the car. It had a mech replacement done under warranty... twice! Last one came with a full DSG service, which was nice. That being the case, my DSG which has been working just fine since, is about half as old as the rest of the car which is currenty at 80k. Still, I watch it like a hawk.

I came close to selling my GTI twice. But could not quite drop the hammer. It has long since outlived the use case it was bought to fill and I can definitely afford a much nicer car at this point. There is just something about it that keeps me in it. What will likely happen is that I will end up buying something new eventually and keep the GTI as a project car.
 

golfballer78

Ready to race!
Location
southbay CA.
Car(s)
08' R32 dsg
I had a bunch of issues with my DSG when I bought the car. It had a mech replacement done under warranty... twice! Last one came with a full DSG service, which was nice. That being the case, my DSG which has been working just fine since, is about half as old as the rest of the car which is currenty at 80k. Still, I watch it like a hawk.

I came close to selling my GTI twice. But could not quite drop the hammer. It has long since outlived the use case it was bought to fill and I can definitely afford a much nicer car at this point. There is just something about it that keeps me in it. What will likely happen is that I will end up buying something new eventually and keep the GTI as a project car.

Yer talking about common gti, this thread is about rare R32. I can still sell mine for pretty penny, but why, I had mad issues with tuned fsi GLI before it, glad that got totaled at 200k, wouldn’t be able to sell it for much anyway.
 
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