Ah that's true for those of you in the US. In Canada, manual is offered across all trim lines on the Golf TSI.
While I'll side with the folks that say 91 should be a minimum, running 87 shouldn't hurt it since it should retard timing to prevent knocking. That said, some engines can be very temperamental when running lower grade gas. Temperamental to the point of destruction
A 6MT is not necessarily an upgrade from a 5MT, it just means more gears to shift through. The 5MT probably has a higher OD ratio.
Other than the bigger gap between shift points, the 5-speed, coupled to the torque of the 1.8 TSI which peaks at a low 1600 rpm is certainly adequate for the type of driving I do. As posted earlier, about 1900 rpm at 100 km/h and 2100 at 110 km/h is low enough to make the car very silent, and still in the torque peak which goes from 1600 to 4200 rpm, so it just scoots up hills.
There's a good thread over at golf mk7 forums about thus subject:
The stock 15" wheels are a big plus for me. Our roads are very rough and lots of potholes. Having a decent amount of sidewall on the tire protects the rims. Once on our old B5 Passat, with 16", I hit a pothole at 100 km/h on the autoroute (didn't spot it in time). Put a big balloon in the tire's sidewall, but the rim stayed OK. I had to put on the spare; 16" is about as far as I'd go, the 15" is a bit of extra pothole insurance. Another time I hit another pothole (at night, unseen) so hard in winter that I dented the winter steelie, but the tire stayed OK.
Thanks, I just read the first couple pages of that thread, and checked out the Edmunds link where they dyno'd on both 87 and 91 octane.
In Canada at least there's up to 5% ethanol in RUG, whereas none in premium. That could explain some of the loss of efficiency on 87, as ethanol has less energy content than gasoline.
My daughter has the 03 B5.5 Passat with the 1.8l. When she had her 45 mile commute, I told her to run midgrade for a month and regular for a month. It didn't make enough difference in mileage to matter. Since she still drives and shifts like it's a diesel, she never saw any issues with top end performance either. When I drive it, I like to hit the bottom of the interstate entrance ramps at 65 mph in third gear. Of course, that is dependent on other traffic.
That car was very close to being bought by me. It must have a sport package for the seats alone. I could never find a sport package equipped model when I was looking so I gave up. To top it off I really wanted to have a hatchback. Even today I really want a hatchback after owning one for the past two and a half years. And it's slim pickin' out there for something decent. I'm pretty much down to the GTI (maybe golf R if the price is right) at this point.
I just went for the standard Golf. I also needed a hatchback. To be honest, I have yet to encounter a situation where 170 hp didn't work for me. It's a base 5-door Golf (Trendline+ in Canada) and it's an amazing package for just a hair over $20k. I mean I'd love an R -who wouldn't- but at my age I console myself thinking that by driving a base Golf I'll have more testosterone left over for more pleasurable activities
.I know you're a big plane guy but could you shrink down that photo... It's making it very difficult to read posts.
I was referring when I bought my current 2011 Golf TDI back in early 2014. I'm thinking that a hatchback will also be on my next car too. It's come in handy way too many times having a hatch vs a trunk. I'm leaning towards a GTI... maybe the Golf All Track. We'll see about standard Golf or Sport Wagon when the time comes.I just went for the standard Golf. I also needed a hatchback. To be honest, I have yet to encounter a situation where 170 hp didn't work for me. It's a base 5-door Golf (Trendline+ in Canada) and it's an amazing package for just a hair over $20k. I mean I'd love an R -who wouldn't- but at my age I console myself thinking that by driving a base Golf I'll have more testosterone left over for more pleasurable activities
One mod I did do to my Golf was add R-replica HID headlights. The only problem with the base model is the non-availability of the lighting package, and the stock halogens suck pretty bad. The rest is bone-stock and more than adequate, with minimal difference compared to my previous highline except for sunroof, leather and fog lights, but I prefer the cloth seats in my Mk VII to the leather in my Mk VI. I even have built-in NAV with Apple CarPlay and unlike the NAV in my Mk VI, it doesn't require expensive $200 map updates from VW
The bonus is that I was able to pay cash for the Mk VII, and have been able to save up enough money to buy a new carbon-fibre road bike thanks to a no car payment life.
Heya Seth - how many miles do you have on the clock if you don't mind posting. Or PM me. If anyone else wants to share what would be great. I have 80,800 on my 11.
No problem, I'm kinda surprised no one else said anything
Those are really nice reasons to consider a upmarket car like a BMW or Audi
Way out of my price range, but I can say this: "oil changes" (aka service intervals) are every 20k km based on a former colleague who had a Mercedes B190. She said the 20k service was a cool $500 at the dealer, and she got a really arrogant reply when she complained that this was outrageous along the lines of "Madam, when one owns a Mercedes, one expects to be able to afford the maintenance".
