So well put. Four years of high school passed by in a wink and I'm sure college will be the same. I wish I could put the brakes on and slow things down. Your good parenting has resulted in a son you are proud of. My wife and I are older parents; I hope we live long enough to see grandkids, but not too soon! :-)

 

I was reading the new Car & Driver yesterday and was surprised to learn that in 2019 in the U.S. VW will no longer offer the 1.8L T in the Golf and will replace it with the Jetta’s 1.4L T. Manual transmission HP will drop from 170 to 148; TQ will supposedly remain the same. The 5-Speed manual will be replaced by a 6-Speed manual, probably required for the less powerful engine at highway speed.

Kind of a shame that they're neutering the U.S. Golf. It was the Golf's surprising power and high fun factor that sold us on it during our test drive. I suppose that the smaller motor is cheaper and gets better fuel economy, but I don't know. :-(

 

I agree! Part of what made us pick the Golf is that you are basically buying the last generation GTI, but in a newer wrapper. Our auto version, while lacking the fun of the manual, has even more torque (199 vs 184).

That being said, the 1.4t makes sense for the majority of people I suppose and definitely for VW's CAFE. Most people will gladly exchange hp for fuel economy and in this case it's fairly drastic. The 1.4t really is good at sipping fuel and they give up nothing as far as feel. The torque number is legit. They drive nice. You only notice the difference under heavy acceleration and most just don't even go there. We do :) and I'm guess you do as well.

I could be wrong, but I think the 1.4t Golf will sell better. It will now have the fuel economy to match the Corolla hatch and Fit, but with way more torque and a better driving experience. You and I had to give up fuel economy for the experience. 1.4t owners won't have to give up anything compared to it's rivals and will still win a drag race against any of them.

 

Just got back from the VW dealer. 30k mile oil change and tire rotation complete.

They said it was also due for the brake fluid flush and alignment. Would have been $300ish. I said...ummm, no thanks! A one year old car doesn't need new brake fluid and I only do alignments when I buy new tires or see unusual tire wear.

He said it will be due for spark plugs at 40k. I'll buy a set and change them myself. When it comes to maintenance expense, a VW is definitely not like its Japanese or domestic counterparts. They have near zero maintenance, outside of oil changes, for 100k miles. This thing calls for tons of stuff. I'll just DIY or opt out entirely.

 

I read that the Golf's spark plugs are devil to extract. They're reluctant to come out. (Quite the contrast with the Fit, where they self-extract!) It'll be interesting so read how it goes for you when it's time.

You make a good case for the 1.4L and it does make sense, although I won't admit it. :-)

 

Didn't know they can be a bear! Thanks for the heads up!

Don't get me wrong...I'd also rather have the trusty and more powerful 1.8 :)

 

Have any of y'all toured VW's Chattanooga plant? Various Internet forums read that tours are no longer available, but there's conflicting information. In any case, there's no official VW link for information. Years ago I toured BMW's Spartanburg, SC plant with my child's school class and we had a great day. All three of us chaperones were motorhead Dads.

 

no idea alco. i was never really a VW guy.. i just luv my Golf-R.

 

dog bone update?

 

Mmmm....dog bone!

Oh, the other thing! 034 Motorsports dogbone is in da house! Install will happen tomorrow if I can get the Fit out of the garage. Just flashed a tune to the Fit with the Hondata. We'll see tomorrow if I bricked the thing. LOL

The 034 dog bone looks to be good quality.

 

sounds good on da GD. yah, 034 is good stuff.

 

Not very exciting, but there's a blurry image of the insert installed. It definitely increased the in cabin vibration, but is well worth it! Car drives much better and the slop is gone. Wife and I are happy.

 

cool, sounds good. hummm.. my old GTI and Golf-R made no difference in vibration or harshness. maybe on ur car it was SUPER soft?

 

There's more vibration almost all the time. I think it's because of the automatic transmission. No vibration when in park or neutral and no vibration at higher rpms. It's that idle in gear and low throttle in boost time where there's vibration. With the auto, that's a lot of the time.

Not worried, about it. We're both happy to have the slop gone.

 

 

Cool dogbone install!

My wife and I took Rolf the Golf through the Tail of The Dragon on the NC/TN border a few Fridays ago and had a ball. The li'l 1.8T did great and we had nobody ahead of us or behind. I suggested to me wife that she just leave it in 3rd and go, through 2nd was a must in a few hairpins. It was a beautiful sunny day with dry pavement and she did super well throughout the run. We saw an MK6 R parked at a store, but the owner never appeared and we couldn't converse.

The Tail has become quite the gearhead tourist venue. A number of businesses station photographers along the route to take cool photos of every motorcycle and car that passes by, then offer them for sale on the Internet.

Ten miles from home In the darkness of night, we hit some trash bags with paint cans on the Interstate. No mechanical damage was suffered. Figures, right? Rolf was waxed, so what little paint hit the body came right off. But, the tires and underside got white paint in them. I haven't tried to remove any of it yet and am not sure what to try. I'll start with Goo-Gone, as it's mild and shouldn't damage anything. Any ideas?

 

Successfully using a spray can of bug and tar remover, I spent a few hours under and around Rolf and got most of the splashed white paint off everything with one exception.

VW uses a textured chip-resistant body-colored paint on the rocker panels and the white paint has partially filled many of the tiny pockets in the surface on the passenger side. You can't see the white paint unless you crouch down, but I'd like to make it clean. Maybe I'll try some bug and tar remover that is packaged in a pump spray bottle. It's thick and hangs where you spray it. Perhaps that and a soft toothbrush might do the trick. Ideas continue to be welcomed from y'all.

The front passenger splashguard also took a load of paint that doesn't want to come off, but I can get more aggressive with that surface. I'm glad that I put the splashguards on, else we'd have had a much worse mess to deal with.

 

How in the world does a trash bag filled with spray paint cans end up on the Interstate? I'm wondering if there were kids on the side of the road watching?

I know the area you speak of where there's rock chip protection on the Golf. It's a nice feature that Honda used to do, but doesn't anymore...AFAIK.

If you don't have success with the bug and tar remover, I'd spray it with acetone and use a toothbrush. That rock protection stuff is pretty durable. I'd just use water and then spray detailer afterward to remove the acetone so it doesn't weaken the paint.

 

if the chassis parts are black, would just spray over it with matte black enamel. i dont know which parts u are talking about but there might be rust protection (if metal) so id rather not agitate with other chemicals.

 

The lower rocker panels on ours are coated with a rubberized textured coating. It's for chip protection and is durable.

My old Honda's had the same stuff. It's great extra protection.

Edit...forgot to add that it's body color. Maybe a textured coating sprayed on the rockers before paint applied to entire car?