Strange observation about our Golf...

The sunroof glass is huge. Almost as big as the panoramic roof on my Lincoln and is over half of the roof of the car. Only thing is the Golf's only opens to a standard size. My old school roofs on other cars opened just as much.

Even inside the car, the cutout is a good 6-8" short of the glass. Once opened it doesn't even open the entire amount of the inside cutout. There's several inches of roof still visible through the opening from the inside.

Why did they put such a huge piece of glass on the top when the result is a small opening?

 

where's the hood? u took a pict of the garage ceiling..




;)

 

my GTI has a moon roof too but i never use it. i used it once just to check it worked. lol honestly wish i couldve bought the car without the weight at the highest point of the car.. well besides the antenna. like how my R and STI came. no sunroof ftw.

 

Hard to say, other than it looks cool. We enjoy our sunroof and have actually used it quite a bit on nice days. VW has had a lot of MK7 Golf sunroof problems with leaks and creaks, but I read that sometime during production in 12/2016, they changed suppliers with good results. It's probably too early to be confident, but our 04/2017 build sunroof has been great.

 

so it is a good thing i never use it in this case! haha

i bought my GTI last summer so definitely BEFORE 12/2016 build.

 

Your sunroof is probably okay if you've not noticed leaks or creaks. Not everyone experiences the problems, so you're likely good to go.

Sunroofs are a weird feature. Few people I know actually use theirs on any vehicle, but designers love them. Selling cars involves a lot of fantasy and sunroofs spark happy visions of cool breezes on an open road. I guess we're in the small percentage that uses ours. I need to locate the drain holes so that I can keep them clear.

 

Our only functional complaint with the roof on our Golf is that the cover lets too much sunlight through. Wife and I both like a nice dark driving environment and the sunshade isn't as solid as we'd like.

That's what lead to to studying the roof. We were looking to see if it could be tinted darker. Sadly, half of the glass isn't accessible.

I like sunroofs and have had tons of them in different cars. First was in my 1980 Honda Prelude. Loved that thing! Full power with sunshade back in 1980. It never failed or leaked.

Through the years I've had different styles. I think I have the two most extreme examples right now. Fox Body Mustang has a factory pop up sunroof with no sunshade.
In order to open, you have to remove the glass roof and place it in a vinyl bag and secure it in the hatch. Other end of the spectrum is my Lincoln. Has two power operated sunshade covers (one for front passengers and one for rear). Front section can open to a very large opening or tilt up to vent. When it's closed you can't even tell it has a sunroof from the inside. It seals up that tight and is that dark.

That being said, Ford also had their share of sunroof issues with these huge panoramic roofs. Some weren't tempered properly and would simply fail. Imagine a giant glass roof breaking and falling inside the car! I would not be thrilled.

 

how about just tinting from the outside in this case? tint is basically like vinyl. can be used on exterior.

 

yah no noise from mine. perhaps some just got a bad batch of parts from the supplier.

 

Yes, we were surprised at the brightness too. At least it's not a large panoramic sunroof in the Golf. We chose to not get a sunroof in our Sportwagen TDI, else we'd have been cooked alive in the cabin because of the sunroof's size.

 

do golf's not have the shade below the glass? i have that closed all the time on my GTI and never bothered by the sunlight??

 

There is a shade, but it's a thin perforated light colored fabric. Let's a lot of light through. Enough to get sun reflections off of interior panels. Plus we live the South with plenty of sunlight.

I like your idea of tinting the outside of the glass! I've never done that. Will tint hold up to the elements and car washes? I'm worried it would peal over time.

 

I think tinting on the outside isn't the best option. Talk to your local tint shop & see what they say. My wife's MINI has a big sunroof with a mesh shade that lets light in even if the shade is closed. I had a very dark ceramic tint done on the inside & now it's livable for me.

 

huh, my GTI has like a black mesh shade and for me it blocks out plenty of sun. especially with the ceramic llumar on the side windows no issue.

yah, i mean we tint tail lamps all the time. its no issue. even today my STI sports a little tint piece over the reverse lamp lens. looks fantastic.

 

or GAFIT- how about glossy black vinyl over ur sunroof glass? that'll block the sun even more than tint.

 

One thing that worries me about buying most any new vehicle is carbon-caked intake valves as a result of Direct Injection technology. This is a known problem with D.I. engines of all makes and it's a pricey liability that most car buyers are not aware of.

Happily though, looking at MK7 forums it seems that VW's PCV swirl chamber design on the EA888 Gen3 engine does a good job at separating oil vapor. Though I'm no expert, the design technology bears a strong similarity to what I see in the 2.0L TDI engine training manual.

A number of owners have used a borescope to look at their intake valves and have been pleased to find little or no accumulation. Many who have installed catch cans have found little or nothing collected in many miles of driving.

I'm not assuming that valve cleaning will never be needed, but it's nice to know that our VWs might need it less often than other makes.

 

Agreed! I did a bit of research prior to purchasing our Golf because VW and BMW have by far the worst history of DI related issues.

Owners of the new revised motors seem to be having much less problems. Less than even the new DI Fit's it seems.

 

Here's the PCV fine oil separation system that's under our Wolfsburg hoods:



VW EA888 Gen3 Engine Fine Oil Separator

 

huh, very interesting. i hear 50K miles is a good time to get the engine cleaned. but i seriously doubt i'd keep my GTI nor R till 50k miles so it is a non issue for me. haha

 

GAFIT - where's the updates?