This is not the greatest car in the world. This is just a tribute.
Oftentimes we don’t realize when the last of something is occurring until long after it does. Case in point, who knew that Friday, March 29, 2024 would be the final evening I would be rowing the gears of the car I’ve owned since Halloween seven years prior. My Lapiz blue Golf R, a car I joked was an anniversary present approximately three times before it was clear my wife didn’t find it funny, was flatbedded to the local dealer for what seemed like a misfire. Or what I hoped was. I was put in a very fancy Atlas SEL 4Motion loaner, which was very fancy. The kids loved the ambient lighting options.
It wasn’t.
After being mentally teased that changing the spark plugs would solve the issue, it was ultimately determined an electrode on one of the spark plugs had broken off and partied hard in every cylinder on its way out. How that even happened is unknown, but the pictures below show the damage done. Unfortunately no one live-streamed the events. If there are any engineers in here who can explain exactly how that occurred, I would appreciate it.***
***I deep dove into this after the initial posting and found that, at least in one instance, oil starvation lead to the motor skipping timing. The circumstances that lead up to this incident - I decided last second to stop for a yellow light instead of blowing through a red. The roadway was pitched downward and the brake force was less than panic braking, but more than a gradual stop. About 10k miles prior I had a ‘check oil level’ message which lead to an oil change and service, but nothing leaking. I hadn’t seen another warning like that since. So, was I a little low on oil, but not low enough to trigger a warning light?
So that left me with a financial dilemma, dump thousands of dollars into a 118k mile MK7 that I’ve known since new, or trade it in on a car payment, something I’ve been without for nearly two years. Responsibility steered me towards the latter, even as my heart yearned for the former. And so, the Golf was repaired just enough to trade in. My requirements were simple, it needed to have heated seats and a stick shift. Trend Motors, a dealer I’ve been acquainted with since 2008, facilitated a deal that saw me keep all the nickels in my pocket and drive out in a brand new 2024 Jetta Sport. It’s a nice car, but it’s not a Golf R.
For the record, I didn’t want to stretch the budget to go for a new GTI or even a GLI. And have you seen the MSRP on the MK8 R? It’s north of $47k, or more than twice the Jetta. When I bought the MK7, I didn’t have two kids and my wallet was a bit more flush. And so I may not be the “cool dad” anymore, I do have a warranty and a car that runs on regular fuel. The WUTmobile has begun its fourth generation*.
It’s now a running joke that I’ve entered the Jetta S phase of my life.
First thing I noticed was I could no longer keep the key fob buried in my pocket. The Sport isn’t equipped with keyless entry and I have to put the key into the ignition to start the car. My how acclimated we’ve become to simple convenience features. I remember having aftermarket keyless installed in my MK3 Jetta (in 2002 mind you) and while it was an electrical nightmare (read: needing to keep the door open while starting to avoid arming the alarm), I still felt so cool every time it made the boop-boop noise.
Please enjoy the smattering of pictures to follow.
The 1.5T under the hood may be able to achieve 42 MPG (I’ve only seen 32.6 in my first tank and 35.4 in my third), but it’s absolutely gutless in lower RPMs. Turning up my block in second gear at 16 MPH drives that point home, literally. I now have to make sure I’m not cutting anyone off when changing lanes as the passing power is not what it is in the R’s 2.0T. While the Sport may be equipped with the XDS Cross Differential System, I still have to be mindful about carrying too much speed into corners. The 17” wheels have much larger sidewalls than the 19s I’ve been used to and it wafts. A lot.
Also, why is there not an option to disable the hill hold? I don’t need an electric nanny preventing me from rolling back on inclines.
The 4-speaker audio system is library quiet and sounds like every recording was done in an Amazon box, and there are enough hard surfaces to mistake the interior for a parking lot. And while the digital gauge cluster is quasi-modern and straight forward, the use of a Golf to show when the doors are open is a painful Easter egg for good times gone by.
Ok enough groveling over something that I’ve signed on the dotted line for already. The Jetta has a spacious interior and the trunk is massive. The LED headlights are superior to the bi-xenons that were in the R, but I will miss playing European with the rear foglight. Cloth seats are more comfortable than the leathers. And how could I forget the turning radius runs circles around the AWD Golf.
Many thanks to Josh of ShootForDetails in creating this light painting.
That’s pretty much it. Deep Black Pearl is a nice color, but my attentive 4-year-old already asked if this was our car when returning from a playground. It doesn’t stand out like the R.
I used to joke every year I went to the New York International Auto Show and sat in all the new cars that I would love to get a Corolla or an Accord for a commuter car. Then I’d sit down in one and close the door and the tinny echo of the poorly insulated door would snap me out of that delusion. Well here we are and my self-fulfilling prophecy has come true. The road ahead is to be filled with forgettable journeys.
Hopefully the Jetta S phase of my life won’t last longer than the 48 months of car payments I’m now #blessed with.
PART TWO
Each former car relationship is like an ex-partner. Everything is great until it’s not. And the flaws, shortcomings and disappointments are masked by the total enjoyment of the good times.
I can’t recall who took this and don’t want to improperly credit this image, but if you’re the photographer, let me know.
Overall, I had an incredible ownership experience with my 2017 Golf R. The third year of the MK7 chassis was the last before the refresh and the MK7.5 designation of 2018-2019. Had I held out until that final year, I could have opted for a Jazz blue R courtesy of the Spektrum program, VW’s take on Porsche’s successful paint to sample offerings. But alas, maybe next time.
I’ve racked up countless memories in seven and a half years and 118k miles, many of which I wouldn’t remember had I not taken pictures along the way. While going through them, I didn’t realize how many 4 a.m. 7-Eleven shots I took before heading to a show.
I’ve driven it down to Florida four times, three of those for the Amelia Concours d’Elegance, and two of those times while still rocking winter wheels. I’ve taken it to Lime Rock each year for the Historics and even got a chance to flog it at a winter Auto-X event when it was just four months old. It brought both my kids home from the hospital. It’s been to countless concours, rallies, C&Cs, you name it. It was a comfortable daily driver. A faithful companion.
On one of my journeys not long after I bought it, I waffled an unavoidable road gator on Interstate 287 that cracked the passenger vent on the bumper. It was able to be adjusted so that replacement wasn’t needed and visually you couldn’t tell. But I knew it was there. The open road cracked two windshields and it was due a third prior to trade-in, but that never happened. The windshield washer reservoir somehow developed a leak and required a new one lest I kept topping off at shorter intervals than average. However that would have meant the front bumper needing to come off to the total tune of $300+ so I happily topped off as needed.
I have one memory when I was taking my daughter to my parents’ house and the TPMS light came on. Because VW doesn’t think it’s important to have a separate screen indicating the pressure of each tire, I had to presume the random illumination was not an error. I drove the car carefully, feeling the dynamics change as one tire slowly lost air. I was able to navigate it safely to a level parking lot where I showed my three year old how to change a tire.
Which leads me to remember something else. The Golf R does not come from the factory with a spare. On 19” wheels with 35-series sidewalls. I think they include prayers in a bottle or something as ineffective. I did make the decision to elect for the wheel & tire protection (which paid for itself nine times over), but that was only engaged after some sort of tire/wheel incident. Like the time I was coming home from the grocery store and nailed an unavoidable pothole, rendering one of my tires flat. The dealer (shoutout Trend Motors Volkswagen in Rockaway, NJ again) sent a tech with a spare GTI wheel to get me home before my ice cream melted, but that didn’t solve any future issues. A quick online search found an RS3 compact spare would work and an outfit oversees sold the foam mold and plastic trunk lip to make it fit. Thankfully I only needed that once because this leads me to my next issue I remember…
The wheel bolts like to seize to the hub. You know what happens when you try to remove them with the factory tire iron? The soft metal of the bolts causes the tire iron to slip off and gouge the wheel. That’s a good time. I used to be able to change my wheels over each season and even attempted to do it on two separate occasions, both resulting in having to drive my car with mis-matched wheels to the dealer. The third time I had a bubble in my winter tire that finally popped, thankfully within a mile from home. I limped the car to my driveway knowing the tire could not be saved anyway and again gave it the old college try to get the wheel off. A tow truck was requested, hoping they had the tools necessary, but instead the Golf took a ride on a flatbed to the dealer. Anti-seize was applied on new wheel bolts this time around.
I never did get around to modifying it beyond European taillights and headlight switch. Something about trying to justify to the wife that replacing a brand new clutch just to bump the power was a good idea never sat right. Of course Volkswagen built this really nice and powerful 2.0T motor for the R and then handicapped it by utilizing a GTI clutch. It practically slipped from day one (not really), but I always said when it was time to replace it I would flash the ECU. I’m glad that didn’t happen as it made the random engine failure that much more of a mystery.
It was a great car that I’m sad to have replaced it. Sure, there were paint chips galore on the front end. Henry from Ai Design always said we should have put the protective film on it every time I visited to photograph some of their incredible projects. And there was that one quarter-sized spot on the driver’s door that started as a little nick and grew in size. It might have even started to rust a bit.
The center display in the cluster went dark a few times, but always came back on. The rear suspension bits were rusted to all hell. And it creaked when I backed over the raised curb into my driveway. Sometimes the screen even flickered when the backup camera was operating. Oh, and the kids’ car seats left an impression in the leather that will probably be there forever. I really did plan on handing it down to one of them ten years from now.
But it never felt less than solid, despite the years and mileage.
I’m sure I’m missing a thousand memories and stories with it, the kind I write for my own enjoyment and not necessarily yours. Like that one time a kid in a white GTI tried to race me while I was minding my own business in the right lane, just trying to get home after a long day at work…
When you’re done, I want you to go outside to where your prized vehicle is parked and give it a little pat on the roof. You never know how much you loved something until it’s gone.
*The first WUTmobile came to fruition in early 2009 when I needed a companion vanity plate to TACOCAT that was on my 2003 20th Anniversary GTI. I ran it on that car until I sold it to my brother after buying a 2010 MK6 GTI in 2012. That WUTmobile lasted through October 2016 when I finally made good on the presumption in my previously linked blog post and trade it for the R. You already know how that story ends.