My Mk7 GTI PP....turns out I cant resist the VAG.

[Lucas_R]

So after first venturing into the VAG world in 2011 with my brand spanking new 2011 Mk6 R, which I loved dearly and spent bucket loads on, but sold that 4 years later to free up some $$ for some house reno's. Then as a replacement I purchased a very dirty (but cheap) 2nd hand VAG in the form of a 2010 Mk6 GTI which I owned for a few years before selling as I decided I wanted a V8. I bought a 2011 Lexus IS-F and loved it (amazing engine) for the most part, but decided after a few years that I didn't need such an expensive car for my 4km commute to work (and it used so much fuel), so sold it and bought another (much cheaper) car I have always liked, a 2008 Subaru Liberty GT "Tuned by STI" edition. Although the Subaru community sucks, I did very much enjoy the car until it was sadly written off in a flood a few months ago. If it wasn't for the flood, I would have kept the Subaru for another few years.

Links to previous car threads here:
Mk6 R Lucas' Golf R
Mk6 GTI My other German fling: Mk6 GTI
Lexus IS-F Something different.....im back with a Lexus IS-F
Subaru GT Non VAG content...My 2008 Subaru Liberty GT (Tuned by STI)

Which brings me to the present day - with the Subaru gone I was in need of a new car and while I initially set my budget to $20k......I couldn't find anything that excited me. I decided to bump the budget up to $25k and started seeing Megane RS's, Mk7 GTI's, Focus ST's etc. Right in the COVID peak I didn't really want to be travelling to view cars, so really wanted to keep it local. In the end, a late 2015 Mk7 GTI PP popped up about 15 mins away and it was well priced, so I met the owner, checked the car over and took it for a drive etc. A few days later I had a bank cheque drawn and picked the car up.

So its approx 5 years old, and had done 47,000km on it when I bought it. Basically fully optioned (panoramic sunroof, park assist, leather seats, radar cruise, adaptive dampers). The Bridgestone tyres were original as far as I could tell (build date of 2015 on the sidewall) and were absolutely shagged - promptly replaced with the new Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3's which I really like so far. Three of the rims are quite badly curbed, but its just cosmetic damage. It needed rego too (had 3 weeks left on it), so when negotiating the purchase price I had the rego and new tyres to consider and used that to bargain a bit.

It needed a good clean and detail but if you remember my MK6 GTI you will know I do not shy away from cleaning cars. And although I have spent 25-30 hours detailing different aspects of this car already, I still have more to go and im not going to the same lengths that I did with the Mk6 (cant be bothered).

The car was 100% stock when I bought it, since then I have done the following:

Car Spec
2015 Mk7 GTI Performance
169kw / 350nm 6 speed DQ250 DSG with e-LSD
Adaptive Cruise Control
Dynamic Chassis Control (adaptive dampers)
Leather interior
Self-parking mode (Park assist)
Panoramic sunroof
The only option I believe the car is missing is the Dynaudio stereo


Engine/Performance
IE stage 2 high torque ECU tune
IE DSG tune
IE v2 MQB intake with optional carbon fiber lid
IE cast stainless steel downpipe
IE cast alloy turbo inlet elbow
034 Motorsport turbo muffler delete
Denso IHK24 iridium spark plugs
CTS Turbo catback exhaust.......sound vids here
DO88 intercooler

Leyo billet oil filter housing
Racingline billet DSG oil filter housing
Racingline replacement washer fluid cap

Wheels/Suspension
034 Motorsport lowering springs (30mm drop)
New OEM strut tops and strut bearings
Koya SF11 19x8.5 ET42 semi forged rims in gloss GTR grey finish
Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 tyres (size 235/35/19)
ZSS 25.4mm rear sway bar with Moog steel end links

Interior/Comfort
EuroZone Tuning steering wheel
GTI TCR gear knob
Euro GTI dead rest foot pedal
Leyo billet aluminium air conditioning and radio control covers
Wireless CarPlay device from VWCentral
Supernova boot light and reverse lights
Team Heko wind deflectors
Various VCDS mods (eg disable start/stop, speed up e-LSD reaction time, disable seat belt warning etc)
DSG paddle extensions
Armrest cubby tray
And a very thorough clean and detail

[Lucas_R]

So I didn't want another white GTI, and I didn't want DSG...and so here I present to you my white GTI with DSG. Sadly the GTI Performance was only available in Australia as a DSG, so I didn't have much of an option there.

[Lucas_R]

My first task when buying a 2nd hand car is always a good service and check over of everything. The oil was still quite clean but you never know what oil was used (previous owner was a mechanic at a Newcastle based business called Nova Innovations - but you still never know). So I gave it an oil flush, and then replaced the oil (Penrite Enviro+ VW504/507 approved) and OEM filter as well as an oil flush. New OEM sump plug. Any no leaks or damage underneath to report which is always good.

Also threw on a Leyo alloy oil filter housing the replace the crappy plastic OEM one.

I've also got some new spark plugs on order so they will be replaced soon.

The previous owner said he recently serviced the DSG too - but with no proof (photo or receipts etc) ill be doing that again within the next 12 months to be safe.

[Lucas_R]

New tyres were actually fitted a few days after buying the car. These Hankook's were one of several tyres that were on my shortlist anyway, but then I saw Jax tyres had a "buy 4 and pay for 3 deal" for Hankook so I got 4x new Ventus S1 Evo 3's in 235/35/19's for $904 including fitting/balancing and disposal of the old completely rooted tyres. Bargain!

[Lucas_R]

If you remember from my Mk6 R days, im not really into intakes so first mod was of course an Integrated Engineering intake. Followed by 034 Motorsports turbo muffler delete and intake elbow.

Engine bay had a nice clean too. Ignore the horrid yellow battery - i've got a cover coming for it.

[Lucas_R]

Last weekend I fitted my 034Motorsports “Res-X” resonator delete which had turned up a few days earlier. Yet another very nice quality part from 034Motorsports.

Damn the original resonator is massive and the GTI just sounded so lame with the stock exhaust.

[Lucas_R]

Received my new ATE Ceramic brake pads this morning, so after work I set about installing what I could before it got too dark.

The GTI Performance runs the larger disks and caliper (same as the Golf R) so I ordered the part numbers for a Golf R.

Only got the rear pads done today, but will continue on with the fronts tomorrow.

Also detailed the brake hubs as they looked like garbage. Used a wire brush attachment on my drill to remove the rust then painted with some satin black caliper paint. Not perfect but they look much better now. I’ll get new brake disks before too long anyway as these are pretty worn.

[Lucas_R]

Did the front brake pads this morning and gave the calipers a good detail as they were pretty grotty.

Before vs after.

Also painted the hubs.

[Lucas_R]

Got some more goodies on the way.

- 034Motorsports lowering springs
- 034Motorsports new street density strut tops and strut bearings (to be replaced while changing the springs)
- Integrated Engineering stage 1 tune
- Koya SF11 semi forged rims in gloss metallic grey (will transfer my 6 week old tyres onto these rims when they arrive)

[Lucas_R]

Got straight into some VCDS tweaks within a few days of buying the car. Some done with my Carista and some done with VCDS. Many of the tweaks are taken from here: MkVII VCDS Tweak - Reference thread so thanks to DVS2 and others who have contributed to this info.

- Disabled the annoying and battery killing stop/start system.
- Enabled the inner tail light mod for brake lights.
- Lock/unlock beep.
- Disabled the seat belt warning.
- Reduced the sound of soundakator.
- Disabled alarm when engine is running and driver door is open
- Disabled the visual optical parking sensor image that blocks half the screen every time you select reverse.

And probably a few other things I cant think of right now.

And while im on the interior, I added wireless Carplay and some DSG paddle extensions from VWCentral. The wireless Carplay is great so far, lets hope it remains reliable long term. And the DSG paddles are a welcome addition seeing I drive the car in manual mode all the time and the original paddles were tiny.