This is my first post to this forum, so hello! I'm new to the MK7 GTi platform but just recently got a 17 GTi. In the last month I have upgraded a few things, one being the intercooler. I read through this thread multiple times from start to finish before purchasing an intercooler.
I ended up purchasing the Deepmotor Intercooler and wanted to post my findings.
Package came in quick. Was packaged extremely well for the price point. It had hard foam inserts on both sides of the intercooler that were cut out specifically for it. I doubt the intercooler could have moved much if any in transit because of how it was packaged. The pipe going in and out both had blue plastic caps on them to keep out debris. I blew out the intercooler but didn't see anything come out and was clean from the get go.
This intercooler is a tube and fin design, not a bar and plate. It does have a partition in the intake side to direct air to different portions of the intercooler. It came with the intercooler, hoses, and hose clamps.
I was worried about fitment after reading all the horror stories from others. To my amazement pretty much everything fit as it should. Didn't have to trim anything. The hoses are the correct size and a tight fit. The hose clamps however fit over the hoses fine before installing them. However, once they were over the pipes the included clamps were just big enough to wrestle with them to get them to work. In reality both sets of hose clamps could have been a good bit larger and still worked perfectly fine. Since they were so small it ended up taking more time to get the 4 hose clamps on and secure then it did actually installing the new intercooler in its bracket with the radiator and condenser.
The other slight issue I ran into is that the hose on the driver's side could have been about an inch longer. I was not able to push the hose down flush to both pipes before tightening them down. The pipes are ribbed so I was able to tighten the hoses down no problem. Just would have made me feel better to have had them pushed all the way down.
I paid $260 shipped and have been using it for a couple weeks now. No issues, no leaks, nothing bad to say at all.
At first I thought it wasn't cooling very well but then I realized with the A/C on and running with these cars that all you're doing is pulling tons of hot air from the condenser into the intercooler. Without the A/C on and ambient temps around 85F I'm seeing:
3rd gear pulls
2500 rpm when I start around 98F IAT
Drops to about 95F by 4000 rpm
Drops to 93F by 5000 rpm and holds to 6500 rpm
I have a JB4 and am running map 6 with a peak boost around 23 psi and tapering down to 17 psi for reference.
Being that the intercooler is huge it definitely has a lot of heat soak but cools down quickly. With the A/C running for a while before the pull I'd see around 115-120F to start and would drop to about 105F during the pull with the same ambient temp to start.
I've paid a heck of a lot more for a lot less with previous vehicles. IMO you can't beat if for the money. Is it the best out there, nope. Does it work for everything I'll need it for, yep. Packaging was better than expected, quality was better than expected, fitment was better than expected, and performance was better than expected.
Hope this helps someone looking at them!