SuperDuper
Go Kart Newbie
- Location
- IL
Tl;dr: I followed the advise of "Life's too short to drive boring cars" and traded my 8,000 mile '21 Mazda 3 Turbo for a MK7.5 GTI.
I'm back in the game with my 2nd MK7.5 GTI - a 2019 Pure White DSG with the SE Experience Package.
Back in 2020, I had been driving a 2019 6MT GTI when I started suffering from feet pain. This pain was even more severe in my clutch foot, to the point where it would be very painful to drive anywhere but the highway. This pain has been diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis coupled with flat feet, Achilles Tendonitis, and the start of bunions. Needless to say, 14 years of driving manual transmission cars hasn't done any wonders for me. After several months of treatment, I ultimately decided that I need to get rid of the GTI. It was disrupting the healing process and it wasn't making life any easier as I had to return to the office full time.
Around March 2021, I started the search for a replacement. My first choice would've been a MK7.5 DSG, but at this time of the year the inventory levels were extremely low. It seems like they didn't produce many 2020 GTI's and the '21s weren't out yet. I also refused to downgrade, as my '19 was an SE with the Experience Package (Fender Audio, DCC) and those features were a deal breaker for me. In 2020, the only way to get Fender Audio and DCC was the Autobahn, and that was approaching 38K. The used market was also starting to dry up. I also considered the Jetta GLI, but the interior quality never felt as nice as the GTI and it had a really goofy driving position. Seeing as how we already have an R-Line in our household, I started eyeing the 4th gen Mazda 3.
I always thought the 4th gen Mazda 3 was a beautiful looking car. It was just lacking in power and never had the performance of the GLI. In 2021, they introduced a turbo model which inherited the 2.5L turbo engine from the CX-5/CX-9. After a few (not long enough) test drives, we settled for the Mazda 3 Turbo Sedan. The thought process at the time was that it had enough attributes to make up for the loss of fun of owning a GTI. This, and the dealer was willing to sell it to me for a few grand under MSRP (this very quickly became not the case with new car sales). Some of the things that set it apart from the GTI were the comfortability, heated steering wheel, memory seats, Bose audio system, AWD, HUD, driving position, and just an all around nicer interior. It was a nice place to be most of the time.
After several months of ownership, the honeymoon period started to fade away and I started noticing a lot of its flaws. Some of which, crept up very quickly. Here is a list of my complaints:
I had really started to miss my GTI after some time with the 3. The used car market has been insane and I really had no desire for the MK8 (sorry gang). I started shopping around to see what kind of values I would be able to get if I were to trade in the Mazda. Luckily, I was able to get an average of about $8,000 in positive equity with the current trade values. But this also meant I would be overpaying for a used MK7.5. I started to shop locally and through CarMax, Carvana, and Vroom. Doing the deal local meant that I could save on taxes, as IL gives you a tax credit when you trade in. This meant I had about 10K total to put towards a GTI. After several months of searching, I ended up finding the one. Carvana had a 2019 Pure White DSG with the coveted SE Experience Package and only 13,500 miles, for $32,000. Being a 2019 means I get that sweet, sweet 6yr/72K bumper to bumper diesel gate apology warranty, too. And the vehicles original sale date was in April 2020, so I have about 4 years of that left over. It is a one owner, unmodified, CLEAN example. No front plate holes either, which is also a big bonus. Oddly enough, the car was originally sold at a dealer here in IL. I was able to contact that dealer to verify the service records. Things were going real smooth until the Carvana transaction, but that's a whole other story for a different day.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I can't express how happy I am to be back in a GTI and apart of this awesome community. I can't imagine ever not-owning a GTI. This car just does everything right. The interior is still a great place to be, the gas mileage with the 7-Speed DQ381 is fantastic, and it's just all around a joy to drive every day.
Photos:
I'm back in the game with my 2nd MK7.5 GTI - a 2019 Pure White DSG with the SE Experience Package.
Back in 2020, I had been driving a 2019 6MT GTI when I started suffering from feet pain. This pain was even more severe in my clutch foot, to the point where it would be very painful to drive anywhere but the highway. This pain has been diagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis coupled with flat feet, Achilles Tendonitis, and the start of bunions. Needless to say, 14 years of driving manual transmission cars hasn't done any wonders for me. After several months of treatment, I ultimately decided that I need to get rid of the GTI. It was disrupting the healing process and it wasn't making life any easier as I had to return to the office full time.
Around March 2021, I started the search for a replacement. My first choice would've been a MK7.5 DSG, but at this time of the year the inventory levels were extremely low. It seems like they didn't produce many 2020 GTI's and the '21s weren't out yet. I also refused to downgrade, as my '19 was an SE with the Experience Package (Fender Audio, DCC) and those features were a deal breaker for me. In 2020, the only way to get Fender Audio and DCC was the Autobahn, and that was approaching 38K. The used market was also starting to dry up. I also considered the Jetta GLI, but the interior quality never felt as nice as the GTI and it had a really goofy driving position. Seeing as how we already have an R-Line in our household, I started eyeing the 4th gen Mazda 3.
I always thought the 4th gen Mazda 3 was a beautiful looking car. It was just lacking in power and never had the performance of the GLI. In 2021, they introduced a turbo model which inherited the 2.5L turbo engine from the CX-5/CX-9. After a few (not long enough) test drives, we settled for the Mazda 3 Turbo Sedan. The thought process at the time was that it had enough attributes to make up for the loss of fun of owning a GTI. This, and the dealer was willing to sell it to me for a few grand under MSRP (this very quickly became not the case with new car sales). Some of the things that set it apart from the GTI were the comfortability, heated steering wheel, memory seats, Bose audio system, AWD, HUD, driving position, and just an all around nicer interior. It was a nice place to be most of the time.
After several months of ownership, the honeymoon period started to fade away and I started noticing a lot of its flaws. Some of which, crept up very quickly. Here is a list of my complaints:
- Terrible gas mileage. I would average 27 on a good day and as low as 23-24 in the winter. This is while driving conservatively, too. Any spirited driving and it would suffer.
- Small fuel tank. 11ish gallons, would typically only fill 10 when the gas light came on. This combined with poor MPG resulted in a 260-280 range for a full tank.
- Way too heavy of steering + awful steering ratio. I would notice this the most while parking. The inclusion of driving modes could've helped this somewhat, but it felt like the car would barely turn sharply at times.
- Not a very exciting power-band despite power figures. This one is pretty much brought up in all of the reviews. Basically, it drives like an SUV with having all of its torque and power-band down low. And that makes sense considering where the powertrain comes from.
- Non existent brakes. Seriously, the way they tuned the brakes was awful. According the Mazda, it's tuned for comfort and better posture under braking. This was just okay under normal circumstances but there were a few close calls and I had no confidence in the car in the event of an accident. They also didn't upgrade the 3 Turbo's brakes over the standard 3, so compared to the GTI they just felt very poor.
- Massive blind spots + poor visibility. This can't be stated enough. Not enough glass which would make the car feel cave-like and unsafe due to poor sight lines at times. Visibility is very underrated while car shopping. It's something I definitely took for granted when I had the GTI.
- More rattles than anything else I've owned + Faux Luxury. I had a rattle from week one that only got worse after time. After 10+ trips to the dealer, I gave up trying to chase down rattles. In the following year, more rattles crept up. HUD, infotainment screen, glovebox, sunroof and many more. This I think was the most disappointing as Mazda gives the impression that it's trying to move upmarket. Between the rattles, the lightweight doors, and the very cheap cardboard feeling headliner, I couldn't help but feel a sense of faux-luxury.
I had really started to miss my GTI after some time with the 3. The used car market has been insane and I really had no desire for the MK8 (sorry gang). I started shopping around to see what kind of values I would be able to get if I were to trade in the Mazda. Luckily, I was able to get an average of about $8,000 in positive equity with the current trade values. But this also meant I would be overpaying for a used MK7.5. I started to shop locally and through CarMax, Carvana, and Vroom. Doing the deal local meant that I could save on taxes, as IL gives you a tax credit when you trade in. This meant I had about 10K total to put towards a GTI. After several months of searching, I ended up finding the one. Carvana had a 2019 Pure White DSG with the coveted SE Experience Package and only 13,500 miles, for $32,000. Being a 2019 means I get that sweet, sweet 6yr/72K bumper to bumper diesel gate apology warranty, too. And the vehicles original sale date was in April 2020, so I have about 4 years of that left over. It is a one owner, unmodified, CLEAN example. No front plate holes either, which is also a big bonus. Oddly enough, the car was originally sold at a dealer here in IL. I was able to contact that dealer to verify the service records. Things were going real smooth until the Carvana transaction, but that's a whole other story for a different day.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I can't express how happy I am to be back in a GTI and apart of this awesome community. I can't imagine ever not-owning a GTI. This car just does everything right. The interior is still a great place to be, the gas mileage with the 7-Speed DQ381 is fantastic, and it's just all around a joy to drive every day.
Photos:
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