Clutch GONE at 600 miles....new MK7 record??

[TheGreekFreak]

Glad you got one of the good guys Did he do the test I had mentioned or a different method? Curious.

Yes sir, exactly what you said. That's how I did it as well the first night I noticed it was toast. If I recall, the car also had issues stalling out when parked.

Funny thing is it didn't slip as bad when he drove it as it did with me but he did notice it. He seemed really confident that if he drove it more and the parts heated it up, the clutch would slip like crazy (like it did with me). He kept repeating that the GTI's shifter should be smooth as butter if the clutch is properly adjusted and the clutch should catch much lower than mine.

 

[TheGreekFreak]

If it slips I'm gona get it replace then tune haha. My car is pretty new so hopefully I could get it warrantied. If not I would need to get a clutch in the future anyway so might as well switch it before the tune

I think my experience gives some credibility to the non-babied break in theory. Its the only way you'll notice and get it taken care of right away. Tbh, I'm glad it went out now vs later and has been documented this early on.

I wouldn't just assume yours is slipping just because of my case. Still, it doesn't hurt to briefly check for it. Mine was REALLY obvious through every gear, others are more subtle. If your gonna get a tune, maybe just start setting aside the money for an aftermarket clutch and expect it will be needed lol if they offered me free labor on the clutch of my choice, tuned or not, I would have gone aftermarket all day.

 

[JVWranicar]

Damn. I bought my 2017 SE with 320 miles on it from a dealership in Lawrence, KS. But the sticker said delivery was to a St. Louis VW dealer. My sales person told me it was a dealer trade and that it was driven across Missouri to her dealership. No problems so far at 2,300 miles but this give me a bit of pause.

 

[SmokeyGTI]

I think we have become used to these GTI clutches not lasting, but it's really bad. My old car, a Honda, my clutch lasted over 200k miles.

Both my '89 and '90 honda accords had 200k miles and original clutch by the time I got rid of them. Probably won't keep my mk7 quite that long but had no issues with my mk6 up to 60k when I traded it in.

Just out of curiosity from your username do you fly a Beech 1900?


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[Redleg02]

I think we have become used to these GTI clutches not lasting, but it's really bad. My old car, a Honda, my clutch lasted over 200k miles.

Don't know about that. My Mk5 GTI had over 175k on it with the original clutch when I totaled it.

 

[TheGreekFreak]

Both my '89 and '90 honda accords had 200k miles and original clutch by the time I got rid of them. Probably won't keep my mk7 quite that long but had no issues with my mk6 up to 60k when I traded it in.

Just out of curiosity from your username do you fly a Beech 1900?

That's impressive, nothing really beats those 90s hondas in reliability. I honestly don't expect that out of a performance hatch with a known weak clutch, but 30-40K is not unreasonable to ask out of an untuned car.

As for the flying, nope, that's not me. The GTI is the fanciest toy I have

 

[TheGreekFreak]

Update:

So, after dropping off the car on the 11th, I was able to pick it up with a brand new clutch this past Monday! Only reason it took so long is we got hit with that snow storm mid week and it delayed delivery of the parts. To be clear, this was not a "courtesy replacement" but covered under a 1 year warranty on wear items. So, to anyone who is still in that warranty period and suspects their clutch, brakes, etc are having issues, take it in to the dealer ASAP, insist you go on a drive with their master tech, and see if he confirms the issue. If so, problem solved free of charge!

I got it done at Colonial VW in Medford, MA. They were great to work with from day 1. Very professional, no issues whatsoever. Their master tech also made me feel as comfortable as one can with tearing apart the clutch on my brand new car.

First impressions: the new clutch feels great. The pedal seems to catch much lower than before so I have stalled out once this week, hopefully that will be the last time. The stick itself does seem a little notchy but I'll see if it loosens up over time. Only thing that still concerns me is that the car doesn't seem as savage in 1st/2nd, if that makes sense. Before, if I was not careful taking off, the wheels would spin in first VERY easy, as I'm sure many of you know. That is not the case now. I am babying it for a few hundred miles until the clutch breaks in and maybe its just in my head but I feel like the torque was more apparent before the clutch issues surfaced. Any ideas?

As a side note, the horror of the whole situation wasn't my experience with the service department but with having to drive around town in the most hideous turd brown jetta known to man. Worse, it looked like whoever had it as a loaner before me was sick as dog. Needless to say, my bro helped me clean/disinfect everything within touching distance of the driver's seat lol. I was suprised to see that it had LED license plate lights from the factory, unlike my $30K GTI! Wtf VW?? Cheap bastards...

 

[PouncingPanzer1]

Update:

So, after dropping off the car on the 11th, I was able to pick it up with a brand new clutch this past Monday! Only reason it took so long is we got hit with that snow storm mid week and it delayed delivery of the parts. To be clear, this was not a "courtesy replacement" but covered under a 1 year warranty on wear items. So, to anyone who is still in that warranty period and suspects their clutch, brakes, etc are having issues, take it in to the dealer ASAP, insist you go on a drive with their master tech, and see if he confirms the issue. If so, problem solved free of charge!

I got it done at Colonial VW in Medford, MA. They were great to work with from day 1. Very professional, no issues whatsoever. Their master tech also made me feel as comfortable as one can with tearing apart the clutch on my brand new car.

First impressions: the new clutch feels great. The pedal seems to catch much lower than before so I have stalled out once this week, hopefully that will be the last time. The stick itself does seem a little notchy but I'll see if it loosens up over time. Only thing that still concerns me is that the car doesn't seem as savage in 1st/2nd, if that makes sense. Before, if I was not careful taking off, the wheels would spin in first VERY easy, as I'm sure many of you know. That is not the case now. I am babying it for a few hundred miles until the clutch breaks in and maybe its just in my head but I feel like the torque was more apparent before the clutch issues surfaced. Any ideas?

As a side note, the horror of the whole situation wasn't my experience with the service department but with having to drive around town in the most hideous turd brown jetta known to man. Worse, it looked like whoever had it as a loaner before me was sick as dog. Needless to say, my bro helped me clean/disinfect everything within touching distance of the driver's seat lol. I was suprised to see that it had LED license plate lights from the factory, unlike my $30K GTI! Wtf VW?? Cheap bastards...

Glad I'm not the only one to comment on Jetta S's having LEDs back their and our $30k GTIs not lol.

Glad to hear your experience went well with this new dealer. Very glad. I was worried you were going to have another bad experience and say screw this car, I'm going home! Lol.

Cheers mate.

 

[MikeF1021]

Which dealership if you don't mind sharing?