The Golf R lease thread

[Peanus]

kmpowell said:

With VW, options are not taken into consideration when they calculate the GFV/RV on a new Golf.

IMO, if you like music then Dynaudio is a no brainer for the money. As you say the standard system isn’t great for long periods of music enjoyment. I have a MK7 Golf on lease, acquired for “2nd Car’ duties. I’m thinking of replacing both my cars with a single car and if I go down the Golf route I’ll certainly be ticking the Dynaudio box on the options sheet. The difference between the Dynaudio and standard is night and day.

I’ve not actually heard the Dynaudio system for any real length of time. The local VW salesman could tell I wasn’t there to actually buy so he didn’t entertain me for long. But I’ve had the standard Golf as a rental for a few days and... no thanks!

My M135i has Harman Kardon and they were sublime, so I’m looking forward to plugging in my phone and giving the Dynaudio system a good listening to. I just couldn’t go with boggo speakers anymore, in any car.

[southlegend]

Peanus said:

I’ve not actually heard the Dynaudio system for any real length of time. The local VW salesman could tell I wasn’t there to actually buy so he didn’t entertain me for long. But I’ve had the standard Golf as a rental for a few days and... no thanks!

My M135i has Harman Kardon and they were sublime, so I’m looking forward to plugging in my phone and giving the Dynaudio system a good listening to. I just couldn’t go with boggo speakers anymore, in any car.

Be sure to use the USB connection over the BT for the best idea of what the Dynaudio can do. I had it in my mk7 GTD and it's sublime. There's a slightly noticeable improvement over the BT connection, though I only found it worth connecting via USB on long journeys.

I'm awaiting an M140i with the HK system and I see a lot of people saying it's not great, which is slightly concerning.

[andrewparker]

juice said:

I'm loving my estate 6 months in....apart from the virtual cockpit and in particular the map. I like to have the map in the centre when driving..

So many times it either sits there saying initialising map, or loading map but never actually gets any further. I took it to a local VW dealer in Bristol who said to remove the Nav card and re-insert it but that seldom fixes it. Does my head in and is tainting what so far has been a great 6 months.

Does anyone else get this ?

Yes. My was in the dealer last week, explained the issue and they said they knew of it and that it just needed a software update. Great, I thought. Picked it up and they said that every time they turned the car on it loaded within a few seconds, so they didn't do the update. I get the car home, go out later in the evening an lo and behold, it doesn't load. I love VW cars, but I honestly think the main dealer technicians are clueless.

[Funk]

andrewparker said:

juice said:

I'm loving my estate 6 months in....apart from the virtual cockpit and in particular the map. I like to have the map in the centre when driving..

So many times it either sits there saying initialising map, or loading map but never actually gets any further. I took it to a local VW dealer in Bristol who said to remove the Nav card and re-insert it but that seldom fixes it. Does my head in and is tainting what so far has been a great 6 months.

Does anyone else get this ?

Yes. My was in the dealer last week, explained the issue and they said they knew of it and that it just needed a software update. Great, I thought. Picked it up and they said that every time they turned the car on it loaded within a few seconds, so they didn't do the update. I get the car home, go out later in the evening an lo and behold, it doesn't load. I love VW cars, but I honestly think the main dealer technicians are clueless.

Try bouncing the map itself to the main unit and then back again to the dash (ie. have 'nav' on the dials but it'll then change from 'loading map' to the compass etc iirc - then set the map back to the dash and it should pull the map back). Mine has got 'stuck' a couple of times ie. the car icon is gone and the map is static; the above fixes it - it might work for the 'loading' as well.

[gazza5]

Very strange - my map view works fine - loads up after about 15 seconds turning the car on for me.

Seems hit and miss with VW - I have a excellent computer system (in that the map loads first time every time) but creaky windows and a few rattles, yet others have no rattles but dash issues.

[Funk]

I've managed to track a couple of rattles down; check the centre console trim to the left of the footrest - mine was loose and rattled loads when I tapped it. The annoying rattle by my right ear turned out to be the seatbelt height adjuster release...

[ayman82]

Any idea what we're supposed to do at the end of the lease?

[Funk]

ayman82 said:

Any idea what we're supposed to do at the end of the lease?

...give it back...?

[ayman82]

Funk said:

...give it back...?

Hilarious, I've not had anything about handback/inspection from VW, and the contract ends on 9th June...

[Funk]

ayman82 said:

Funk said:

...give it back...?

Hilarious, I've not had anything about handback/inspection from VW, and the contract ends on 9th June...

What about, perhaps, calling them to ask or maybe a quick Google search?

https://www.vwfinance.co.uk/en/privatecustomers/ho...

That took 5 seconds to find...

[andrewparker]

Funk said:

andrewparker said:

juice said:

I'm loving my estate 6 months in....apart from the virtual cockpit and in particular the map. I like to have the map in the centre when driving..

So many times it either sits there saying initialising map, or loading map but never actually gets any further. I took it to a local VW dealer in Bristol who said to remove the Nav card and re-insert it but that seldom fixes it. Does my head in and is tainting what so far has been a great 6 months.

Does anyone else get this ?

Yes. My was in the dealer last week, explained the issue and they said they knew of it and that it just needed a software update. Great, I thought. Picked it up and they said that every time they turned the car on it loaded within a few seconds, so they didn't do the update. I get the car home, go out later in the evening an lo and behold, it doesn't load. I love VW cars, but I honestly think the main dealer technicians are clueless.

Try bouncing the map itself to the main unit and then back again to the dash (ie. have 'nav' on the dials but it'll then change from 'loading map' to the compass etc iirc - then set the map back to the dash and it should pull the map back). Mine has got 'stuck' a couple of times ie. the car icon is gone and the map is static; the above fixes it - it might work for the 'loading' as well.

That’s not possible with the problem I’m having unfortunately. When the map doesn’t load on the active info display it is because the navigation isn’t starting up at all. On the infotainment screen is shows a colour world map with the words “loading navigation” over the top, but it just hangs for the duration of the journey, or until I reset the infotainment unit by holding the on/off button. Frustrating, and VW say it has the latest software on it.

[juice]

andrewparker said:

That’s not possible with the problem I’m having unfortunately. When the map doesn’t load on the active info display it is because the navigation isn’t starting up at all. On the infotainment screen is shows a colour world map with the words “loading navigation” over the top, but it just hangs for the duration of the journey, or until I reset the infotainment unit by holding the on/off button. Frustrating, and VW say it has the latest software on it.

Exactly the same as my problem, no idea what causes it, my bet is a batch of dodgy SD cards.

[Lucas Ayde]

southlegend said:

Be sure to use the USB connection over the BT for the best idea of what the Dynaudio can do. I had it in my mk7 GTD and it's sublime. There's a slightly noticeable improvement over the BT connection, though I only found it worth connecting via USB on long journeys.

I'm awaiting an M140i with the HK system and I see a lot of people saying it's not great, which is slightly concerning.

The Bluetooth connection is relatively lo-fi, it's just the standard A2DP profile which is so-so.

Best quality is using the SD card and FLAC files - they sound stunning when the car is stationary and the engine off. A USB connection should be equivalent to using the SD as it offers direct access to the source music file with no in-between encoding/decoding as with bluetooth.

However, when driving I can't say I've noticed much difference between the various sources, even bluetooth with so-so mp3s, as the background noise tends to drown out subtleties in music. The Dynaudio is very good at going louder without distortion though which helps counteract the extraneous noise if you don't mind listening to music loud.

I can't say how it would compare with the standard kit as I've never heard that - but if you are leasing/PCPing then I'm not sure that it would be worth the monthlies given how they like to make you pay the entire cost of the option over the term. If you are buying and plan to keep the car longer term it's a nice option to have though, and might make it more saleable.

[Lucas Ayde]

juice said:

Exactly the same as my problem, no idea what causes it, my bet is a batch of dodgy SD cards.

I think it's just that the unit is a bit dodgy with reading cards. I've had a couple of different music cards randomly 'drop out' and have to be ejected/reseated to get them to read again. Doesn't happen very often.

Plus every now and then the entire unit (Discovery Nav) needs to be reset (hold down power button until it restarts) as it can hang or get stuck on one source.

[gazza5]

I spoke to soon - not sure if its to do with a android auto update - but was listening to amazon music this morning and ophone just disconnected itself, 5 minutes later (as I then just switched to radio) music loaded up again.

Maybe golfs don't like warm weather - I chucked the last cable I had (think I got it from tiger) as after a while it wouldn't read at all.

Any recommendations for a very short usb cable - don't want tonnes of wire - i have a sony xperia compact 5 - will probably upgrade soon (nearly 3 years old and it gets very hot when plugged into the golf - after a 4 hour journey suprised it didn't explode!)

[Broccers]

gazza5 said:

Any recommendations for a very short usb cable

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391902034522

Use one of these its good most of the time.

[andrewparker]

gazza5 said:

I spoke to soon - not sure if its to do with a android auto update - but was listening to amazon music this morning and ophone just disconnected itself, 5 minutes later (as I then just switched to radio) music loaded up again.

Maybe golfs don't like warm weather - I chucked the last cable I had (think I got it from tiger) as after a while it wouldn't read at all.

Any recommendations for a very short usb cable - don't want tonnes of wire - i have a sony xperia compact 5 - will probably upgrade soon (nearly 3 years old and it gets very hot when plugged into the golf - after a 4 hour journey suprised it didn't explode!)

I had a call come in yesterday whilst listening to Spotify via CarPlay and the whole thing froze, then shut down and restarted itself! Then this morning the nav loaded up on the infotainment screen rather than the active info display, and the button to flip them was greyed out for some reason. This is my 4th MK7 and the first Golf I've had where I've felt the infotainment system was really patchy.

[Peanus]

southlegend said:

Be sure to use the USB connection over the BT for the best idea of what the Dynaudio can do. I had it in my mk7 GTD and it's sublime. There's a slightly noticeable improvement over the BT connection, though I only found it worth connecting via USB on long journeys.

I'm awaiting an M140i with the HK system and I see a lot of people saying it's not great, which is slightly concerning.

Thanks for the tip!

I liked the HK system in my M135i. It’s not as good as those found in the 3/4 series and I’ve seen many people come from the E9x BMWs to the M135i and be disappointed. Also people who have have Bose/B&O in the A3 find it not as good.

But it’s far better than the BMW business speakers that’s for sure!

[christianbeccy]

We're in the market for a Golf R/Audi S3/RS3 depending on pricing.

Went into our local Volkswagen Dealership today, with no preconceptions about what financing route we wanted, only an overview of our circumstances. The Exec seemed to be siding with PCP and came up with some figures for a car we spec'd (nothing wild, metallic paint, 19" wheels, keyless etc). We had absolutely NO idea what to expect and didn't give a budget as that's not the primary steer for us, but we needed somewhere to start.

He came up with £581/month, 36 months, with £1000 deposit from us. I managed a really discrete internal organ-shaking cough, but retained perfect poker-face.

I'm sure it's a legit quote for the value of car and for a PCP, but is that the best way?

We're not fussed about never owning it, we like the idea of giving it back and getting a new car every 3 years, so surely that makes a lease something to consider? I'm sure all the info I need is in this thread, but 170-odd pages is a little bit of a weighty read! Any help is appreciated.

[Jonno02]

I'd probably go to a few brokers (Orangewheels, Drivethedeal etc) and spec up your car, you'll get a far better deal than most dealerships will offer.

Leasing is good, if you want a standard car. If you start adding thousands of pounds worth of options, it's better to 'buy'.