Mk7 Golf R Bonnet

[12dan34]

Picked up my Golf R not quite two weeks ago and in general really pleased with it. Yesterday though I pulled the bonnet release lever and it was just slack. I know what's happened; the cable connector under the bonnet has unlinked and pulling the lever in the car doesn't do anything. A few YouTube videos later and I had the wheel and inner arch off with my hands stuck up there trying to thread another cable into the linkage to pull and release the bonnet. Problem is it's impossible to remove the cover from the back of the light in the R with the bonnet shut and I just can't get my hand far enough up to thread the cable. Right now it looks like my only option is to butcher the grill like I've seen others do and get at the bonnet latch from the front, that is unless and of you guys n girls have a better idea?? It's not a new car btw so taking it to the dealer under warranty isn't an option unfortunately.

[Oscar011]

12dan34 said:

Picked up my Golf R not quite two weeks ago and in general really pleased with it. Yesterday though I pulled the bonnet release lever and it was just slack. I know what's happened; the cable connector under the bonnet has unlinked and pulling the lever in the car doesn't do anything. A few YouTube videos later and I had the wheel and inner arch off with my hands stuck up there trying to thread another cable into the linkage to pull and release the bonnet. Problem is it's impossible to remove the cover from the back of the light in the R with the bonnet shut and I just can't get my hand far enough up to thread the cable. Right now it looks like my only option is to butcher the grill like I've seen others do and get at the bonnet latch from the front, that is unless and of you guys n girls have a better idea?? It's not a new car btw so taking it to the dealer under warranty isn't an option unfortunately.

Had the exact same thing happen to my mk5 golf a few years back. I was trying other methods of entry like you but in the end I took the front vw badge off and drilled into the grill like you said for more access. I’m pretty sure I then drilled the head off the two left bolt heads on the catch and and swivelled the catch up and flicked the mechanism to release the catch off the bonnet.

[12dan34]

Maybe I'm missing something but I would imagine it's easier to break into the car itself than open a bonnet without the use of the handle!

[Oscar011]

12dan34 said:

Maybe I'm missing something but I would imagine it's easier to break into the car itself than open a bonnet without the use of the handle!

Hahaha thats exactly what I was thinking to myself at the time. So annoying!

[rottenegg]

Yup, my old GTD did exactly the same thing, although in my case it was the interior handle that broke. VW haven't improved anything in that respect since the MK4. Well, the MK7 is even more cheaply made than the MK4/5 ever was!

[12dan34]

Incidentally, I called my local vw dealer (MJ Warner, nr buntingford) on Tuesday morning and took it in on Wednesday, they were able to open the bonnet and replace the cable. Whole job came to £167 which I was happy with as it saved me the job of cutting up the grill.

Not sure how they did it but they were confident from the start that it wouldn't involve damaging anything.

[Dr G]

That's a good result.