Lots of great cars in here! Just finishing the build on my R.. Been working on it since October. Out doing some break in miles tonight and thought I would take some pics!

A few weeks back I installed the AWE track edition exhaust on my 2026 Golf R. Not that the year matters, the exhaust works for the 8 & 8.5. This was taken on my meta glasses so audio doesn’t do it justice, but for those who know what stock sounds like, you know this sounds good.

This exhaust deletes the valve, so it’s always on. I always drove in race anyways to “hear” the exhaust more so I didn’t care the valve was taken out, GOOD! This may be too loud for some, but I think most will say it’s how it should sound to match the speed of the car. You hear so much more. The gears shifting (cracks during shifting), and was actually able to hear the burbles, and at idle it sounds epic. The perfect amount of noise.

Someone was asking in my last post about the drone. I did a 4 hour drive, and I will say, there for sure is drone between 2000-3500 RPM. I will say though, I love it. My girlfriend did not, but she doesn’t get it.

Highly recommend for a catback exhaust that sits on the cheaper side of full catback exhaust systems available.

2016, 6MT, 30k miles, pristine... It took me years to find it and one second to loose it. Rear ended at a stoplight. Super violent.

New (to me) mk7.5

Looking to get some new wheels, exhaust, and probably tune. Looking specifically at cobb for the tune and access port but also wanted to ask what other setups people were running for a solid daily with maybe a little more power than necessary.

Mk8.5 golf R

Debating on the valved vs non valved MBRP cat back exhausts.

Both are on sale right now and I like the way the tips look so I’m probably going to go with MBRP.

I just can’t decide if I want the valves or not. I usually run my car in race mode 99% of the time just because I like the valves being open. But I’m worried that without the valves at all it may be obnoxiously loud. I see a lot of people who got valve delete exhausts sell them after a short while.

On the flip side I’ve heard the sound isn’t too different from stock with the valved version which makes it seem like a waste of money.

I just want to be able to hear the exhaust over my music and have it be a little more aggressive.

Also I don’t really want the fire cracker bangs which is another reason I’m worried.

Another debate is non-valved is significantly cheaper.

What do you think? Or should I go with an entirely different exhaust? People seem to really like the APR

I’m looking to lower the car a bit, there’s still too much body roll for me even after installing an H&R rear sway bar. And I want to get rid of the wheel gap (although it’s already small)

I’ve been eyeing the H&R options. The OE sports seem nice but I’m wondering if they’re too conservative or are they right at the sweet spot?

Current wheels are 18x9 with 245/40r18 all weather continental tires.

I’m not really looking to slam the car, but I want the time and money to be worthwhile, so at the same time I don’t want it to be TOO subtle.

I know coil overs are the best but they’re out of my budget for now..

Any advice?

2026 mk8.5 if that matters.

I've dreamt of owning a Golf R for a long time. Yesterday my dreams came true. I personally loved the 7.5 styling, from the updated head and tail lights to the interior.

Found this beauty with a full VW service history, only 67k on the clock and the oryx white pearl paint that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it.

It's a 6 speed MT, I know the dsg is technically faster but the feeling of a performance car in manual is unbeatable in my opinion.

Hi there,

After weeks of deliberation and against all of my better judgement, I went ahead and coded the 0-60 timer via OBDEleven. I read that the headlights maybe need a basic setting but folks seemed to have no issue getting past that.

Well, I am having issues. I am getting fault codes for ‘matrix lights left/right’ and ‘cornering lights’.

I tried ‘basic setting’ and ‘matrix lights calibration’ but am not having much luck. When I run the ‘basic setting’ and the ‘acknowledge basic setting’, the status does not change to ‘active’…it remains ‘not active’.

Does anyone have a guide on this; the correct sequence to run and all of the steps involved?

Much appreciated.

Came home from a 1-day work trip to find my R covered in hail damage on every panel but the trunk. In queue for PDR and hoping they can get it back to like new considering it's only a year old.

Pictures don't do it justice. It looks like a golf ball depending on the lighting and angle 😞

Drove three hours away from home. Car felt fine, temps all within normal range for whole drive. Immediately after reaching destination I got a CEL. Went to auto zone and had them read code. Coolant level in expansion tank is normal, and again all temps were normal.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any ideas of (hopefully benign) what could cause this? Thanks guys.

I have my 8R for like a month and i never wanted to do launch control so can you guys tell me is it so bas to do it once in like 3 days and does it matter if you do it alone or like with 3 friends in a car (more weight) ?

Great news. I have the H&R front and rear sway bars. as well as eurocode strut tower bars. No other suspension mods. H&R FSB is on the softer setting. Will test on stiffer one soon.

I just did some testing, and not only do I still have ever EVER slight oversteer, I also have slightly higher grip. A corner that was slipping pretty bad before at 42mph now didn't slip at 42, and 2 other corners, one while moving, and one while starting to move (so under acceleration in race mode NOT drift mode) - I had oversteer. BUT not as much as before. i'd venture to say ALMOST non existent...

So the car is balanced really REALLY well.

If you want oversteer, and you want it to be controllable, then both sway bars may not be for you. But if you are afraid of understeer coming back, then I am here to tell you, that's not the case.

TL:DR; Oversteer is still a thing with both sway bars, just not so much. If you want oversteer for fun, or control reasons, avoid an FSB, if you want sharp grippy turn in and a well balanced car, with micro oversteer, get the H&R pair.

I have a NAR mk7.5 Golf R in Canada. I found this unused plug on the drivers and passenger inner tail light. Anyone know what it could be for? Looks to have 3 wires coming out the back.

I was looking at GTI's but the ones I wanted kept selling, found this 2019 Golf R with 50k miles for considerably less of a price tag then the rest, so I snatched her up. And man I absolutely love this car. It gets off the line so fast and it's such an enjoyable ride. I cannot thank God enough for giving me the opportunity to get this car. It's so awesome

Advice needed wether to put a whole subframe in or just the control arm extension. Im rather impressed by vws design....

The other issue is there is one bolt that might be seized in this new subframe on each lca extension... actually at a loss of words...

APR short shifter, set to the shortest settings, along with Bevinsee solid cable end bushings.

Snickity, snick snick.

Where do I even begin with how big of a pain it was to get this on. It isn't fully done yet but the car runs(not well). Waiting on a few things to come in to finish it up.

Had to HEAVILY modify the fuel rail to get it to fit. It actually could still use a little bit of material taken off and will once my injector seals come in. The studs that came with the kit were wayyyyy too short and caused all kinds of headaches. This will be the third time I've had to get it off and reseal the injectors because of fitment.

The low pressure fuel sensor is currently being held on with the right stuff and a prayer. Need to modify the manifold to get it to fit properly. Also need to rewire temp sensor and throttle sensor so the wires aren't so stretched out. One of the fittings for the hard coolant line/dipstick tube are currently being held together with a zip tie. Need to figure out a way to get them to fit. I'm also going to need to make a bracket to hold the hard fuel lines on top of the manifold.

Should have everything in to fix it tomorrow. Still a really really well made manifold for the price. I know it fits the ea888.2 engines without so much modification but the ea113 is a pain in the ass. Can't wait to actually get it on properly and rip it with water methanol.

Would not recommend this manifold unless you are comfortable with taking a Dremel to your fuel rail lol

Has anyone had the same experience?

Need to find matching dye to apply, worried it might spread in I don't!

New to me mk7 dsg!! Only has 20k miles :)

Been looking at this one for a while now and its finally mine 😁😁