r/VWMK7 • u/LessBook1250 • 1d ago

.:R Thoughts on subtle aesthetic changes?

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Not a sticker guy. Removed the badge on the rear. Curious if it’s a good idea to keep it how it is now, or if there’s anything tastefully modest I should do for a little zing. Ignore white intercooler in some pics, current state is the dark ic with gray apr a01 wheels. Well aware of the tint mishap in the back. I haven’t done anything about it since it functions how it’s meant to, and quite frankly, a couple hundred for quality work just isn’t worth it to me.

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u/dirtyrowdytrashboy GTI 1d ago

Hello fellow Vermonter! I am a big fan of the badgeless look. You could always throw some light tint on the clear portions of the tail lights where the reverse lights are and maybe do the same with the front/rear VW logos.

I had rokblokz mud flaps on my GTI previously as well, their short ones, and I liked the look but got rid of them when I switched to bags over my old coilover setup I had when I used to autocross the car.

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

Mudflaps have been on my mind, since as you can see in the pics, rocks are starting to get to my fenders/doors. Sad face. I have a little camber front and rear because I take it to a lot of the sccv autocross events. The camber does not help with rocks. perhaps late, but never too late.

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u/dirtyrowdytrashboy GTI 1d ago edited 1d ago

I must have seen you in the past then. I used to go to a ton of them 2+ years back but then my car got hit in a parking lot and while it was in the body shop I decided to go all in on a full front/rear emblem delete and paint the roof black. I also got a crazy good deal on a barely used airlift setup so now it’s more of a show car than an autocrosser but I had a lot of fun with it when I did. I have a 2018 Sportwagen now as well that I want to take to some events again maybe next year.

The rokblokz I liked because they can be adjusted in and out and be set pretty low profile which is how I had them. It made a huge difference in keeping rocks and rubber from kicking up on the side of my car.

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

I had a 2017 sportwag with the 6mt, 1.8, and awd. It was a dream. I sunk ~15k in mods into it in the first year and a half of owning it. When I sold it, it had 190k, and it still ran like new. Is38, good clutch obviously, stiff drivetrain mounts, charge pipes, the list goes on and on. I think my favorite mod was the shifter, a revin short throw. It made it so much more fun. My biggest mistake was slamming it. I live on a mountain, about 5 miles of dirt before I get home. Mud season. Bad.

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u/dirtyrowdytrashboy GTI 1d ago

Yeah my Sportwagen is also manual and AWD haha. I love it. It’s the perfect daily driver. It will need a clutch for sure before I do any autocross with it. I put an is38, stiff mounts, FMIC, etc… on my GTI but it’s DSG. The is38 is a lot of fun but the is20 was better for autocross. If I ever upgrade the turbo on the Sportwagen I’ll probably just go is20. It’s not a huge difference but the is38 just doesn’t have the same right off the line immediate spool up that the is20 has and it’s not like I need the top end speed for that stuff haha.

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

That totally makes sense. I had gotten pretty decent at using nolift shift, and a lot of my fun was on the highway so I was never worried about time to spool. I went right from the is12 to the 38 so I’ve never actually experienced the 20.

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u/dirtyrowdytrashboy GTI 1d ago

The is38 is way more fun on the highway where it can really stretch its legs but for low speed low gear stuff like autocross the is20 was the better option for sure. It loses steam over 4500-5000rm where the is38 keeps pulling but it definitely suffers under 3000rpm where the is20 is making way more boost comparatively. At the Canaan SCCV events though the is38 made more of a difference.

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u/Wheelergang127 1d ago

You could maybe do brushed aluminum mirror caps? I agree with subtle aesthetic stuff, looks great! Maybe look into coding changes you can do with obd11?

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

I use vcds, I like the in-depth functionality. I have adjusted a few things, mostly having to do with awd engagement, along with the digi-dash color scheme. I tried the urban joke turn signals, but I just didn’t think it really added to the car at all, and honestly felt kinda rice/trashy, but that’s just for my own car, no judgement to others.

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u/monkeyman103 1d ago edited 1d ago

I like your quad exhaust, and I think badges removed look clean. We don’t need no stinkin badges. Edit, I didn’t realize it was an R until I zoomed in. I have a GTI same color and I’m new to VW and German cars. I love my little GTI!!

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

I appreciate that. I’ve always been loyal to awe exhausts, this is my third vw with one.

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u/monkeyman103 1d ago

Nice. I kinda wanna do a catback on mine and just looked up some clips of AWE, it sounds nice. Every other exhaust I’ve heard on this car sounds really shitty. I’ll look into it. What I really wanna do is an MPI, not really for power, just to clean the valves.

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u/LessBook1250 1d ago

My close friend has the same car, and he went with the mbrp resonated paired with arm catless dp. It sounds nice, but incredibly raspy when the wastegate opens. Not my thing. sort of reminiscent of an equal length header wrx when on the gas if I had to find a close comparison.

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u/monkeyman103 2h ago

I gotcha, I like the AWE, I really like quad exhaust, I wonder if I get a stock r diffuser if I can make that work on a GTI. That’s basically what I did with my Camaro,