[Jeff Alton]

Suck?

Had an 07 GTI bought new, sold last year. 60K miles (100k kms) just changed brake pads when I sold it. Didn't need to do the rears but did anyways. Put new tires on at the same time. Before that I changed a rear tail light bulb and EGR piece. That was it. Great car.

I like it so much, I bought a new 2012 GTI a couple months back. Only have 4K miles on it but so far so good again. If you have any appreciation for driving dynamics, interior design, material selection, seating etc, there is no way you would buy a Japanese competitor at or near the same price point.

What is it's main competitor? The Mazdaspeed 3 I guess. But that thing is but ugly, has a cheap plastic interior, incredibly poor interior design. Yep, it may be a tick or two quicker to 60 but really?