2012 Volkswagen GTI consumer reviews

I bought the 2012 GTI with 36k on it in 2015. In the 8 years I've been driving it I have paid almost $11k in repairs from a poor build and also re-work from the low quality of parts available. Hard pass.

Bought this car Brand new and it was great had alot of fun driving this car But after the warranty ended thats when the problems started to add up I still have only 55,000 miles on this car but i must have spent over $7000 in repairs till this day. Im not sure if this car was a dud from the start or the car dealership rips me off in repairs but this is the last VW i will buy!

Original owner of a 2012 GTI (base model). Overall, its not a bad car, and my wife and I loved it. But problems starts arising as it gets older. First, the biggest issue is carbon buildup. The carbon buildup got so bad that the car was not safe to drive - hesitating and check engine light came on. It happened at around 50,000 and 100,000 miles. I have tried the BG induction cleaning, at at a regular interval but it did not work. The only solution is a mechanical cleaning, which is not cheap. Another issue is at around 100,000 miles, other parts starts giving up: radiator fan, ignition coil, water pump, and thermostat - all were not cheap to get fixed. So even we love this car, my wife and I do not believe that it will be economical to keep this car for long. As a comparison, we had a 1991 Honda Civic, which we kept for 20 years and put over 200,000 miles in it. We never had this many issues with that car, as much as we had with our GTI. Do I recommend buying a GTI? Yes, but, based on my experience, be prepared to spend a lot of money as it gets older.

The best bang for your buckThis car is not overly flashy it makes you feel young when you want but yet distinguished when you need to

Great little car. Bought it for my son as his first car. Easy to teach him manual driving and simple to work on in driveway.

Great ride great look great performance everything you could ever ask for out of a 4 cylinder hatchback and once they’re tuned it’s like a whole other world when you blow ya an ss Camaro

This car is probably the best in its segment if you'd like a car with some space, some performance, reasonable fuel economy (I get ~25 in the city, and ~30 on the highway), and pretty good refinement. I'm at 80k miles and have yet to have anything other than routine repairs on this vehicle too. Favorite things about the car: 1. VERY fun on backroads 2. Love the DSG transmission when manually shifting 3. Near crossover like trunk space 4. Plaid seats feel nice and look nice 5. More soft touch materials than most in class Least favorite: 1. DSG is not great when inching around in traffic 2. The car isn't really great at anything, but good at most things 3. I wish fuel economy was better, but I should probably drive slower on the interstate 4. Had bluetooth connection issues with my phone before replacing the head unit 5. Repair costs aren't great, ~$800 maintenance every 40k miles

Love the style and reliability of the Volkswagen gti, it has a great sport look and pretty fast hatchback. Would recommend this car for anyone interested in getting a fun but reliable car.

It?s very quick, there are a lot of options for performance upgrades. It?s realiable and spacious. Lots of storage. I would highly recommend this vehicle.

This car met all of my needs, it has an intake from ECS and a blow of valve, also you can check how clean it is.