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.