The heater core is leaking on the Frontier and as with a lot of vehicles, it's a major job to repair. The entire dash board has to be removed to access the thing and A/C refrigerant lines also enter the thing. Even my Haynes manual cautions that it's not a DIY repair. Since it's summer, I thought about making a 'U' shaped pipe to simply omit the heater core from the coolant circuit, but there's a hard line that is connected very close to the firewall, so there's no wiggle room to work in a 'U'. Sigh.

We have only about 40K Miles on Rolf the Golf, so when it's plug time, I'll ask you in greater detail about their removal the easy way. Painless is good.

Felix The Fit has almost 90K Miles. I'd have no idea what I was doing checking valve clearances, so I'll probably leave it to the pros when it's due. I've had two people tell me that unless the engine is making increased valve noise, to just let it be and not worry with it.. I dunno.

Do our Golfs have valves that don't need adjustment? Valve adjustment isn't required on my Frontier. Why did Honda do this to us, especially with an engine that such a pain to access?

 

Heater cores are NOT fun!

Don't listen to those people on the Fit valves. They are 100% incorrect. Only loose valves make noise, but our exhaust valves tighten over time and don't make a peep. It's part of the reason why there's so many coil failures and spark plug ejections on Fits. People don't due the valve adjustment, the exhaust valves get tighter which causes them to hang open longer which causes extra heat on the valve seat and spark plug area.

Felix is a GE Fit, right? If so, he's just now due for the valve adjustment. The maintenance minder prompts GD's at 60k miles and GE's at 90k miles...give or take. No one pays any attention and just resets it and ignores the letters and numbers. It's also due for spark plugs and it's definitely a good idea to not skip those.

One of my good friends ignored his maintenance minder on his GE. At 95k miles it ejected the #3 spark plug...along with the threads. Here's a picture of his motor after I pulled the head and took it to a machine shop for repair....



I don't wish that on anyone. He was lucky that he knew someone willing to fix it for him for the price of beer. He's since put another 40k or so on it, so it appears I got it back together correctly. LOL At least the thread issue won't happen again. I had the machine shop put steel inserts in all 4 spark plug holes.

 

Our VW's have hydraulic valves, so no adjustments necessary. Woohoo!

I also did the valve adjustment on my Mom's GE Fit at 90k miles. It really wasn't far out of spec. Intake valves were just slightly loose (no noise yet) and the exhaust valves were just a little tight. It probably could have gone longer, but it makes me feel a lot better knowing that she got a new drive belt and a fresh set of (properly torqued) spark plugs. The GE valvetrain is actually less sophisticated than the GD so it stays in adjustment longer.

The job really is easy though. I did my Mom's in her driveway using my Dad's very basic tool set. Only thing I went down with were my feeler gauges and work gloves.

 

Hey, you're in GA and I'm in SC. We can meet mid way somewhere and I'll feed you pizza and beer while you do the valve adjustment. <g> Valves are adjusted cold, right?

 

Sent you a PM. I can help :)

 

I've found that the new Golf MK-8 will be delayed another year in North America, resulting in a 2021 MK-7. That's welcome news for me, as by early spring 2021, I might be ready to buy a GTI. Talk on the forums is that the plant in Puebla, Mexico won't make many MK-7s and will instead crank out SUVs, but that's just supposition. My fantasy wish is that VW produces a cool special last-year send-off edition MK-7.

I'm not so excited about the MK-8 with its electronic dash. I'm not wild about its re-style either, though I could maybe adjust. I wasn't sure what to make of the MK-7 when it was new, but I sure like it now.

 

I saw that as well. We were looking to see if there will be changes for 2021 because neither of us like the wheels or color options for the GTI. We already discovered the black paint is crap and aren't fans of white. Really surprised they don't offer an actual silver or gray. I think they look great in dark gray, but that's not offered for 2020. And, we really, really don't like the wheels.

Any word about color options and wheels for 2021?

 

I wholly agree with your thoughts on the GTI. I don't like the wheels either, not at all. If they keep the same unimaginative pallet of colors, I'd probably go with the dark blue.

I've not been able to find anything further on the 2021 models, but will keep my eyes peeled.

 

I never trusted VW despite having a bunch of enthusiasts tell me that I would love the GTI. Too much time spent rescuing friends stranded on the side of the road and laughing at ridiculous maintenance items from overly complex engineering. After being largely unimpressed with my third Honda (2013 Accord), I went to test drive the Golf since the dealer was next door. It wasn't too bad, had this nice sedate styling I enjoy, and checked all the boxes that I was looking for feature wise which no other car did. Despite being an enthusiast, I didn't want or need the sportiness of the GTI. Just needed a simple daily driver. But I finally caved to pressure from the salesman and test drove a GTI on the lot. And that was all it took. In my 25 years of driving and owning about a dozen vehicles, the GTI is hands down my favorite car. It is the perfect daily driver, just enough of everything but not too much. I typically have a handful of complaints about every vehicle I've owned - some superficial, some serious. In my 4 years of owning the GTI, I don't have a single complaint. I wish I could somehow go back in time and give my teenage self this car.

As far as wheels and special editions for the final MY, I highly doubt this will happen. They updated the wheels with the release of the mk7.5 for 2018. They already did a special Rabbit Edition for 2019. If the final MY for the mk6 is any indication, I would expect there to be less color and trim choices. Consolidating things to prepare for the new generation.

 

I agree. I don't have a large library of cars that I have driven as I have only been driving about 15 years but after owning a GTI,I get it. I understand why people like German cars and especially the GTI. Is it for everyone? No, but I think it fits a lot of people. Enthusiasts can mod them or leave them stock and they are fun, comfortable and for the most part reliable. It goes from a gentleman to a hoonigan with just a roll of the right foot. I'm going K04 soon and there are not many cars out there that you can up their stock power output by 1.5x with some bolt on's, software changes and stock internals.

 

Well, wife and I said goodbye to "Otto" today. It wasn't without sadness and some remorse as he's been a great car. Just decided to shop around a bit and see if it made sense to trade him in because he was right at 84,900 miles. Sort of the trade in or keep for the long run mark in my car mind. We were right at the point where he still had some trade value left and at the point for the possibility of repair/maintenance expenses.

We shopped the VW dealer and they just didn't step up to the plate. They had us OTD at $37k on a GTI SE and we didn't even really like it's content. Wanted an Autobahn, but those are even more money and none to be found. Considered the Jetta GLI Autobahn, but the wife just doesn't care for the looks of the Jetta and the interior isn't quite as nice as even our regular Golf. I'm sure I could have kept negotiating with the dealer, but man...I just don't like VW dealers. They wanted to give us very little for Otto (hence the high OTD price on the GTI due to negative equity) and weren't getting serious with the price of their cars. I know it was the high low game, but we just left. Kind of like we did the first go around with Otto.

So, we stopped by to visit the sales manager that we know at the Honda dealer we like. Pulled onto the lot and the wife spotted what she wanted immediately. Within the hour we had a test drive and a seriously legit offer for our trade and an acceptable price on their car.

 

Dealer got us OTD (tax, tag, title, dealer fees, ridiculous dealer add on accessories, etc) for a hair under $30k AND .9% interest for 60 months on this...



2020 Accord 2.0 Sport with the 10speed auto in a last year semi-rare color. It's definitely not perfect and lacks some features I would like, but it's NOT slow and it looks sharp. Doesn't have that German engineering feel, but hopefully has Honda dependability and definitely has performance with even more potential.

Needless to say, I'm already trying to decide between Hondata and Ktuner and figuring out which hard parts to buy. We will definitely turn it up a notch...or two. :D

 

Congrats. I came to really dislike my 9th gen Accord. But I sat in and played with a mid-level trim 10th gen and it was a seriously nice place to be. Roomy, quality interior, seats much more comfortable, infotainment def improved. And I suspect the 2.0 turbo is leaps and bounds better than the old 2.4 NA. Prob a lot of fun to drive. I refuse to believe it's as fun as a GTI ;) But way more practical. I wish I could convince my wife to consider one (really interested in the hybrid), but she won't budge. Doesn't like anything Honda makes. Glad you have a good relationship with your Honda dealer and they take care of you. It sounds like you and I had completely opposite experiences with dealers which is part of the reason I ended up at VW across the street.

I would have laughed so f&$%ing hard at them and just walked out. This is highway robbery. I just checked our local VW and SE's are 30k list before tax/fees. But given my prior experience I'm fairly sure I could talk them down to under 30k OTD. They have one Autobahn for 34k list but I wouldn't even consider it. They're rare because they're not very popular. At that price everyone knows they are in Golf R price territory - exact same amenities and a much more fun powertrain. Hell, I'm pretty certain my dealer moves R's for about what yours quoted you on an SE.

 

@beardedGTI I agree 100%. Just different experiences at different dealers in different parts of the country.

If the car were for me, I would have bought a Jetta GLI Autobahn because I'm much less visual oriented than the wife. That being said, her new Accord does look much better than the GLI and, honestly, has better paint/fit/finish than our Golf (keep in mind that ours had horrible paint issues). I wouldn't care. I'd want the killer hard parts of the VW and I'd just fight with our shitty dealer until they provided an acceptable offer or I'd go out of state.

Wife and I are already discussing the next one and think a Golf R is likely. Just none to be had anywhere new at any price. Maybe 2023 will see a Golf R at our house?

I'm actually blown away by the paint quality on our Accord. I'm super, super picky with that stuff as I used to work at a street rod/body shop. Golf was horrible, but we bought it because it drives phenomenal. This new Accord has amazing paint quality in this one color. Others on the lot did not look as good. My luck...it will have adherence issues and flake right off the body later.

We are both now fully VW fans. This Accord has something to prove for us both. I can already tell you that it has a stupid amount of road noise and is missing all of the German details. Like where are the hood struts? Where is the trunk pull down handle? Where are the storage compartments? Oh well...at least it looks good, has good paint, and is full steam ahead in the engine department.

I've also heard that the 10 speed auto may be brittle. I will throw some power at it and see what happens. If we nuke it, I'll dump the car and probably never look at Honda again as others have auto's that hold up now.

 

Forgot to explain...the $37k is because they were not giving us a reasonable number for our Golf...under $9k. Meanwhile, the Honda dealer put $10k on Otto. That makes a big swing once you factor in tax.

Hard to believe that a Honda dealer would pay more for our VW than a VW dealer, but that is where we were at.

Full disclosure, that Honda dealer was our absolute last stop because we love Otto and were going to run him till then end. Getting good money for him on a trade and coming off of the Accord swayed us financially.

The Accord will never be a VW, but it WILL be fast :) I should start a new thread maybe. I'm shooting for 12's so that the wife has a chance of running with my daily driver lifted crew cab truck :D

 

I'm not entirely sure what the future holds for the R but the reason why there are none to be had now is because dealers get an allotment at the beginning of the MY from Germany and thats it. Whereas the Golf and GTI will trickle in from Mexico all year. Given that I think they're moving production out of Mexico I'm not sure what that means for the future. I mean I'm sure we'll get the MK8 GTI and R, just not sure how availability will play out. If the R will be as limited. My dealer had a 6speed R in the exact same color as your new Accord and it was a beut. Was sitting on that lot for awhile, down to 38k list. I was very tempted but it just didn't make sense. I paid 24k OTD for my '17 Sport brand new. Is the R a better car? For sure. Is it 15k better? Not even close in my eyes.

This goes back to different experiences at different dealers in different parts of the country for sure. Every time I've tried to sell my Honda dealer a car they make a laughable lowball offer and getting it up to a reasonable level is like pulling teeth. Like I totally get it, you gotta make some money. But there is a certain point where this becomes predatory and unethical. VW offered more for my Accord than Honda would even after haggling them to death. I also thought it was hard to believe that a VW dealer would pay more for a Honda than my Honda dealer. I am really seriously hoping Tesla gets their shit sorted in the next 3-4 years (prob not gonna happen but I can dream). Then I can be done with dealers forever.

Granted I've not actually driven a 10th gen, but this seems really odd. Can you tell what it's from? New tires breaking in? Wind? Engine/trans? Every other accord I've owned or driven has been extremely pleasant in this respect. In fact in my 9th gen they actually had microphones that would sample road noise and then pump in an inverted wave through the stereo system to cancel it out. Surely the 10g didn't drop that.

Edit: I just scrolled back up to look and noticed your tires. Those 19's? They actually look even thinner than the ones on my GTI. I mean they look great, but I bet that's gotta be the majority of your noise.

 

Ours even has the ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) and is stupid, stupid loud inside. I hear the road surface clearly through the 19" Michelin's. No wind noise, no motor noise. 100% from tires rolling on the pavement.

It's actually very similar to the noise in our '08 Fit, just louder due to wider tires. Not at all a compliment, but the noise is relatable to our Fit. Just a lack of insulation. Even my truck rolling on 34" Nitto Terra Grapplers has less tire noise entering the cabin, but that's honestly a better engineered vehicle. It's serene going down the highway at 80mph, but it darn well should be at $60k+ sticker.

Go test drive an Accord Sport on rough asphalt and you will be blown away by the noise it generates. To be fair, all Honda's I've ever driven have this same issue. My Dad has a '17 CR-V and he's looking to trade it in as it's one of the loudest vehicle he's experienced in his 70+ years of life. New Honda's are just LOUD! Keep in mind that his first Honda was a 1980 Accord. He's owned them all and is seriously disappointing with how loud his CR-V is on the interstate.

I'm guessing we will end up putting a good sounding exhaust on the Accord and using ear protection when driving on the highway. At least we will then get to hear something worth hearing instead of tires on pavement.

 

That is seriously disappointing to hear. Our Fit is about the noisiest car I've ever driven. I think I've driven vehicles with rusted out floor boards where you could literally see the road passing by and they were still somehow quieter.

I've got to take the Fit in for an oil change in a few weeks so I may very well test drive one.

 

Find rough asphalt (which is sadly all the roads where we live) and report back please. Look forward to your opinion.

Our Fit is loud, but I have a harder time caring since I can take the same corners at +10 over our new Accord with little effort. The Accord looks great and is fast in a straight line, but handles like poop and is stupidly loud inside. That's coming from someone that bought one so it says something about how good it looks and how much I like the motor I guess?

 

You are killing me man. It handles worse than the Fit? My personal opinion of Honda these days may be so so. But just sitting in that Accord I was thinking about what a seriously nice place it is and how it just oozed quality. Like they fixed every complaint I had about the previous interior, the engine finally seemed to be up to snuff (and what you're saying backs that up), and that they had probably found a way to make it corner and not feel like a bowl of soggy oatmeal. I'll test drive and report back with an honest mini-review. I still have a high opinion of this car. Exterior looks phenomenal and hands down my favorite color. Just surprised and disappointed to hear about road noise and handling.