[VWXYZ]

Currently one month into owning a Gti (following having had a High Up for 8 years).

Lovely car to drive, suspension is firm, even on Cumbrias rubbish roads the ride is fine.

However, we have so much noise coming from the rear end that it is spoiling the car. We have a distinct clonk coming off of the right hand side especially over manhole covers and transverse ridges in the roads. There is also a multitude of creaks from the rear over rippled concrete roads. No car we have ever owned has ever been so noisy - and we've owned a lot ranging from autobhan munchers to people carriers and a least 3 firm riding 'hot' hatches including a Golf Gti.

Hopefully the dealer will be able to put this right - I wish I had know about these issues before purchasing the car as a good number appear to be affected and it probably would've swayed the purchase decision tbh.

The dealer demonstrator made no such noises.

 

[tootes]

Mine is quite down the back and I drive 90% with the rear seats down which always lets a bit more into the cabin.

 

[Gt11]

I'd be buying used, so hopefully I'll arrange an extended test drive and see if I can check for all the common issues & noises. I wonder if the bigger wheels & firmer suspension in such a bare shell makes it fairly noisy anyway.

 

[VWXYZ]

I'd be buying used, so hopefully I'll arrange an extended test drive and see if I can check for all the common issues & noises. I wonder if the bigger wheels & firmer suspension in such a bare shell makes it fairly noisy anyway.

Re bigger wheels and firmer suspension - we have had 3 other 'hot' hatches, inc' Golf Gti that were firm riding and none made the noises that we are experiencing. A clonking noise has nowt to do with the lack of sound insulation imo.

 

[Kiero1]

Rather bored of my White Goods car and fancy something with a little character.
I've had hot hatches in the past (Polo GTI & Fiesta ST) but the little Up is intriguing.
Closest car to me is 1 1/2hrs away, so a test drive isn't too easy.
Just a few questions;
1. How firm is the suspension? The Fiesta ST gave me a headache and became unbearable.
2. How loud & what rpm does it sit at when on the motorway at 70-75?
3. Does it 'feel' special & fun? I've had Up courtsey cars and I like the quirkiness, but they weren't special.
(4. We have a newborn and imagien now and again may have to shoehorn her into the Up- what's a backwards facing seat like for space?)

Not sure if to persue the Up GTI, go back to a Polo GTI or go for something else.. there's just something appealing about the Up.
Insurance and tax are both lower than my very boring current car, so that's also a win.
Any help is much appreciated!

1 It is very firm at low speeds but bot so bad above 35 mph. if that is an issue get some 16" wheels for three reasons, one the ride, two avoiding punctures from potholes, three you can then add winter tyres (not available for the 17" wheels)
2 at motorway speeds the boise from the pumped in engine noise + the road noise can become very tiring on a long journey. The pumped in engine noise can be unplugged but that removes the character of the car for B roads. Nothing can be done about the tyre roar (although Skoda Germany do offer a carpet set for the rear wheel arches in the boot that would reduce the noise.
3 it really does put a smile on your face like nothing else.
4 can't say

I loved my UP GTI but sold it due to long distance journeys that became simply too tiring

 

[Listensqueak]

I have no issues with noises coming from the rear of both my GTI's but I did on the Citigo. Potholes are a different matter and the suspension does not like those... at all. I hit one on Friday night in the dark and thought I had trashed a wheel but was lucky, no damage. The suspension travel on the front seems short. Still love 'em though. I do lots of long distance stuff too and for me it is ideal.

 

[911ts3]

That's going to happen whatever car you have with 40 profile tyres I'm afraid. Had an Audi A4 Sport Avant with the same profile tyres and potholes were a nightmare.

 

[Tommus]

Currently one month into owning a Gti (following having had a High Up for 8 years).

Lovely car to drive, suspension is firm, even on Cumbrias rubbish roads the ride is fine.

However, we have so much noise coming from the rear end that it is spoiling the car. We have a distinct clonk coming off of the right hand side especially over manhole covers and transverse ridges in the roads. There is also a multitude of creaks from the rear over rippled concrete roads. No car we have ever owned has ever been so noisy - and we've owned a lot ranging from autobhan munchers to people carriers and a least 3 firm riding 'hot' hatches including a Golf Gti.

Hopefully the dealer will be able to put this right - I wish I had know about these issues before purchasing the car as a good number appear to be affected and it probably would've swayed the purchase decision tbh.

The dealer demonstrator made no such noises.

Ask them to look at the spoiler, mine wasn’t fitted properly so they replaced it and the noise I had disappeared. However I do still get a lot of suspension noise that sounds like logs in the back but they checked out the suspension anc said all was fine and it’s a characteristic of a gti, lack of sound deadening doesn’t help they said

 

[freemansteve]

sounds like logs in the back... it’s a characteristic of a gti, lack of sound deadening doesn’t help they said

It may be a "characteristic", but in my book, there has to be a root cause for any such noise.

All Ups and variants have the same suspension I think, bar the calibration of springs and dampers, which should rule out a fundamental design issue, I'd think.. Mine (not GTi) can bottom out but there are no unusual noises.

ON a GTi, the stiffer dampers may come from a different supplier, and they may have internal construction differences, or a design fault with the specific dampers, or some folk have had a bad batch; It may suspension unrelated - maybe the different exhaust, different options fitted etc .... it's hard to know.

My questions, among many, would be these:

• how many GTi owners don't have a noise like logs in the back, compared with the number of those who do?
• of those who do have a noise, what model year or date of first reg is the car?

[It's a boring lockdown, so trying to gather some statistics on the issue doesn't seem a bad thing to do!]

 

[911ts3]

Mine is June 2019. 5-Door.
No noises. I did have a noise similar to those experienced above, but then realised that my rear parcel shelf wasn't seated properly.
After shopping one Saturday, I'd pulled the shopping bags out of the boot, and one must have been a bit "tall", and forced the parcel shelf out of it's retention receptacle at both sides, so it was rattling, sat on top of where it should locate.
Once relocated properly, all the noise disappeared.

 

[freemansteve]

Noted in my spreadsheet.
Yes, I was born nerdy

Next please!

 

[Charliefarlie]

GTI August 19 11K miles no noises.

 

[freemansteve]

Noted.

 

[freemansteve]

I have no issues with noises coming from the rear of both my GTI's but I did on the Citigo. Potholes are a different matter and the suspension does not like those... at all. I hit one on Friday night in the dark and thought I had trashed a wheel but was lucky, no damage. The suspension travel on the front seems short. Still love 'em though. I do lots of long distance stuff too and for me it is ideal.

What noises exactly? Like "logs", or just hitting the bump stops which makes a single bang?

 

[Tommus]

What noises exactly? Like "logs", or just hitting the bump stops which makes a single bang?

Mine is like a rumbling sound over rougher ground and the usual thud over manholes, bumps etc

 

[freemansteve]

Mine is like a rumbling sound over rougher ground and the usual thud over manholes, bumps etc

OK - noted, yours is on my list.
What's emerging, (no surprise), is "different qualities of noisiness" and it is clearly difficult to determine what is "normal" - in the sense of say, hitting bump stops, versus noises that, at least to me, sound like faults that dealers are refusing to acknowledge....

Next customer for a shave please!

 

[Charliefarlie]

OK - noted, yours is on my list.
What's emerging, (no surprise), is "different qualities of noisiness" and it is clearly difficult to determine what is "normal" - in the sense of say, hitting bump stops, versus noises that, at least to me, sound like faults that dealers are refusing to acknowledge....

Next customer for a shave please!

I don’t understand what “ normal noises “ are. There should be no noise. If there is something is wrong. I’m ultra ultra fussy and noises in cars are intolerable as far as I’m concerned.
I have no noises at all. 👍

 

[911ts3]

Me too, there are no noises from the rear of my car, and certainly shouldn't be getting close to the bump stops unless you have a heavy load, or the springs are knackered, which is highly unlikely on cars of this age. Obviously hitting a pothole is going to produce a big thump, but that's not normal.

 

[SUPER M]

Have owned ours brand new since March 2018. Absolutely zero issues, great little car!

 

[freemansteve]

I don’t understand what “ normal noises “ are.

You will notice if your car hits its bump stops! That in a sense is a 'normal' noise, but I agree it'd be really unusual to hit something on the road to make that happen with stock suspension, as per 911TS3. You can also get a sort of chuffing and wheezing, say on rough cobbles, which is usually down to dirt build up. A slap/thump of tyres in pot hole is normal.

The nub of this is that some users have reported 'noises like logs' or similar, and dealers have fobbed them off. I'm seeing here that most people are not reporting noisy suspension, which refutes the notion that "they all do that/it's a characteristic/it's lack of sound deadening" and all the other nonsense peopel are being told....