New GT2 AWD Owner

[MaraudingWalrus]

Picked up a 2018 GT2 AWD here in the Space Coast of Florida.

Had been driving a 2012 GTI. The car had been slowly having some issues, and I had begun shopping future options a few months ago.

Had always planned on going with a Golf R in manual, but impending move to Atlanta and harmony of driving a stick in ATL made me rethink that some. Was looking at the G70 also.

I drove both a 2.0 stinger and Stinger GT a few months back, as well as the 2.0t Genesis. I really hadn't spent much time thinking about the Golf R with DSG as it was a bit more money than I wanted to spend. At MSRP, I was considering a GT, but knew I might be able to find a deal on a 2018 GT1 or GT2 if I looked around and was willing to drive for one (within five or so hours of Atlanta would be easy, as would anywhere in FL)

My car died a bit more suddenly and a bit sooner than expected. The 2019 Golf Rs aren't quite available yet. So that was off the board. Eventually found a reasonable deal on a 2018 GT2 AWD that had been sitting inside the nearby dealer showroom for quite a while (literally the one about three miles from my house). Even after badgering them down on the price, it was still at the top end of I wanted to spend initially, but is enough nicer of a car to justify it.


To get a Genesis G70 equipped as well as the GT2 AWD I picked up is, would have been a good bit more, especially considering the fact that the Genesis dealerships wouldn't budge on pricing at all, considering they just got those cars in in this area about a month or so ago.

The interior of the G70 is a little bit nicer than the Stinger, but not overwhelmingly so.

The backseat in the G70 is actually a bit smaller (about an inch or so less leg-room) than the GTI I was coming from, or the Golf R I was considering. Whereas the Stinger is about two inches longer than the GTI/Golf R. So that's a plus. Additionally the hatch-style design/roofline makes it a bit better for me, as I am an avid cyclist, so the ability to tuck a bike in the rear with the seats folded down is a good bit easier in the Stinger vs the G70 due to the lack of permanent "shelf" behind the seats in a car with a traditional trunk.

The overall cargo volume is a bit less in the Stinger compared to my GTI, but that's mostly due to the sloping roofline, so I can't stuff something quite as tall in there, but haven't needed to do that all that much, so I doubt it'll be that big a deal.

Overall, very satisfied, and driving from Cocoa Beach-ish to Atlanta in the middle of the coming week, so looking forward to a long drive with the car!

 

[MaraudingWalrus]

Just picked up the 2018 GT2 AWD that had been sitting in the dealer showroom locally for many many months. Very excited about it.

 

[Soca Boy]

Just picked up the 2018 GT2 AWD that had been sitting in the dealer showroom locally for many many months. Very excited about it.

Nice, enjoy it. What colour? Post a pic.

 

[MaraudingWalrus]

Nice, enjoy it. What colour? Post a pic.

Aurora Black. Just made a thread. Have a picture there.


Edit: I lied. Haven't hit the post count yet for attaching an image or link. So. It'a aurora black. red inside. Y'all know what it looks like.

 

[Soca Boy]

Aurora Black. Just made a thread. Have a picture there.


Edit: I lied. Haven't hit the post count yet for attaching an image or link. So. It'a aurora black. red inside. Y'all know what it looks like.

Sweet, I also have the Aurora, wish I had the red interior.

 

[robz32]

Welcome aboard and congrats

 

[MerlintheMad]

Howdy from here to. I can't be sure if I've said that on another thread. Nice OP and intro.

 

[Schpok]

Welcome, great colour choise I was thinkng about red interior too but I was not brave enough

btw you can post pic's and links when you reach 15 post's

 

[Waynerm002]

Congrats and welcome to the forum! You will enjoy the Stinger, it is quite a fun car to drive. It's not the sportiest but with some mods, you can get it tuned up just right.

 

[MaraudingWalrus]

I have returned from my road trip with the car.

I set off with about 350 or so miles on it, so I didn't want to just lock it in cruise control at 76mph on the way up there (Kia suggests against this with break in information in the manual).

The car was extremely nice and composed on the road up there (FL Turnpike and i75), I mostly hung with traffic flow, but tried to vary the speed some. I got blown by several times by group participating in the Lux Rally from Miami to New Orleans, so I was passed by several little groups of cars (mostly exotics) going 130++ while I was heading north, so I was able to comfortably go a bit faster than traffic while knowing there were people speeding way worse than myself. Amusingly I saw all of that group corralled in a gas station near Alachua and getting talking to by FHP once I stopped for gas - I was across the street from them. Once I hit the post count I'll put an image in here of them getting their talking to.

I had most of the assists turned all the way up (lane departure warning, lane keep assist) and mostly spent time listening to podcasts via android auto. But occasionally popped over to music for a break from time to time. I messed with the advanced audio settings, and turned on the Quantum Surround Sound feature for the first time. I had previously thought the sound was too biased to the front of the car, even though the little sliders thing indicated it was centered. Turning this setting on made the sound feel much more balanced, and really was pretty good surround. In a couple of podcasts that had obviously tracked the audio of different contributors' voices to be in different locations, they were showing up in different speakers and it seemed like I was in a room with them more, with voices being directional. It was nice, obviously sounded better for music too. Didn't notice much with Clari-Fi on, but I mostly had high quality audio sources to begin with, so I think I understand that it makes more difference with poorer quality sources.

the audio levels don't seem to be level to me, however, with the volume seeming to change periodically without me doing anything (even with the speed adjust volume turned off). I wonder if it's notifications on my phone - I don't hear anything when those go off and I'm connected to android auto, but it's possible that they're turning down the other audio momentarily.

Android auto was nice, but as I said, I haven't figured out how to get notification tones, so I don't know when something comes through. The text to speech functionality is pretty good, and I was able to deal with a few messages on the road trip that I otherwise would have waited until I stopped for lunch to handle. I'm sure the other parties involved appreciated responses. Also, android auto's reading of emojis is absolutely hilarious and really shocking.

I didn't really think of my GTI as being an unpleasant car to take on a road trip - I'd done the same drive probably twenty or thirty times in the GTI. I seemed noticeably fresher when I got to the other end, perhaps a little bit less "beaten up." I'm sure the longer wheelbase and "grand touring" nature of the car made that difference. I had always remarked on the GTI being a quiet car, and it was. But this was much quieter still. Completely comfortable and quiet inside at 75-80 speeds. The GTI would have gotten a bit louder there.

The return journey was equally good. I've now got about 1600 miles on the car. Doing the same trip again this coming Sunday with the return trip back Thursday.

 

[Callum]

Welcome to the club! These cars are great on road trips! Enjoy in good health

 

[MerlintheMad]

ClariFi does not improve a USB sourced music track, so I have ClariFi off.

I'm looking forward to your pics of the FHP dressing down the rally speedsters.