I'd also replace the brake pads with ceramic (same/less cost than OEM) as they stop better and shed very little brake dust unlike the OEM Volvo units.
Also, brakes are really good. They dust like hell, but stop the car well and feel good doing it. Confidence inspiring.
If you get a mk7, get the lighting and performance pack. The headlight performance is astonishing. The performance pack brakes are amazing not to mention how sweet the diff is on a back road.
Same, with a 2015 on stage 2 tune it can be pretty quick and on road trips with the cruise set to 70 it can pull some pretty fantastic fuel economy.
The brakes are a bit touchy at first. However as time goes on and they bed in they seem to be better. They are very well suited to back roads/canyon carving.
well except brake pads that need replacing.
It's the pad compound and v. common for VWs. Often first thing in morning when there is moisture on them and moreso in reverse. You can do new pads and use something like a ceramic compound, it's a cheap fix.
My 06 GTI had the rears wear out at 70k. The fronts lasted until 135k. I was completely dumbfounded that the rears wore faster and the fronts lasted that long. I replaced everything with OEM parts and am experiencing similar wear on the new stuff.
Here is a shot of the front brakes. They're quite worn, below the legal acceptable thickness for a Phaeton and showing hairline cracks on the inside, the pads are also fairly shot.
Whenever I talk to people they don't say too much about reliability, but what they do say is how they hate the maintenance costs with VWs. $100+ oil changes, paying for maintenance items off warranty at dealer (brakes), etc.
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