Shock absorbers KONI or Monroe

I've been running them on my MK6 for about 40K miles. I'll never go back to standard shocks and struts. The adaptive dampening is a huge benefit on freeway drives since the expansion joints are completely removed from the ride. They are solid and planted for everyday driving and I've never felt the car was unstable.

I'm running Koni special actives on stock springs with 17" tires. There are a few threads over at https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php where it's pretty much agreed that they are OEM+. I put them in about a year ago and they are still great.

I have them on my ‘15 and I really like them so far. I’ve done 11k miles since I put them on. They are stiffer than oem but they soften up nicely with large impacts.

+1 on the Koni Special Active, very comfortable ride. I kept my 17" wheels and upped the tires to 215/45R17 non-runflats, slightly wider and slightly more sidewall, much less stiff due to it not being runflat.

Koni special active (red) make a great difference. Had the yellows; really sharp. But the reds corner flatter and i can take corners faster. Car honestly feels like its way more modern.

The Koni Special Actives with Eibach Pro package is the best overall ride for S197 platform. It even comes with bump stops.

I ended up changing the shocks for KONI’s STRT kit and it made it a little more comfortable.

I've been using Koni Orange's for nearly as long as I've had my FiST and I like them, but I don't think they are the best option if you plan to track or autox (Koni Yellows would be a better fit for that). I like them because they are more comfortable with the oem springs than the oem shocks.

I think it really depends what you pair them with though. I did try them with eibach springs but I didn't like them there (I found out later because eibachs are softer springs and seem to pair better with bilsteins B8s) . The oranges are intended for oem springs, however I've heard of others liking them lowered with swift springs (which are stiffer than the eibachs)...but I don't have personal experience with the swifts.

I put Monroe's on mine a while ago and I hate them

In my experience ever since Tenneco bought Monroe they have been trash. Back when I worked for Subaru the OE and KYB replacements regularly made it 100K, Monroe’s would give up in 40-50k.