# Slow Beetle GSR



## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Hi VWVortex :wave:


I'm a not a new user in this forums since I've been reading it for a while but this is my first time asking for information 

Well my main issue I have a VW Beetle GSR 2014 and a 2013 VW GLI, according to VW specifications both cars have 210HP, and 207Lb Torque, so my question is why my GLI is FAST FAST FAST in Acceleration and my GSR is super slow?!, I can see the Turbo Gauge moving, but my beetle is far from accelerate as my GLI does, is any other difference like Turbo size? To be honest my Beetle feels like a Non-Turbo car any ideas?


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Same transmission in each?

posted from tapatalk


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

drtechy said:


> Same transmission in each?
> 
> posted from tapatalk


Thanks for replying DrTechy , Yes both are 6speed manual Transmission and engine with 210HP, you can feel the turbo when you press the gas pedal in the GLI.
In the Beetle you don't feel it and you can see the turbo gauge reach 20 and 25 PSI 


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Any modifications to the motors?

From the sound of it should be the same, maybe the beetle has a softer suspension? So it doesn't feel as fast? 

posted from tapatalk


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Both are stock no modifications, the GLI suspension I fell the GLI softer


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## WellHungSmurf (Jun 5, 2014)

the 2013 GLI curb weight is 2,842. The Beetles is I believe 3000. but I doubt that would make it feel like a fat pig. 

I'm at a loss why your beetle would feel so much slower. My 2012 with 200 HP 1st and 2nd gear pull very hard, then 3-6 it drops off. But the turbo pushes me back into my seat and it's noticeable. Maybe it's all perspective. I'm at a loss.


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

WellHungSmurf said:


> the 2013 GLI curb weight is 2,842. The Beetles is I believe 3000. but I doubt that would make it feel like a fat pig.
> 
> I'm at a loss why your beetle would feel so much slower. My 2012 with 200 HP 1st and 2nd gear pull very hard, then 3-6 it drops off. But the turbo pushes me back into my seat and it's noticeable. Maybe it's all perspective. I'm at a loss.


Exactly my GLI pushes me back into my seat and in the Beetle this never happends, I'm really tired to see cars like Nissan Versa, Ford Focus or Corollas accelerate more than my beetle lol!! I took my car to the dealer once and they gave me a courtesy car this was also a beetle turbo but with DSG and it was fast fast fast, when I returned I asked my service advisor why my GSR was slow they just told me nothing is wrong with the car maybe is because this one is DSG and yours manual lol


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## GZB (Jul 14, 2014)

This is weird and something is wrong. The Beetle weighs about the same as the GLI - both about 2,800-2,900 pounds. However, the beetle's suspension is a tad softer. That's one of the reasons I chose a beetle over a GLI, the better ride (I'm too old for the harder suspension). But it doesn't explain that lack of acceleration. Agreed, mine is a DSG too so I don't have day-to-day knowledge of their ride, (although I did test drive one) but the specs are still almost identical - both can accelerate at nearly identical rates. So if your beetle GSR is as slow as you claim, something somewhere is wrong. 

Above all, don't give up! There's a reason for everything. We just have to figure it out!


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## unknown21 (Aug 30, 2010)

Are you able to hear any turbo with windows down when accelerating? I believe I heard a little something when my Beetle was stock.


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

GZB said:


> This is weird and something is wrong. The Beetle weighs about the same as the GLI - both about 2,800-2,900 pounds. However, the beetle's suspension is a tad softer. That's one of the reasons I chose a beetle over a GLI, the better ride (I'm too old for the harder suspension). But it doesn't explain that lack of acceleration. Agreed, mine is a DSG too so I don't have day-to-day knowledge of their ride, (although I did test drive one) but the specs are still almost identical - both can accelerate at nearly identical rates. So if your beetle GSR is as slow as you claim, something somewhere is wrong.
> 
> Above all, don't give up! There's a reason for everything. We just have to figure it out!


Yeah the last time I took the car to the dealer I asked them why the car is slow, they just told me there's nothing wrong with the car since there's no check engine light on, about the suspension I thought the Beetle had harder suspension because I can feel it when I'm driving the GLI feels likes a family sedan car with soft suspension the Beetle feels harder maybe it could be the Rim and tire size 


I notice this since the Beetle is my daily car so I switch cars with my wife for a couple of days and she's been using my Beetle, when I start using the GLI my first sensation was, this car is lighter and fast!, when I arrive home my wife told me I liked your car but why it feels super heavy?? . Well long story short yesterday I started using my Beetle again and OMG lol the car feels heavier and slow 

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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

unknown21 said:


> Are you able to hear any turbo with windows down when accelerating? I believe I heard a little something when my Beetle was stock.


Funny, with the GLI I don't hear any turbo sound, with the Beetle i can hear it perfectly when I accelerate in 2nd gear at low rpms


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## turbokirby (Sep 5, 2014)

How many miles on the GSR? I know my 2014 R Line pulls hard through all it's gears, we have similar motors, not sure if yours is a gen 2 or 3, possible you have a dirty air filter ar maybe clogged injectors


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

turbokirby said:


> How many miles on the GSR? I know my 2014 R Line pulls hard through all it's gears, we have similar motors, not sure if yours is a gen 2 or 3, possible you have a dirty air filter ar maybe clogged injectors


At this point 10,580 miles on the GSR don't know if the filter is dirty or not but is to soon to be like that


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## GZB (Jul 14, 2014)

Should be a gen3. Mine is and its a '14. 

Question for yorchz, do you do a lot of city driving? Are you easy on the gas pedal? It could be dirty injectors if that's the case. (They like to be DRIVEN!) But I suspect there's more going on here. 

I put a K&N air filter in mine so it could breathe better.


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## PooLeArMor (Aug 13, 2008)

maybe you have a boost leak somewhere... start looking at the DV first, I had an small leak on the DV on my 08 GTI and I drove it that way for 1 year before I knew it, and I always though my GTI is slow too..


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## Remedy (Jan 31, 2004)

My GSR is DSG and feels powerful every time I punch it! People who ride with sink right into the seat when I put it in sport mode, tires squeal, wheel hop and more. 

Although I do use Shell 93 Octane since the day I purchased it.


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

GZB said:


> Should be a gen3. Mine is and its a '14.
> 
> Question for yorchz, do you do a lot of city driving? Are you easy on the gas pedal? It could be dirty injectors if that's the case. (They like to be DRIVEN!) But I suspect there's more going on here.
> 
> I put a K&N air filter in mine so it could breathe better.


more freeway so almost 80% the rest is city and streets


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

PooLeArMor said:


> maybe you have a boost leak somewhere... start looking at the DV first, I had an small leak on the DV on my 08 GTI and I drove it that way for 1 year before I knew it, and I always though my GTI is slow too..


I'm pretty sure this is a leak or the turbo is bad , do this leaks shows when they scan the car in the dealer???


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Remedy said:


> My GSR is DSG and feels powerful every time I punch it! People who ride with sink right into the seat when I put it in sport mode, tires squeal, wheel hop and more.
> 
> Although I do use Shell 93 Octane since the day I purchased it.


https://vimeo.com/124371520 you guys can see mine check the turbo gauge and hear the engine so the turbo is not responding


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Yea your gauge is showing no boost at all, definitely something wrong. Was your foot to the floor in that video?

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## GZB (Jul 14, 2014)

And there's the crux of the issue. 

No boost = no power = slow bug...

So now you have something to take it back to the dealership to get it fixed. What appalls me is that they dismissed the issue that quickly the first time without even checking any further. A simple test drive, even just across their parking lot, would have shown this. Idiots...

I mean, let's face it. We don't buy these cars (especially the GSR) so a grandma can drive them. This kind of lack of power is pretty obvious.


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

GZB said:


> And there's the crux of the issue.
> 
> No boost = no power = slow bug...
> 
> ...


I agree, what moron doesn't notice 0 boost on the car on a test drive when the owner is telling you there's no power? lol I'd go to a different dealer honestly.


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## PooLeArMor (Aug 13, 2008)

some dealers are just plain stupid no engine code then everything is fine.... morons....


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## GZB (Jul 14, 2014)

The issue is they dismissed it without checking. According to yorchz, they said there was nothing wrong because there was no check engine light. (Like really? That's your first clue something is wrong? No check engine light so it's ok?) Which means they didn't drive it to see. They just blew it off with nothing actually done to verify the issue. 

I agree. I don't know that I would want them looking at mine either with that kind of "customer service".


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## PooLeArMor (Aug 13, 2008)

yorchz said:


> I'm pretty sure this is a leak or the turbo is bad , do this leaks shows when they scan the car in the dealer???
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus using Tapatalk


No code at all for small leak, even the shop foreman test drove the car with me and told me everything is fine and said I have a brand new car so just go enjoy it.... that was the 1 week I owned the car.

then a year later I went to a differ dealer for a differ thing and the tech test drove it and come back and found out the DV has leak and got it fixed.

so I drove the car with a small leak for a year thinking everything was fine.... and I missed 1 year of fun


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## turbokirby (Sep 5, 2014)

You definitely have a boost problem, take it to a different dealer if you have that option.


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## VRACERW (May 25, 2005)

looks like they forgot to add the turbo before it left the factory. its just a beetle 2.0 no "t"


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## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

turbokirby said:


> You definitely have a boost problem, *take it to a different dealer if you have that option*.


Bolded turbo's point above: definitely check out another dealer and go with the tech on a drive. For years I took my misc. VWs to my closest dealer and they always blew me off on the first visit. It took at least two visits to get the car fixed. I finally gave up on the dealership and now go to a dealership about 25 miles from my house, but they fix it right the first time every time. I've never gone back to the other dealer. 

Also, my MKV Jetta GLI had a boost leak that the original (bad) dealer also never detected because it didn't throw a CEL (check engine light), but once I replaced a bad valve, my performance came right back. Good luck!


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

drtechy said:


> Yea your gauge is showing no boost at all, definitely something wrong. Was your foot to the floor in that video?
> 
> posted from tapatalk


It was not on the floor, but I was accelerating the car the same way I accelerate the GLI, maybe the gas pedal was on the middle


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

GZB said:


> And there's the crux of the issue.
> 
> No boost = no power = slow bug...
> 
> ...


Yes in fact today I called VW dealership to make the appointment to take the car there, hopefully this time they listen to me


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

PooLeArMor said:


> some dealers are just plain stupid no engine code then everything is fine.... morons....


HAHA! yes! in fact , they just take the car, the plug the ODB, No error, no issue.


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Well thanks for all of you guys to answer this threat, I took my wife GLI to the dealership and I asked to the service advisor about my issue, he just told me that the Beetle and GLI engine are the same but different tuned.... This sound to me like "Bring your car, waist your time and we're going to tell you that the car performs according to manufacture specifications" also I have a friend he works at a VW dealership and basically he told me something like this "There's no VW mechanic that likes to work on warranties since VW paid us by commission, and the warranties commission are super low paid"  lol obviously I don't going to take my car to him, so basically I'm ****ed in the San Diego area, so I placed my appointment in a Orange County VW dealership to see if they can help me with my issue if not I don't know what else can I try :banghead:


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## turbokirby (Sep 5, 2014)

This had me thinking all day yesterday, I tried several different ways everytime I touch my gas pedal I will get a boost signal, you definitely have a boost problem.


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## GTarr (May 17, 2012)

That sucks. If you truly have no other options, I'd take it back and tell them the boost gauge isn't working. It's something you can look at and see easily. Eventually (I think) they'd figure out that it's actually that the _boost_ isn't working.

GTarr


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

yorchz said:


> Well thanks for all of you guys to answer this threat, I took my wife GLI to the dealership and I asked to the service advisor about my issue, he just told me that the Beetle and GLI engine are the same but different tuned.... This sound to me like "Bring your car, waist your time and we're going to tell you that the car performs according to manufacture specifications" also I have a friend he works at a VW dealership and basically he told me something like this "There's no VW mechanic that likes to work on warranties since VW paid us by commission, and the warranties commission are super low paid"  lol obviously I don't going to take my car to him, so basically I'm ****ed in the San Diego area, so I placed my appointment in a Orange County VW dealership to see if they can help me with my issue if not I don't know what else can I try :banghead:


The gli and beetle motors are tuned exactly the same and even share the same ecu's. That sounds moronic and are just feeding you BS.

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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Ok guys so I took my car to the dealership same reason, car is performing as manufacture specifications lol so I'm going to call VW customer service to see if they can help me 


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## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

yorchz said:


> Ok guys so I took my car to the dealership same reason, car is performing as manufacture specifications lol so I'm going to call VW customer service to see if they can help me
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus using Tapatalk


Can you shoot a video looking at the boost gauge at full throttle? I'm curious to see it then because you mentioned in the other video,it wasn't full throttle.

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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Will do as soon as I finish working  thanks Drtechy


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## venom600 (Sep 9, 2002)

I went from a 2007 GLI to a 2013 Beetle Turbo and I can say for sure that the GLI pulled noticeably harder, and that was with a boost leak. Both had a 6MT, but the key is that they are different transmissions. The GLI (like the GTI) is geared much more aggressively than the Beetle is. You can tell by putting them both in the same gear at the same speed... the RPMs in the GLI will be higher. The taller gears on the Beetle allow for better mileage, but you aren't going to get the same kind of acceleration from the car. 

Of course, this is all assuming that you don't have a boost issue... that video you shot before didn't help because you weren't at wide open throttle.

From VW.com... 

GLI Gearing
Driven Wheels Front-wheel drive
1st Gear 3.36
2nd Gear 2.09
3rd Gear 1.47
4th Gear 1.10
5th Gear 1.10
6th Gear 0.93
Reverse 3.99
Final 3.94

Beetle Turbo Gearing
Driven Wheels Front-wheel drive
1st Gear 3.77
2nd Gear 2.09
3rd Gear 1.32
4th Gear 0.98
5th Gear 0.98
6th Gear 0.81
Reverse 4.55
Final 3.94


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## DirtyDubbs (Mar 7, 2009)

venom600 said:


> I went from a 2007 GLI to a 2013 Beetle Turbo and I can say for sure that the GLI pulled noticeably harder, and that was with a boost leak. Both had a 6MT, but the key is that they are different transmissions. The GLI (like the GTI) is geared much more aggressively than the Beetle is. You can tell by putting them both in the same gear at the same speed... the RPMs in the GLI will be higher. The taller gears on the Beetle allow for better mileage, but you aren't going to get the same kind of acceleration from the car.
> 
> Of course, this is all assuming that you don't have a boost issue... that video you shot before didn't help because you weren't at wide open throttle.
> 
> ...


glad i read to the end. this is exactly what i was going to mention. but i would assume you have a boost leak as well if you aren't getting any boost at half throttle. my beetle shows boost at far less than half throttle.


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Ok guys!! So finally my beetle is working properly is a hugeeee difference, still not push hard as the GLI but now I have boost, issue was a leak


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## yorchz (Apr 6, 2015)

Tomorrow I'll post a video since I need someone to help me out to record it, I really appreciate all the help 


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## TragicallyHip (Jan 25, 2011)

Excellent news! Who fixed it? Your local dealer, or the one in OC? (or a different one?). Anyhow, make sure you tell the guys who said the car was performing normally that you will never set foot in their dealership again.

Also, where was the leak? Bad diverter valve?

Cheers,
Dave


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