[VW_GTI_07]

I wanted to start a thread about Edmonton where GTI Owners could share their experiences on dealerships and services. I have tried Norden Autohaus service and to admit, they weren't bad but I believe there service could be a bit better. I just recently heard that they are getting more and more busy plus they are short staff so I'm worried that the service will go down.

SouthGate I heard has been horrible. I haven't had any experience there so I can't comment, but from what I heard, the reason why Norden is getting more and more busy is that people are leaving Southgate and going to Norden.

I found this place in the west side called Autobahnperformance http://www.autobahnperformance.ca/ and they said they were a start up shop. I talked to the owner and they seem very nice. I'm going over there today to do the APR trial so I'm going to scope out their shop. I'm trying to find a good place to take my baby. If you are interested in finding out where you can chip your 2.0T FSI engines, Norden does REVO and AutoBahn does APR. If anybody else knows of any other place. please let me know.

 

[Thalo]

I would really very much like to know of a good place to take my car next year when I plan to chip it, put in the CAI, exhaust, body kit and get it painted. If I can get that all done at one place that would be awesome.

Count me as one of the many who have sworn off SGVW in favor of Norden. Only have taken my car to Norden once and it was alright. I used to love the service at SGVW but lately they have been sucking. This is from my own experience as well as that of my other family members (as a family we have purchased 7 cars from them in the past 20 years and my father, sister and myself all currently drive VWs and an Audi purchased from there). Their service has been absolutely horrendous in the past little while. It all comes down to a "I don't give a shit" attitude from their service reps. John is the biggest culprit, he wouldn't know customer service if it bit him in his Romanian ass. Norm and Sherry have been great over the years (I think they've been there for quite a long time now) but I think the "don't give a shits" are wearing off John onto them.

Let me know if you would consider that Autobahn place a good place for general maintenance as well. Is the owner German?

 

[VW_GTI_07]

I've just got my APR Trial down at Autobahn and I was pretty impressed with their service. There are only 2 guys there. I'm not sure what nationality they are from, but they do have an accent. Mark seems very knowledgable about VW's and Audi's. I got a personal feeling there since it's a very small show. They showed me how they performed the chipping, they told me what my options where if I were to add more power, made suggestions. Very friendly. I would totally recommend them on performing any work. They just started up, so it's a small shop. The garage only fits one car. The hours from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. It truly gives a small local garage feel, but they do sound very knowledgable. They showed me how to replace the headlight switch for the EURO one. They spoke to me on a very personal level and explain things to me. They answered my questions.

The only issue I have with them are, they are small, they can't do any warranty work on your VW. The pricing sounds reasonable but I can't say they are cheap, but I think that's due to them being small so they need to keep the business running. But to be honest, I'd rather support them than Southgate and Norden right now.

They own the business so they put more care into their clients, unlike the big dealerships where the Service Manager is just treating it like another job.

I am defenitley coming back to do any upgrades to them. By the way, I can't really tell the difference between APR and REVO, REVO is cheaper, but the APR gives more options in terms of locking out and switching back to stock. I think I'm leaning towards the APR, just because I like these guys and I like the option of switching back to stock even though I probably won't. Anyways, that's it for now.

 

[VW_GTI_07]

By the way, I switched out my side markers for LED Bulbs while I was there, they performed the install for me. Great bunch of guys. The other person is called Manchick.

 

[Thalo]

Manchick? Is that a real name? How much would they charge in total for an APR install?

Any idea how much Norden charges for the Revo upgrade and do they consider it to not void the warranty?

Feeling I kind of get about Norden over SG is that they really care about Volkwagens and performance. They got that cool "White Magic" GLI in front of their shop every time I'm there. SG doesn't seem to give a shit and seems clueless when it comes to well known issues with the GTI. I asked them several times to update the radio software (even printed out the TSB that Zulu posted here last year) to get rid of the distortions when listening to FM and they didn't have a clue and just kept telling me "it's done" when they really didn't do anything (the first time all the mechanic did was do a diagnostic on the antenna, fucking idiot).

 

[VW_GTI_07]

Norden is charging $700.00 + GST for the Revo, according to them, it will not void the warranty on the car, however he did reserve to say that if the Turbo did go and VW found out that the ECU was flashed, they might not warranty the turbo. Read into what you will with that comment. The name who does it at Norden is Phil.

As for APR, he charged me $20.00 for the trail, he then said that if I decide to go with APR, then he would just credit the $20.00 back. The price of APR is pricer, it's $897.00 for 2 programs and $71.00 for the Security Lockout so they need a key code to check to see if your ECU has been reflashed. In otherwords, VW can't detect if you have flashed your ECU if you don't give them the key code. It doesn't however stop them from overwritting the ECU. They said if that happens, just come back and they will reflash it for you for free. The good things about APR, is you can revert to stock, that's what the 2 programs allow you to do, you change it through the Cruise control stalk.

 

[Thalo]

Anyone here drive the white 4 door GTI with German plate on the front "FUKENMOVEN" that I saw in front of Tokyo Sushi Express on 23rd ave tonight? I know I've seen that license plate mentioned (or pictured) somewhere here.

 

[VW_GTI_07]

I've seen it around town as well, the list of GTI's that I have seen are the following:

1.) My baby (4-door Red GTI with Vortex Kit), I haven't seen any other GTI's with the kit yet.
2.) A white 2-door GTI 18" Huffs that seem like it was bought from Cleveland Motors with Carbon Fiber Mirrors parked outside WCB Parking Lot. Has the Sat Stubby Antenna. I know it's was from the States.
3.) A black 2-door GTI 18" Huffs at the Sobey's Southside in Southbrook
4.) A White 2-door GTI 17" wheels in Rutherford.
5.) A white 4-door GTI 18" Huffs driving along Ellerslie over Calgary Trail and Gateway.

 

[Thalo]

FUKENMOVEN had 17s.

 

[Enisada]

Add another Black Magic GTI on 18"s to the Edmonton list.....mine!!!

 

[Thalo]

Damn you!!!! There can be only one!

 

[Enisada]

I am sorry about this....between the two dealers in town there is 4 waiting to be sold...hopefully out of towners.....

 

[Thalo]

Hey VW_GTI_07, I saw a red GTI on 149th street this afternoon, first one I've seen in Edmonton, was it you?

 

[slug]

hey guys, I'll be an 08 Black Magic 4 door in about a week or two. On the topic of Norden vs. Southgate I had a bad experience with a sales rep at Southgate who seemed to not take me too seriously and was rushing me while he was 'helping' me as he was due to meet another client that evening. Needless to say I went to Norden a few days later and put a deposit down on an '08 which was given an ETA of December. A couple days later I talked to a friend who had a great experience at Southgate and decided to head down there again to see if they would swap the stock 17's with 16" jetta wheels and winter tires (which norden would not do).

My second trip to Southgate was awesome. My (new) sales guy was great and really seemed to want to do whatever I wanted to make me happy. We got the Sales Manager to agree to the 16" wheels with winter tires for no added cost and they also matched the (small) Norden discount I had managed to receive.

 

[Thalo]

Isn't it weird how in Canada we need to order our GTIs and wait over 3 months for them while in the States (from what I read from other posters) they just go to the dealer and the salespeople try extra hard to sell them a GTI off the lot at below MSRP (which is over $5000 less than our MSRP to begin with)?

 

[slug]

Isn't it weird how in Canada we need to order our GTIs and wait over 3 months for them while in the States (from what I read from other posters) they just go to the dealer and the salespeople try extra hard to sell them a GTI off the lot at below MSRP (which is over $5000 less than our MSRP to begin with)?

yeah it's pretty frustrating the price difference between us and the US. Also that (in AB at least) there is little to no room to haggle with. Oh well at least I got a couple things thrown in and paid (a little) under sticker.

 

[VW_GTI_07]

That's why I bought my in the States, plus saving the extra $6000 helps too. My GTI is the 4-door with the Vortex Body Kit on it. I was at the Airriders today and I didn't see anybody else with the Vortex, there's another Red GTI (2-door), was claimed to be the first in Edmonton, bought back in 2006 Feb.

 

[slug]

Cool. I havent seen your red four door yet. I'd really like to see the votex kit in person.

I have a couple friends with GTI's, one white 2door 07 with 18" BBS CK's in the summer, and one with a black 07 4 door on 18" huffs.