Glove box light/1st gear selection problem

[MilgeS]

Evening all, just been out to get fuel and first time in the dark I have been in the glove box, is there really no light in there or do I have to switch it on somehow?

Also, noticed a few times on driving lessons that when first is selected, maybe once in a hundred times, it will pop out as you find the biting point. I thought it was just a learner not selecting correctly but it did it to me earlier, felt like it went into gear but then popped out when going to move off. Anyone else experienced this?

[monkeyhanger]

Haven't had the car jump out of gear on any of my previous manual VWs , but on the last and current one, my Golf R, the gearbox has been very unrefined compared to 6 of the 7 TDI manuals that came before it (that one exception having the linkage cables adjusted under warranty which fixed the poor selection issue). A few times a month, if either stopped at traffic then going to engage 1st, or cruising at 40 in 6th and dropping to 3rd to put your foot down, the stick diesn't feel like it wants to slot home, as if you'd crunch the gears if you tried to force it. I'd end up double declutching to get around it. The travel always feels coarse, like moving a piece of wood through a bucket of gravel. First and only poor VW gearbox. Dealership wouldn't do anything as they couldn't replicate it (unless I left the car with them a month, they might never see it). They attribute the coarseness to a characteristic of the gearbox, and another manuall R felt similar. It has got better in the last 5k miles (up to 26k miles now.

Anything like that happening with yours or do you always feel that coarseness of the throw?

Sounds like a linkage problem, especially if yours only jumps out on the same gear.

Just had a look in mine. No glovebox light in the GTI+ that's on with the lights or ignition. Couldn't see a lens housing in there for a light that needs to be switched on..

[MilgeS]

Glad it's not just mine without the light in the glove box, they really are tightening their belts at VW!

Regarding 1st gear, I have sometimes felt that selecting 1st gear doesn't feel fully "home" , like it wants to go another half inch further forward but can't. It felt the same when it popped out earlier (loud grrrrr as the gears were grinding I guess) so pushed the clutch down, into neutral and then back into 1st and off I went.

Maybe my initial thoughts of it not fully going "home" are correct then, hopefully it can be tweaked. Like yours though, there's no way it could be replicated as it's randomly happening, no pattern.

Thank you for sharing your experience

[SRGTD]

Glad it's not just mine without the light in the glove box, they really are tightening their belts at VW!

Lack of a light in the glove box isn’t a new cost cutting measure in the new Polo, it’s been carried over from the previous generation car. My 2016 Polo GTI doesn’t have a glove box light either. My glove box is air conditioned though

[MilgeS]

Glad it's not just mine without the light in the glove box, they really are tightening their belts at VW!

Lack of a light in the glove box isn’t a new cost cutting measure in the new Polo, it’s been carried over from the previous generation car. My 2016 Polo GTI doesn’t have a glove box light either. My glove box is air conditioned though

I've been spoilt in the past then with my Skoda's and more recently A1, I'll grab myself a small torch soon