I've had my '17 GTI sport since last February about. Just over 12k miles on it now. Haven't had any issues other than the stock tires are garbage (tons of new cars have this issue).
The price to performance+features meant I could deal with some reliability issues. When I got mine, it was still the 5 year 60k powertrain warranty, the new warranty makes things that much better. Its such a practical machine, plenty of power (under rated by most accounts). I love the adaptive bi-xenon lights. I threw some winter wheels/tires on there and its terrific in snow. The performance pacakage (now included I think in everything above the base version) is pretty great too. HUGE golf R brakes (13.5" front rotors... on a 3,000 lbs car) neat LSD, and slight power bump.
One observation about the car which could be a negative, but not really... Its a wee tame. I've come from "rowdier" cars like mustangs, SRT caliber, civic SI, cooper S. Those cars were all way more raw than the GTI. Its OK, its just different. Sometimes you don't want raw on a long drive or daily commute. But at times the car almost feels boring, while performing everything exactly as it should.
Like others have said, don't really need anything special for oil changes. I forget the size, but a large socket for the filter housing. With a fluid extractor it could even all be done topside. I've been doing mine every 5k. Probably overkill, but 0w40 is pretty darn cheap. At like 15k miles I might do a UOA but I wanted the motor to break in first.
I will throw one alternative out there... Its not out yet, but the Hyundai veloster N. I would assume the pricing will be slightly less than a GTI with more or the same standard options. My sister has the previous Veloster R-spec and it was just under 19k. For that money, its pretty good value. The new "N" version will have the 2.0 and 275hp. On top of that, hyundai's awesome warranty. I'm not usually someone to look at hyundai's but its a neat value.