Whilst England embarked on losing a rugby game first thing on Saturday this little fella headed home with me
bb code uploadWhite! Why did it have to be white?!!
A lot can happen in a week.
Firstly two adorable/demented 8 week old kittens arrived, unexpected but very welcome.
Secondly my new boss started, expected but less welcome.
Following that, I ended up buying yet another hunk of tin. The jury is out on that one!
I’d been to see the car before and wasn’t bowled over.
It was the launch car one of my nearby dealers had in. The sales manager took it on as his staff car and I’d seen it whilst passing the showroom en route back from somewhere. Curiosity dragged me in and I was waylaid by the salesperson who sold me my Clubsport then taken out for a very quick drive in it.
If I was to have a TCR it needed to be at least a different colour to my previous four white mk7 Golfs!!
Fast forward a few months and cars had taken very much a back seat in life.
I happened to be passing by the dealership again and noticed the car had been put on the forecourt so curiously looked up the price of it. Again, I was less than impressed and ignored it.
Clearing out safari pages open on my phone mid week whilst kitten-sitting I clocked that the page was still open on my phone amongst dozens of others.
I had a quick nose, saw that the price had been reduced £2k, michevously thought about putting in a cheeky low offer as it was end of month, decided against it and swiped left. Gone.
As the kitties were asleep on my lap I had nothing better to do so did a quick calculation on my fingers of how the TCR compared to my Clubsport spec for spec to see what had moved on in two and a half years.
I worked out that compared to my CS it had £5k of extra kit on it!
DSG standard now maybe but was £1400 extra on the Ed40. Reifnitz pack £2100, Dynaudio £600 or so, Heated screen £320 ish, dark tints £125(?), then the bits my Ed40 lacks which are now standard: HBA, RVC, App Con, KESSY, winter pack etc. which were all expensive extras on the CS.
Ok, I decided I’d throw in a cheeky offer after all, month end and all that.
30 seconds later I’d emailed.
The next day they accepted, collection was arranged for a couple days later and I was left scratching my head as to what I’d just committed myself to!
I said the first thing I was going to do was rip all the checkers off the sides so the dealership valeters instantly did it for me. Unfortunately the valeters took it a bit literally and took the TCR logos off too! They did offer to replace them but I like the clean sides so may get the transfers and apply them myself at a later date if I feel the poor car is suffering an identity crisis!
Enough of all that, what’s it like?
Cars need to be seen in the flesh to appreciate the details and after the svelte but quite tall and athletic looking Clubsport (wearing Pretoria wheels) the TCR looks visually meaner and slightly lower in a discrete way. I really dislike the rear diffuser on the TCR but never liked the Clubsport rear spoiler so it’s 50/50 there!
The Clubsport looks and feels like a special car all over where the TCR feels like a beefed up GTI. It has a heavyweight fighter look about it as opposed to the athletic Ed40. It’s the skirts that do it obviously as it’s the same bodywork!
The drilled brakes look the part.
The black roof is much better executed on the CS, the TCR’s ends abruptly before the tailgate which I’m not mad keen on, then there is the little black spoiler which I actually quite like.
The Reifnitz alloys look quite beefy, they look like they come straight out of the Borbet catalogue and aren’t pretty but do suit the car.
Inside fares better than I thought it might. The red on the seats looks very gaudy in some pictures but is actually very toned down and almost tasteful! Even my style conscious 21 year old son remarked on how nice they were.
I like the perforated leather feel from the steering wheel. Not as funky as the Alcantara on the CS ‘wheel but feels more natural against the skin.
The plastic trim panel patterns on the doors and passenger side of the dash are very busy. They remind me of trying to read a menu after several glasses of strong wine - a blur!
The digital dials are clear and much less fussy than an A35 or M135i. I’d been a bit sceptical about how plain they are previously but in use they’re quite good. I’d still prefer nicely styled analogue.
I concur with hertsman about how clear the RVC is on these later models. I specced one in my 2013 PP and this one seems much clearer.
A GTI is all about driving but it’s very early days yet for me with this one.
So far it’s all been about the gearbox. I’ve wanted to try out and get to like a DSG for years now, the latter I’m going to really struggle with.
Some aspects of DSGness I like so far, but after a mere 40 miles of ownership there are aspects I really dislike.
The one area I’d hoped would be head and shoulders quicker than a manual is pulling away or moving out of junctions but I find it incredibly sluggish here unless the throttle pedal is booted. The box is practically in third gear by the time the wheels have rotated half a turn!
There are a few other quirks I really dislike about the gearbox too but I’ll gradually work out ways to live around them specific to my driving style. I won’t clutter this post up with it, I need to familiarise myself with it which will at least keep me entertained/frustrated!
There are things I really like too.
The TCR engine is a peach. Enough said.
I’m running the car without my pedalbox fitted whilst acclimatising to it and it feels more responsive than any mk7 I’ve driven so far minus that magical box of tricks. I’m looking forward to getting the pedal box on as I think it’ll bring the gearbox alive too.
The stop start is annoying with the DSG, I liked it on the manual cars. VCDS tweak needed there.
Fuel economy similar to the Ed40.
A few people have said the TCR has purely exhaust noise. It doesn’t. The Soundaktor is alive and well and just as irritating as ever. That was quickly switched to Eco.
The exhaust is the standard non-Akra as the car is a few months old.
It burbles loudly at idle but doesn’t get too loud on the move. Due to noise regulations it’s very civilised at speed. My wife has seen it for all of five seconds as I brought it out of the garage and asked if it was a diesel because of the noise it makes at idle from the exhaust. My neighbours won’t be impressed at 5am as it’s quite loud.
When I drove the car a few months ago I wasn’t impressed with the DCC.
I set the ride to ‘comfort’ on collection and have been running it in that mode for the two days I’ve owned it. My usage was minimal on Saturday, the weather was hideous so it was driven 12 miles home at 10am and put away for the day.
Sunday was a 30 mile round trip to get fuel and collect my son but the journey was constrained by traffic.
The ride in that setting is less jittery than the non-DCC Ed40 and quite comfy. Slightly wallowing on sudden bends if not loaded up before entry but ok. I’ll try out other settings as I go.
It must have been in ‘normal’ on test drive as it felt no better than my Ed40 on standard suspension. I’d save my £900 if ordering a new one, just my personal view. But as I’ve got it now I’ll make the most of it!
Overall view after very limited time? A fantastic car but I’m not convinced by the gearbox at all. Let’s see how quick it wins me over, most people who switched to DSG say they’d never go back, then again soon we will have little choice!
After my abject disappointment in how the mk8 looks and the fact the sporty ones will lack the 48v system at launch this’ll have to do me for a while.
It was bought for commuting as I was a bit (lot) too precious about the pretty boy Clubsport so used my other car most days, but my son requisitions the latter nearly all the time now. The heated front screen was a massive incentive to make the offer on the car if I’m honest. This GTI won’t be getting the pampered life my Ed40 had.
Next update after the pedalbox is fitted, unless I forgot to add something.
