I’ve had my R a full week now, and whilst it’s still early days, thought I post (quite) a few observations on the car.
Starting with….
Drive:
Bloody brilliant! Early days, but has exceeded my expectations already.
Handling is taught, sharp, precise, and responsive. The chassis is stiff and agile. Planted and super grippy, it’s a much lighter and more engaging drive than I was anticipating. It still delivers the fun with plenty of aplomb, but without any unwelcome drama, and with a markedly different personality to a GTI. Begs to be driven hard, in and out of the bends. Good turn in and less understeer than I was expecting. Must say the turning circle is noticeably bigger, requiring a change of habit in regular, familiar scenarios such as parking on my driveway, but already adjusting to it.
The power is addictive and eagerly available when you call upon it. Plenty of torque throughout the range for smooth, reliable and consistent acceleration. In terms of accessing the power – I do like the top mounted throttle pedal which I was a little reticent about, after years of floor mounted throttle pedals. Throttle response could be a little snappier, you do need to put some effort to get the response.
DSG – great as always, that seductive sound of it moving through the gear changes. I was converted 7 years ago and no going back now. This generation has none of the jerkiness in S of the previous version. However as always in D goes up through the gears too quickly, and in S hangs onto the gears a touch too long. Fine if you are solo, but get some funny looks from passengers wondering why the engine is snarling away, lol.! Something in between would be perfect, but that's where Manual and the paddles come in. Just wish the paddles had a bit more presence to them. Am looking at extensions.
Driver Profiles - trying out the various ones, and switch between them depending on mood. Only one I haven’t spent any time in is Eco. I’m mainly using Individual with this setup:
DCC - Sport (occasionally Normal)
Steering - Sport
Drive – Normal or Sport
ACC - Normal
Interior engine sound - Eco
Aircon – Normal
Dynamic lighting – Sport
Soundaktor – always controversial and divisive, but with the now ability to alter the volume in Individual mode, it’s absolutely acceptable at Eco setting, not intrusive and does not interfere or detract from the Dynaudio. But, still great to have the option to have fake noise should the mood take me. Real engine noise and exhaust note - sublime! Can't get enough of that growl and pop.
Tech:
Keyless - a breeze to use. Was worried beforehand that it might be hit and miss, and I might end up leaving the car unlocked, but it's really very simple. Love it. And only a couple of times have I gone to put a key in the non existent ignition. A convert to the Start and Stop Engine button.
ACC - yet to use this but plans to do so on a winter trip to Yorkshire.
DCC – as expected.
E-brake/Autohold – took about an hour to be won over by this.
Stop/Start - don't mind it at times, but adds a nanosecond too much time to pulling away for my liking, so gets switched off when I remember (town driving).
Front Assist - had only a couple of warnings but no braking intervention as yet. Either I’m a better driver than I thought, or it doesn’t work, lol.
Parking sensors and rear camera. Handy at times, but could live without them, still like to use my own judgement.
There’s a lot of new-ish tech, compared to my previous car, and where it properly aids the driver, without becoming a hindrance, it is very, very good.
Interior:
I think the black piano gloss is very nice, but it is a mega dust magnet. I have a microfibre always to hand to keep the dust at bay, and just as well. Though I like the dark cabin, I think a few more blue trim accents would have made it a bit more special. So to introduce a bit more colour I’m swapping the harsh white footwell lights for some blue LEDs. The illuminated blue door and sill strips are a nice feature, though the sill guards themselves are not up to that job, is I’m ordering some additional guards.
Surprisingly I like the headrests. Was a massive fan of the older style that wrapped over the top of the seat, so was rather disappointed to see they had changed them. But in the flesh new style ones really suit the car. Like the R logo on them.
The MiB2 unit - is great, the larger screen really finishes off the cabin, screen resolution is good. The touchscreen is miles better than older generations which were very temperamental and clunky. Discover Pro Nav - used it on the recent Windsor trip. Very impressed. CarPlay works well. Yet to try the Mirror link and Car-net App Connect.
Dynaudio – just excellent. Head and shoulders above previous gen, even in its yet to be burned-in state, it’s very, very good. Will be superb after about 60 hours. Money well spent.
Steering wheel, thinner than my previous, but I like it a lot. Except I find the button placement is not quite as intuitive as old style. Ergonomics slightly off, and I miss the mute button of old which is absent this time round. The dials are lovely as are the blue needles. Found the indicator/wiper stalks a bit flimsy at first but got used to them now.
Centre console is well designed apart from the Mode button / StopStart button / ESP button, which are poorly positioned on left and hard to see - would be much better on the right side the gear stick, but guess thats a result of it being a LHD design throwback. Cup holders - great and the 'claw' feature very useful for securely gripping cups. Rear cup holders much better located in the load through arm rest.
Window buttons - not as ergonomically perfect as in a Mk6 (angled) but small price to pay for the other improvements.
Prefer the faux carbon trim on gearstick, doors and around dash to previous trim, looks more premium compared to the my old trim which was a bit incongruous. This is much more in-keeping style-wise with the rest of the car.
Love the leather seats and white stitching. But I can see it sagging quicker than the mk6 leather. Preferred the lumbar 4 way rocker switch of old, as the basic handle control on the side of the seat seems crude and a step back, but cost cutting I guess.
Reduced boot space. Significantly smaller, but just travel lighter. Have crammed a a lot of my work gear around the wheel well.
On the whole I like the interior a lot, I would say it is an upgrade, plus it looks and feels distinctly different from the Mk6 which enhances the experience.
Exterior:
Colour – you might be forgiven for thinking I might be bored with Deep Black Pearl after a fair few black Golfs, but no! Very glad I chose it for the 7R as I think it looks stunning. Yes you lose the contrast of the black accents, but gain a sleek, stealth look. I like both the brushed silver wing mirrors and lip more than I thought I would, and they add just enough ‘interest’ without blinging or tarting it up to much.
Pretoria wheels (19”) – rumoured to have caused the long, long wait, but what can I say – worth it IMO. A lovely wheel, like a lightweight motorsport wheel, adds an elegance to the car, which stops DBP, looking too heavy and clumpy. Very easy to clean.
Tyres – ContiSportContact 5Ps – thank the Lord! Have run these faultless tyres for last 3 years, and very, very pleased to get them on the R.
Front end - the front end actually looks more aggressive in the flesh, and like the grill. Bit sick of honeycomb grills after 3 GTIs, so a nice change. Love the intakes and don't miss having fog lights. love the double LED headlights.
Rear end - absolutely love the smoked rear LEDs, especially against the black bodywork. Quite surprised how little there is of the rear spoiler. Assumed it would be of a similar size/depth to the mk6 but it's much shallower. And, the black plastic side bits make it look even less prominent, but overall it suits the sharper shape of the car. Love the gloss black rear diffuser. Always hated the textured grey 6GTI one, but never got around to spraying it gloss black.
Exhausts - even though 4 exhausts are overkill for a 4cyl, I love them. And I think this car needs something a bit showy at the rear to offset the subtlety of the front end.
Sides - The wing R badges - now I thought I was going to hate these, as was not keen on them in the pics, but, they seem to work on black. Maybe because Deep Black doesn't have the contrast against the black grill and other black trim, the badges add something without it looking blingy. Deeper side skirts are much better.
When I first saw the Mk7 exterior changes, I was not sold. But now I've had it on my drive for just over a week, I'm definitely sold now!
Conclusion - Awesome!!! It’s a fantastic car. A capable but utterly exhilarating drive, and still admirably practical on a daily basis.
And here’s are the things I’m really glad I specced:
Dynaudio
DCC
Keyless
Discover Pro
Finally…..
Without a doubt the best car I've had to date (so far)!