@AndyGTI, don’t take too much notice of my more recent experiences about the TCR suspension as it’s not a typical owners view but is specific to me and not unique to the TCR going from memory of my GTI PP which would also sometimes be caught out by sudden lumps or dips sending a jolt through the chassis.
Where it initially didn’t bother me aside from a wince occasionally and a shrug denoting acceptance of the compromises of suspension set-ups where ride and handling are generally excellent, but there is bound to be a chink in the armour at some stage no matter how slight. Bearing in mind the almost infinite variety of surfaces and speeds we drive, without spending massive amounts on fully active ride control, there are bound to be times where a sporty suspension gets caught out even with adaptive dampers.
Safe to say I spent about 6500 miles driving the Clubsport on non adaptive suspension and mostly on 19” wheels, then circa 4000 miles in the TCR with very similar suspension rates albeit adaptive equipped and I had zero real gripes. In fact the slightly lively suspension of the Ed40 felt more hot hatch to me and I didn’t complain about it once (that I remember!).
Both Ed40 and TCR had astonishingly good balance of ride and particularly handling (by Golf standards) with excellent steering to boot (IMO of course) and we can but assume the mk8 will fractionally improve on this following however many years of continuing development of the same basic chassis by the engineers.
As Watts says, a trapped nerve in my back hampered my enjoyment in the end but that’s just one of those things.
I’d fully expected to ride out the back issue but with me where it comes to cars I’m prone to go off on a complete tangent and your latter comment about the Pretorias is kind of where that started...
Is there life in the Pretoria design still?
Yes, I think there is but fully expect it to not become an 8R exclusive wheel as I reckon that model will likely be wearing something “next gen” but the Prets might be a performance option still on certain models of Golf.
The Passat can be specced with them and more relevantly the T-Roc R is a bang up to date model and wears them as standard.
I reckon it’s a style that’ll be gradually phased out but was just so right a design it’ll live on a bit longer.
Maybe I’m wrong, it often is the case!
The Pretorias were the Catalyst of my car change though as somewhere just before lockdown I spotted a demo T-Roc R and thought two things: I bet that car would be better for my back (compliant suspension and higher position) and “damn those wheels look good in that colour, I wonder if I should get some for my TCR“.
The T-Roc R was never a consideration to own but is an interesting and good looking car in its own right but it got me thinking about cars which wouldn’t hurt my back, the disappointment of the looks of the mk8 and my positive memories of driving the M135i F40.
It’s an often made comment on here about how enduringly good the mk7’s looks are with all the newer rivals sharing weird (unfortunate) shaped noses in profile and haunches due to pedestrian safety laws and aerodynamics.
These shapes will become the norm on the roads very soon, even the ubiquitous Corsa has sprung some strange angles and creases now in the latest gen model so it’s going to be a blanket design for hatchbacks.
So long as the improvements for the mk8 TCR/Cup chassis are at least partly honed on the roads and not just the Nurburgring then it’ll be another fantastic car to drive even if not to sit and look at.
