Good to read your impressions on the car Michele.
The dealership experience isn’t unusual, I’ve experienced a similar thing a few times and not just VW. Cars not ready or unavailable, blocked completely in etc.
I think we become desensitised to the performance and handling when we are used to sporty Golfs and then jump in an unfamiliar but broadly similar car and it just doesn’t feel ‘right’.
That’s why I hardly ever do test drives.
The one thing I was wondering if you’d mention was the throttle response. It definitely seems a bit perkier on the mk8 (still not perfect).
The door (lack of) thunk was one of the first things I noticed too.
The infotainment you do get mostly used to. Some days it’s infuriating and others it is ok.
Off the back of some recent posts on here I once again tried to become ‘primary user’ yesterday as I had a bit of time to kill waiting for an appointment. Did it work? Did it hell. S-Pin not recognised, account locked out, please connect to WiFi, sorry can’t connect to WiFi please change settings...
And so it went on.
Accepting defeat, eventually I gave up, but just to twist the knife the car resets annoying little things after those sessions. Usually it’s the most inconvenient things like when you select reverse and find the left mirror dip no longer dips where you last set it and the bloody rear wiper squawks across the back screen despite having been switched out before.
Honestly, anyone who has an earlyish mk7 will feel a big generational change when getting into a mk8.
Anyone with a 7.5 won’t really get any improvements aside from a slightly funkier AID. The 7.5 is better looking, has a better interior, goes just as well (maybe an 8R is quicker in extremis), handles pretty much as well, and the infotainment isn’t such an obstructive chore at times.
I bonded with my Clubsport really quickly and am extremely fond of it but I’d always suggest that those with a late 7.5 shouldn’t rush to change.