Stunning looking car 
Once again I'm feeling a tad jealous 
Where the hell have you been for the last six months?
Cheers chaps. What's the crack with this pedal box mod?
I thought the dead spot had been programmed out of the CS? Mine feels pretty responsive in Sport mode with no dead spot, although admittedly there is a bit of one in D.
I can't compare it to a standard GTi as I've never driven one, but just on the basis of this Clarkson review: https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/clarkson/clarkson-review-2016-volkswagen-golf-gti-clubsport-edition-40/
"In my standard GTI — chosen because I can’t be bothered to explain to people at parties what an R is — there’s a definite hole in the power delivery. When you just want to go slightly faster, you put your foot down a bit and … nothing happens.
It’s almost certainly some kind of ludicrous emission program in the engine control unit, but it feels like turbo lag and it’s annoying. However, in the Clubsport Edition 40 it doesn’t happen. The movement of your foot is translated instantly into a change of pace. It makes the whole car feel more alert and alive."
(Yes, I know you can't believe most things Clarkson says...)
I think I was one of the first to get a pedal box on my PP GTI back in 2013, there may have been a few others before me but I knew I'd need one immediately as I had a similar device on my mk6 GTIs (that were remapped too).
I've had the same box on my PP, GTD, R and Clubsport as the pedal itself is the same item throughout the Golf range.
Clarkson is talking rubbish as usual.
The Clubsport (non CSS) has a similar engine and throttle response to an R but minus the drivetrain drag.
The R engine, once the turbo is on song at fractionally higher revs than a standard GTI, is a lot more free revving and responsive feeling than the GTI, GTI PP etc, and when you factor in there's no transmission drag for the 4WD in a Clubsport then indeed you have a pretty responsive car compared to a normal GTI.
That's fine when you're driving 8 tenths and above, and is even noticeable on motorway cruises when you want a quick burst of acceleration without dropping a gear or two.
The pedal box however brings the car alive in one tenths driving and just gets better all the way until you do actually want full throttle, at which point you're at ten tenths and nothing can make a difference short of a remap.
There's a deadness to the standard throttle on nearly all modern cars which is particularly unwelcome in a sporty model but I'd also level it at any car that's used around town or in give and take driving.
There are loads of threads on here Jonny, I think I pedal boxed myself into oblivion on here in the early mk7 days and others have long since taken over the mantle now once I'd brainwashed them and they realised that these things do work and make a huge difference to the enjoyment of the car in just normal everyday driving.
258lb ft is quite a lot of torque, in fact a generation or so ago that was remapped GTI torque levels, but it's well masked at lowish throttle openings on the standard GTI, R, Clubsport and any of the other turbo engined mk7 Golfs.
When I got my GTI PP I seriously doubted that that car only had a few lb ft less than my mapped mk6 GTI in a supposedly lighter shell.
As soon as I put a pedal box on the thing I could feel every single one of those 258 lb ft of torques right the way from easing out onto the main road at the end of the estate, going onto the roundabout, coming off the roundabout, giving it a light squirt of power to keep up with traffic flow... and all of this at under 40mph as the car just felt so much more alive and fun to drive.
You don't need stupid amounts of power for British roads, I've been there and done that numerous times now and have come to realise that it's driving responses and a decent torque delivery (drivability) that make a car fun to drive at normal sane road speeds.
Yeah, when you want to open the car up on a clear bypass at 11pm then it won't make a lot of difference, but that'll just be a short part of your journey and the other 90% plus will be made far more enjoyable with a pedal box fitted.
The device itself is basically a signal amplifier that's highly adjustable and can remove as much throttle pedal lag as you wish. It can be slightly more responsive than standard or it can be hair trigger and everything in between. Most people go somewhere in the middle.
It has nothing to do with the engine throttle mapping, merely the digital throttle pedal mapping. The engine mapping itself is fine, once the restriction of the pedal itself has been reduced you'll find the engine itself is very peppy and eager from very low throttle openings. The Clubsport is the first in god knows how many turbo'd vehicles I've not bothered remapping and it's far from the quickest, it's just one of the most fun cars I've owned in many years.
