Went for a test drive today in a brand spanking new silver 5dr Gti, complete with leather, dsg (which i didnt want but hey), and 18"monza shadows. Only had 5 miles on the clock and I was given the task of loosening up the dealership managers new car for him
In silver it didnt really stand out much which I kind of liked, although the trade plates ensured we got plenty of looks. First impressions...
the cabin is much better put together than the MK5 it has to be said, i wasnt a fan of all the chrome bits before but as you get used to the cabin it just starts to feel normal and you can see that functionality has definately been improved, as has most importantly build quality. The cabin was totally rattle free as you would expect but felt on par with a few audis I have driven.
Wing mirrors also seem to be a tad bigger (??).. and have a clever little light that flashes on the inside of the mirror which you can see when you are indicating. A little distracting when i first noticed them, but purposeful no doubt.
Now the ride seemed to be a little more planted and although the salesman kept stressing that the r32 is heavy it felt just as well balanced as the R on most corners, providing you werent planting your right foot at the same time. Much has been made of the improved quality of the ride and quietness in the cabin. Ride has definately improved, helped by the interior and just being a little screwed together better if you know what I mean. As for the quietness i wouldnt agree that it is much quieter, now this maybe down to the road quality, crap sportmaxx, or the missing V6 soundtrack but I am convinced there was more road noise??
On a couple of overtaking manouvers it was pedal to the metal and thanks to the dry conditions the dsg did its thing and hit optimum revs, and off she went!! no real fuss straight into the turbo range, and she did pull nice. The sound seemed to be much nicer than I found with previous versions of the 2.0tfsi engine, and at full throttle it sounded nice... not V6 nice... but nice
Sitting in traffic was a little embarassing tbh.. but hey ho :embarassed:
Sooooooo did I manage to make it understeer or wheels spin??? yeah of course i did but it wasnt too bad and I think that with manual (proper) gears it would be fairly controlable.
I think overall the MK6 seemed to be a little better balanced, and with the improved build quality it will suprise many audi and bmw drivers and i genuinely believe that... but i guess time will tell.
As a mk5 driver we all want to belive that the mk6 isnt as good as we think.. im sure the mk4 owners were telling themselves the same thing when the mk5 appeared. In truth its actually alot better than i expected and will no doubt make getting rid of the R32 a very very little bit easier. Im actually looking forward to getting mine a lot more now that I have driven one.. and even more so when I had the sales guy run me off a list of prices on finance
Gets a thumbs up from moi
