Sorry, late to the party, it’s been a busy week.
I may well be the (dis)respected member representing Exeter, sitting my umpteenth term despite several scandalous car swapping incidents and mass vote rigging... (thanks Fred
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Where were we?
Let’s start here with the official TCR manifesto:
https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/publications/more/booklet-golf-gti-tcr-the-driving-presentation-162/downloadBuying and selling limited run Golfs opens up a whole finicky and fickle enthusiast market, and it depends on how you want to play it as to which advice you need to particularly pay heed to.
Loads of proper advice here from actual owners that covers off most angles.
Being an end of line car the TCR comes with the superb adaptive LED lights and the useful rear camera as standard.
Mine had Dynaudio which was excellent.
The heated front screen was useful but not an essential.
Most love DCC but I didn’t get on with it when I had a knackered back. Generally it was good but wasn’t quick enough reacting to prevent sudden jolts being transmitted by sharp irregularities. The non adaptive suspension I have in my mk8 Clubsport doesn’t transmit crashes but is slightly bumpier than a DCC TCR. Having said that, in full sports mode the TCR DCC damping feels like you have an extra 20psi in the tyres.
Pay accordingly for the spec and you’ll get a relative amount back when selling on again. So if you want a particular spec just hold out for it.
Those that are after a certain spec will likely pay for the privilege but will be likewise rewarded (probably) on selling. Such is the way with enthusiast specials. And god almighty are some enthusiasts fussy and impossible to please, just see some of the Edition 40 threads. The wheel and suspension packs were over £2k so I’d imagine that would follow through to used prices.
If you just want a TCR to own and enjoy then it’s not critical to have one of the two optional packs.
The Belvedere alloys are very light but as jf111 said, they are prone to getting marked. It’s very easy to change the wheels though, for instance replica Reifnitz or Pretoria can be added afterwards in 18 or 19” diameters, or anything else that takes your fancy.
Watts gives a good indication of fuel usage. 98 RON and keep it under 4000rpm sees reasonable mid thirties MPG but once the higher revs pile on the engine will drink a lot more fuel.
The brakes are good, the handling excellent, the exhaust sounds are unique whether you have Akra or not, and the car has its own special look and feel amongst the range of Performance Golfs. So the rest is down to whether or not you want a specific pack, number of doors and other bits of optional spec or not.