Well as a lot of you will be aware i picked my GTI PP DSG up a few weeks ago and being brutaly honest i'm really struggling to love this car!! Primarily because of the DSG gearbox, now this will not turn into a manual vs DSG discussion as i already know i've made a mistake.
Now bare in mind that i haven't driven it much due to working long hours and not having the chance to get out much over the last couple of weeks so it's only done around 400 miles, my main gripe with it is that it's unpredictable and seems a little feckless, driving along in either normal or eco at 30 mph it cannot decide if it needs 3rd or 4th so constantly changes between the two whereas in my manual mk6 i could be in 5th quite comfortably, it will not change up to 5th on the paddles or stick and even when in manual mode it keeps changing the gears for me!!! My friend has a Polo GTI which only comes with DSG, now i know that it's a different gearbox in that it's a 7 speed dry clutch where the Golf is a 6 speed wet clutch system but his is much more intuative and is up to 5th before you know it??
I also don't like the fact that i can feel the second/first clutch selecting the next/previous gear while i'm moving which feels like slight enging braking even though it's not actually changing the selected gear? Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!!!!! I hate it!!!!
All this is having a knock on effect on the fuel economy, now if one person says "you don't buy a GTI for good fuel economy" you can feck off! And i'll delete the post!
Because it is advertised as being able to do 40+ on the urban cycle ~5 more than my outgoing mk6 however, where my trip to pick up my wife from work would return around 34-35mpg in the old car, this one is barely touching 27mpg? And thats really driving miss daisy! Wtf?
The front assist is a PITA! It's beeped and shown the red symbol about 6 times now, all when pulling on to the same roundabout where you get quite close to the kerb, it actually stabbed the brakes tonight on the way home whist driving between a parked lorry and a car going the other way! There was nothing in front of the car at the time and the gap was wide enough for a bus!!!
There is a very annoying rattle coming from the passenger door area which i can't find!
When i collected the car i noticed that it's got a couple of inclusions in the paint on the off side A pillar, like someone has put the tip of an artists paint brush in the paint when it was wet and picked it up like thick cream, and a small but imo noticable dent in the leading edge of the nsr door like someone has leaned against it with their knee (probably during transport) both of which will be sorted by the dealership at my convenience.
And breath............the things i like:
The interior in general is fantastic and extremely comfortable and as many have said really comes alive at night, the xenon headlights which i've never had before are awesome and i love the static cornering lights, even more so now i've put some philips xenon h7's in!
I'm glad i specced the sunroof as it does add another dimension to the interior although it hasn't been open much due to the crappy weather , when it is tilted it gives a nice fresh feeling in the cabin.
Keyless is great even if i am taking a bit to get used to it!
I've only cleaned the car once and it pissed down immediately after i'd finished but it is annoying when you've unlocked the car, put the wipers in park and unfolded the wing mirrors (you actually need to put the key inside the car to turn the ignition on as it won't work with you standing outside the open door) and then start washing only for the wing mirrors to fold as soon as you go near the door handle! It even locked when the jetwash went over it???
But in day to day usage it's exellent!
Mine came fitted with Contisport 2's and they seem much better than the Dunlops on my 6 and the road noise is much less now compared to before.
DCC, i'm pleased and a little confused by this tbh the comfort mode is fantastic and i really can't understand how some people can't tell the difference between modes? I think they need to drive it round my way with the speed bumps galore!
But it does a great job of smoothing the roads out even if it does get a little choppy at times, sport mode is great for those blasts that we NEED now and again and this is when the DSG box makes sense to me! Sport mode and paddles are fantastic but the auto sport mode hangs on too long imo but i don't leave it like that anyway so no matter,
Normal does exactly what it says on the tin, the best of both worlds...
Further to the DCC, the driver profiles offered by the above modes plus Eco and Individual are quite different to one another, However eco mode in the individual setting is what confuses me the most? When using the dedicated eco mode the DSG box will coast when you lift off the gas in theory saving fuel but the eco mode when in individual does not? Why? Also the eco mode makes the afore mentioned feckless gear choices worse! Normal is the best setting for most of the time imo.
Park assist is a giggle the first time it's used but is actually very good at what it does, i have no problem putting complete faith in it as long as you choose a suitable space to begin with! The people i've shown it to all have a slightly freaked out look on their face while it's doing it's thing which is fun!
Parking sensors and rear view camera, i had the rear cam on my 6 and found it very useful however i think it may be slightly overkill along with the sensors as there is a lot going on on the screen when reversing and have found myself drawn to it rather than looking out the windows although i am getting better and making an effort to use it less, i've turned the auto activation for the sensors off as they come on when i'm along side other vehicles at traffic lights/junctions which is annoying tbh, also if i'm turning on my driveway and the car behind pulls round they activate??
The Pro Nav is awesome imo, i love being able to watch DVD's whilst waiting for the wife to come out of work! I've put the dab logos on which makes a big difference and for some reason all of my album artwork came on straight away with no issues (usb), all of my music has either come from ripped cd's or Amazon mp3's so i was quite surprised and pleased with that tbh! The traffic reports are useful and something i've never had before and the spoken instructions are clear enough for my ears. I also love the voice control for the Nav itself although leaves a little to be desired for the radio and media functions.
I've done a couple of the little mods others have done including the vanity mirror bulbs and boot bulb, the Audi 12v dummy cover and a black richbrook tax disc holder as well as a couple more:
Before:
After:
Spot the difference???
Before:
After: (thanks wigit)
And flyin the forum flag!!
I will get some decent pics of the car when i get chance to give it a proper clean but everyones fed up of white ones now anyway!!
Thanks for reading and appologies for the rant!
