Thanks for the positive comments all
The wheels aren’t very glam and won’t be to everyone’s taste but they do look quite good in the flesh, especially from the three quarter angle - as does the car in general. It’s a three quarter view kind of car!
I’ll endeavour to get some more photos when things settle down restrictions wise which is easier said than done at times.
Apologies for the length of the posts but that was the shortened summarised version! Quickly skimming back through those posts to check for any glaring typos or autocorrect massacres it does read a bit like I’m saying the suspension can feel a bit soft and wallowing on turn in which absolutely isn’t the case. It’s a very sharp steering car that is so accomplished going into bends that it’s sometimes just a bit too smooth and easy to fully appreciate what’s going on below decks until you look at the speedo. The M135i could feel darty where the Golf doesn’t unless you load up the suspension a bit showing it you mean business.
In comfort the gearbox assists in disguising the chassis’ fantastic composure.
Fred, you’re so right. If a modicum of DCC adjustability could have been sacrificed for a middle setting in the gearbox to make it more like the Aisin 135i slush box in its normal mode at times it would be so much more rewarding to drive “normally”.
I’ve been watching a few YouTube vids on Mars Perseverance Rover because I’m dead boring like that at times, but interspersed it with a few car “reviews”
Not really on topic but I re-watched the Carwow vid where the R destroys the 135, A35 and S3 which is interesting in itself, but rewatching it made me pay a bit more attention to the superimposed speedometer from the R during some of the runs. It’s not until the cars are at very high speeds that the Golf really pulls ahead...
These YouTube vids are entertaining enough but mostly just click-bait, I’ll be interested when Mr Chapple puts his TCR back to back with his Clubsport. Despite all the hype around the further development of the mk8 chassis I really don’t think it drives very noticeably different to the TCR as regards to engine, gearbox and handling. I notice the exhaust note differences but little else. You’d really have to be an Evo magazine type to feel the tweaks day to day.
I got overtaken by an Audi R8 last night going to work, it was on a bit of winding NSL single carriageway approaching two fairly blind side roads
Several thoughts went through my mind. I wished I had that guy’s bank balance, I wished I had his cojones, I admired the noise the car made, but more so was I was surprised at how that car didn’t gain anything on the Clubsport through the set of sharp S bends we were approaching, despite me merely ambling along making zero effort. The R8 was on the gas, then hard on the brakes, back on the gas... I just cruised through, I didn’t touch the brakes, hardly needed to adjust the throttle and sailed around easily. Yeah, the other guy was having more fun but I was running early and in no rush at all, yet the Clubsport lost no ground on him at all. Well I’m assuming it was a him. Had I been a bit more up for it I reckon I could have reeled the R8 back in, which would have been nice as I’d have been able to hear that engine/exhaust more. But then again I’d not have managed 38mpg for the trip, which is what I got
Ok, I’d better shut up about it now.
Clubsport summary, save yourself a lot of reading: Nice car, drives well, handles well, rides well, go buy/lease one.